Abati: April 26: INEC's Make Or Break Outing

Guardian

24 April 2011

Abati: April 26: INEC's Make Or Break Outing

By Reuben Abati

THE Gubernatorial and legislative assembly elections scheduled to hold on April 26, except in the "election battle fields" of Kaduna and Bauchi states could further consolidate INEC's modest achievements so far in the current electoral process or prove to be the undoing of the entire process. This is why more than the elections held on April 9 and April 16, this could be the main test for both INEC and the security agencies so far. The security agencies need to be more up and doing, not just in the northern states where violence and wanton murder have been recorded in the last week, but in virtually every state, to the extent that the entire country has become one large, sprawling flashpoint. INEC also faces special challenges that it probably did not contemplate hitherto, imposing on it a burden to sustain its achievements and deliver on its promises till the end, or lose the recognition that it has earned.

Among the lessons that have been learnt since the process began are the following: (a) that the professional political elite have actually not learnt their lessons; they remain desperate and will resort to any kind of dirty tactics to have their way, regardless of the importance of the common good which civil society continues to harp upon; (2) that there is no such thing as a malpractices-free election, and that the security agencies need to be alert to check the reign of impunity; (3) that a paradigm shift has occurred in Nigerian elections with the electorate showing greater sophistication than hitherto; (4) that the system of election and security arrangements could help reduce electoral malpractices on election day; (5) that national unity remains what it has always been - a myth as religion, identity and ethnicity remain resilient divisive factors; (6) that the political process is still heavy monetized; (7) that the integrity, good faith and sincerity of electoral umpires, and the authorities could make significant difference, and (8) that an election is indeed a process, not a single event, and that anything could go wrong along the chain, before, during or after an election, requiring strict vigilance on the part of all stakeholders.