A new Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, and five national commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), last week, scaled the Senate screening.
The National Commissioners are: Amina Bala Zakari, who was acting INEC chair as representative of the North-West; Dr. O. Taiye Okoosi (Kogi), North-Central; Alhaji Baba Shettima Arfo (Borno), North-East; Dr. Mohammed Mustapha Lecky (Edo), South-South; and Mr. Soyebi Adedeji Solomon (Ogun), South-West.
The nominees appeared before senators in the red chamber where Yakubu pledged to Nigerians some of those things he will do as the chief electoral umpire.
Excerpts from the question and answer session with the new INEC Chair.
A bill to the National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act and ensure candidates of political parties emerge a year to elections.
The success of elections depends on the ability of the electoral body to plan in advance. But in this country, we have this culture of last-minute rush. And, as a result, things are not done early. If six months is the time limit under the law at present, definitely we will look at the possibility of coming back to the National Assembly for an appropriate amendment of the Electoral Act to enable us have longer period of time that will allow longer period of preparation.
Coming to consolidate
Prof. Jega has done a marvelous job in reforming the electoral system of this country. I’m not coming in for experimentation. I’m coming for consolidation.
Willpower
In the service of this country, I can’t be intimidated. It is too late. I have the character of doing the right thing.
On e-voting
It is desirable and inevitable. If you look at the trajectory from the last 10 years, the voters’ register comes in an electronic form. Initially, it was just a register, then photographs were added. And in the last elections, photographs and biometrics were added.
So, it is inevitable that one day, we will go into electronic voting. But the experiences of other nations show that we have to tread cautiously. It is technology, if untried, untested, we may get bugged down. Is it pure electronic voting or electronic voting paper like they do in Venezuela?
We are still grappling with the problem of infrastructure either for simple ICT use in our institutions or in our places of work and homes. So, it’s desirable, inevitable, but we need to think through the implications of what we do. Otherwise, we may rush into it and just get bugged down.
There must be no room for experimentation. As far as I’m concerned, something happened in this country in 2015. And we need to consolidate on that rather than to begin new experimentation with longer span of testing the validity of the process.
Fortunately for us, at governorship level, we have staggered election by default. Very soon, it will be Kogi and Bayelsa. Thereafter, we will have Ondo, Ekiti, Osun, Edo and Anambra.
There must be a guiding principle: The workability of the technology and adequate consultation with stakeholders, the tested card reader and the challenges. Anything that is not tested will come up with challenges. The problem of technology is that it always comes with challenges.
On diaspora voting
That is inevitable. As a student of history, I know that there was a time in this country in the First Republic when political parties had branches overseas. And we have a large number of Nigerians overseas, one estimate put it at 15million.
They remit $20 billion annually in returns to the country. So, it’s desirable to have diaspora voting. We have to quicken the process for Nigerians in diaspora to vote.
On direct and indirect primaries
I will like to see a commission which consults widely rather than a commission which sits in judgement. There are mechanisms for consultation with the parties through quarterly meetings and the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC).
So, instead of making a commitment on direct or indirect primaries, we will throw that up for consultations with the political parties, at the end of which we will come up with what is the best method we should adopt. I have a problem with international best practices because we can’t adopt the experiences of other jurisdictions, we can only borrow.
On PVCs
About 70 million Nigerians registered for the 2015 elections; 56.3 million PVCs were distributed, 500,000 unprinted at the time of the elections, while 12.3 million were not distributed. Instead of finding fault on why they collected PVC in Borno and they did not collect elsewhere, I will ensure that, by this time next year, all the 12.3 million PVCs that were not distributed and the 500,000 unprinted are distributed.
Ahead of 2019 presidential election
There will be no issues with regard to PVCs collection as we will ensure that all eligible voters get their PVCs. People have the right to take the PVCs and not vote.
–Vanguard
