BREAKING NEWS: From one election postponement to another… and another. Polls finally pushed back to April 9, 16, and 26.

BREAKING NEWS: 

Here is what happened in a nutshell.  On the afternoon of Saturday, April 2, Professor Jega, Chairman of INEC, understood that Nigeria’s 120,000 polling stations had not received any or all of their election materials by noon – the moment at which accreditation of voters would end and election of National Assembly members would begin.  Most important, the critical summary Form EC 8A had not been distributed.  Without it, elections at each site could not be certified or collated nationwide. In addition, names of candidates or party logos were missing on some printed materials that did arrive at polling stations.  Corrections were demanded.

Initial consultations led INEC to announce that the April 2 national assembly round would be shifted by two days to Monday, April 4.  Not enough time, said many opposition party bosses. Forty of the 53 contesting parties said they would withdraw participation.  So, INEC briefly toyed with the notion of combining the first and second rounds, thereby holding both national assembly and presidential elections on April 9.  A flurry of meetings and assessments led to the conclusion that this burden on election workers and voters was a recipe for confusion and distortion of results.  Logically, the whole exercise seems to have been shifted by one week to a new series of elections to be held April 9, 16, and 26 in order originally planned.  

Meanwhile, we are still awaiting the Abuja Federal Court of Appeal final ruling on the gubernatorial elections in Bayelsa and Cross River and three other states.  (It was expected March 31.)  Will the elongated tenures of the governors who were re-elected following court challenges remain standing?  This would push elections into 2012 in those states.  Or, will the elections go forward in this year’s round?  Mr Jega would certainly like to know and so would everyone else in the affected states – and soon. 

Questions on the postponed national assembly elections April 2:

·         Cause: Poor planning? Ineptitude by some?  Logistical constraints? Poor communication? Contractocracy? Lack of political will or political disaffection? Sabotage? Or a mix of the above?

·         Oversight: Did INEC, despite Jega’s security precautions, have adequate internal monitoring of staff and contractors? Within the permitted limits, were the some 140-member EU election observer team – many of whom arrived weeks ago – truly able to assess the level of preparedness? And did external observers from many friendly countries show the insight and courage to read conditions and offer actionable advice (and perhaps assistance) in a timely manner?

·         Impact: Will INEC’s false start poison popular confidence in the series of three elections and overall results?  Was this loss of confidence someone’s underlying objective?  Any cleansing must be done inside and outside INEC, and Jega has only a short time to investigate.

Let us all recall the wonderful observation of Nigeria’s long-standing student and friend Sylvia Leith-Ross, who described Nigeria over 70 years ago as a place where “the possible is so frequently bungled and the impossible so elegantly accomplished.” 

May Professor Jega, his team, and the people of Nigeria once again achieve the impossible -- an elegant and credible election -- through characteristic hard work and good will.  Nigeria CAN do it.