Report on Situation Room Meeting with Prof. Attahiru Jega on Sunday 3 April 2011
The Nigeria Election Situation Room requested and held a meeting with the INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega at the INEC Headquaters on Sunday April 3,2011.The meeting started at 6.45 p.m.
Professor Jega first explained why it was necessary to postpone the election. In the first place, the vendor with the material for North Central, South South and South East was supposed to have delivered materials to Abuja on Friday 1 April 2011 but kept postponing the delivery time and finally delivered the materials in Lagos at 9.00 a.m of April 2,2011, which already compromised the exercise given that they then had to be moved to Abuja before being dispersed to the various states.
In the second place, there were problems with the accreditors in the field, all of whom had been trained but some of whom never turned up. Again, at some polling stations there were more people than anticipated, over 1,000 in some cases.
Finally, and most importantly of all, was the widespread absence of results’ sheets, which rendered the whole exercise redundant.
Professor Jega then explained that his initial thought was that the postponed NASS elections should have held on Monday, 4 April in order not to leave too much time between the initial exercise and the re-scheduled one given that sensitive material was already in the field but this turned out to be unfeasible. Political parties, security agencies and election observers all objected to the new timetable, with the result that it was imperative for him to postpone the NASS elections to April 9, the presidential election to April 16 and the gubernatorial, state houses of assembly elections to April 26th (April 23 being Easter).
Regarding the sensitive material already used, Professor Jega assured that because of the in-built security features there was no possibility of unscrupulous people being able to make use of them to carry out their nefarious activities.
On the issue of inaccurate or missing party logos, Professor Jega explained that part of the problem was caused by the incessant changes of candidates following court judgments but that some of the problems were caused by INEC not supervising the process sufficiently.
On the issue of RECs carrying on with the election after the announcement of the postponement, Professor Jega explained that, although they were informed about the postponement a full hour before it was made public, they were pressured by the electorate to continue with the exercise and in most cases had little choice in the matter.
On the issue of possible sabotage within INEC, Professor Jega said he needed hard evidence before he could act. He also cautioned that such allegations were just that – allegations – and might in some cases be leveled to cause distraction.
On the issue of NYSC members, Professor Jega explained that INEC had decided to give all authority to the zonal commanders in order to instill discipline following the lapses that occurred during the registration exercise.
On the issue of the people themselves monitoring the exercise by hanging back at the voting centres and taking photos, Professor Jega said that INEC was clear about this and has encouraged people to do so .
Professor Jega commended the role of the security agencies, in particular the Army and Navy, both of which branches of the Armed Forces had been extremely useful. However, he promised to look into the report that soldiers had allegedly beaten up observers in Nasarawa State.
Professor Jega commended the help rendered by CBN, whose vaults around the states had been used to safeguard election materials.
Similarly, FRSC had played an important part – and will continue to play an important part – in tracking vehicles.
Finally, Professor Jega assured that INEC will be more pro-active in keeping observers informed of developments and will beef up its public relations, although it is unfortunate that its own Situation Room has managed only 20 phone lines of the 200 originally anticipated due to the failure of CHAMS to deliver. It was suggested, however, that they might think in terms of a toll-free line with much greater capacity.
However, we would also urge Nigerians to give INEC another chance, especially in the light of past experiences, but it is crucial that INEC for its part demonstrates that it is fully in control of the situation.
Finally, we believe that there has been a failure of the part of the election management body, for which the responsible officials in INEC should be held to account.
Clement Nwankwo on behalf of the Nigeria Election Situation Room thanked the INEC Chairman for meeting with the team. He raised concern that the Situation Room had received reports from the field outside of the non delivery of result sheets. These includes: late arrival of INEC officials, non delivery of ballot papers and voting materials, collusion of INEC officials with state officials, etc.
Other Situation Room members addressed the issues of the security, conspiracy theories, logistics, etc.
Situation Room members present include:
Clement Nwankwo (PLAC), Innocent Chukwuma (CLEEN Foundation), Anyakwee Nsirimovu (IHRHL), Dayo Olaide (OSIWA), Udo Jude Iloh (OSIWA), Joseph Amenaghawon (OSIWA), Prof. Etannibi Alemika, Dan Negel (CLP), Ukoha Ukiwo, Lara Shonubi (Centre LSD), Adeolu Kilanko (CDD),Princess Hamman, Ajijola Abiodun (Election Monitor), Franklin Opone (JDPC),Ayodele, Emma Ugboaja(NLC), Olawale Fapohunda.
Clement Nwankwo
Executive Director
Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, (PLAC)
Tel: 0803 8899999