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Jega Recounts Experience As INEC Chairman and His Battles With Power-thirsty Politicians
Posted by Lolade on Fri 30th Oct, 2015 - tori.ngImmediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, has recounted his experience in the hands of politicians, while he headed the commission.
Former INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega
Professor Attahiru Jega, who was a hero at the 2015 general elections, has spoken about his experience when he was in the commission.
Accordng to the former INEC boss, he had to battle with politicians who were desperate to own power at all cost and “militicians’ who tried to subvert the will of the people.
Jega revealed this at the first University of Abuja public lecture on Thursday, October 29, Vanguard reports
“From my experience, I quite often say that Nigeria has a special breed of politicians (Militicians). They generally tend to believe that political power through elections has to be ‘captured,’ and this has to be done by hook or by crook; and by any means necessary. To them, winning election is, literally, a do-or-die affair.
“INEC faced perhaps its greatest challenge in containing the predisposition and reckless mindset of Nigerian politicians. Any wonder then that our political arena increasingly resembled a bloody battlefield, with maiming, killing, burning, and unimaginable destruction of lives and property.
“A series of badly conducted elections could create perpetual political instability and easily reverse the gains of democratization. If adequate care is not taken, badly conducted elections can totally undermine democratization and replace it with authoritarian rule, of the civilian or military varieties.
“At best, they can install inept and corrupt leadership that can herald, if not institutionalize, bad governance. There are many illustrations or manifestations of this throughout Africa. But nowhere is this as amply illustrated as in the Nigerian case, especially between 1999 and 2007," he said.
“The 2007 elections were manifestly the worst in Nigeria’s history, as declared by both domestic and international observers. The EU observer mission, for example, noted that the elections fell ‘short of basic international standards,’ and were characterized by violence and crude use of money to buy votes.
“There was reckless mobilization of ethno-religious cleavages and heightened use of money and thugs to influence results. The pre-electoral processes, such as party primaries, were conducted in grossly undemocratic fashion. In many cases, the results were said to have gone to the highest bidder.
“The winner of the presidential election, late President Umaru Yar’Adua, himself admitted on the day of his inauguration that there were serious flaws in the election that brought him to power. There are also other associated challenges. For example, meeting the production deadlines in the production of PVCs was seriously affected by power failures, which damaged equipment, which the vendor could not quickly replace."
Jega also hailed the appointment of Professor Mahmood Yakubu as the new chairman of the commission and said he would make the country proud.
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