As the 2023 general elections draw ever closer the Independent National Electoral Commission has been left in no doubt that when the electoral activities begin properly , taking on the frenzy of an anthill, it will firmly be the center of attraction.
The multi-layered dysfunction with which Nigeria is diseased does not operate in a vacuum. It has multiple drivers and multiple deposits. A main deposit is to be found in Nigerian institutions of which INEC is a prominent one one.
In 1999, Nigeria returned to the path of democracy after decades of grueling military regimes left the country for dead. After a providential death brought to an end what was arguably the most brutal of those military regimes, Nigerians was due for a change. With the enactment of the 1999 constitution, the conduct of the 1999 elections and the full return of democracy, the ground was watered for institutions to be seeded.
INEC`S arduos task
Upon Nigeria`s return to democracy in 1999, the Independent National Electoral Commission was tasked with the conduct of the 1999 general elections. It went as well as it did. The Commission did its bit given the circumstances but it was still haunted by the ghost of the iniquitous annulment of the 1993 presidential elections which was done by its predecessor at the instance of the baleful military regime of Ibrahim Babangida.
Over the years, INEC like many other Nigerian institutions has had a fair share of its struggles. Like many Nigerian institutions, it has been convulsed by the ineptitude of its staff and poor funding. To these formidable challenges of ineptitude and poor funding, Nigeria`s premier electoral institution has had to add suffocating interference by the executive. As INEC has struggled to deliver on its constitutional mandates, a toxic brew of suspicion has been has whipped against the commission in the minds of Nigerians.
For many Nigerians, INEC is a mere tool in the hands of whoever is in charge of the country. This perception of what should be Africa`s foremost electoral umpire has been enduring. It has a long history. It comes from those days when stories spilled into the public domain of how some staff of a body supposedly independent and impartial contrived to twist electoral results to favour people that were otherwise marked for humiliating electoral defeats.
As judicial interventions began to sanitize the country `s electoral process in the mid-2000s, handing a string of jarring defeats to those who had stolen their way to electoral triumphs manipulating in the process a pliable INEC, the Commission had to sit up and ring much needed changes.
With the advent of technologies that aid electoral integrity, and with the legal frameworks put in place to accommodate necessary changes, INEC`s performance has continued to improve.
The Commission recently defied a late voter registration surge to conclude the voter registration exercise after more than a year since the exercise commenced.
The Commission is in the process of printing voter registration cards as well as cleaning up the voter Registrar all in a bid to improve the integrity of the 2023 general elections which will be a supreme test of Nigeria`s will and preparedness to continue as a country destined for progress and prosperity.
However, the recent revelation by the Commission that it delisted many double, multiple and ineligible registration discovered in the Continuous Voter Registration held between January 1 and July 31 from the voter registrar raises eyebrows.
Such a waste of human and material resources! The cost of the time, efforts and resources that went into what the Commission has now deemed infractions are incalculable.
If the sanctity and integrity of elections are to be preserved in Nigeria, then it is imperative that the processes leading up to elections should be free of errors as much as humanly possible.
INEC`s work appears cut out for it. But until the results of next year`s elections come in and public opinion satisfactorily collated, Nigerians will be watching closely and with not a little skepticism.
Kene Obiezu,
Twitter : @kenobiezu
