INEC and politics of 30,000 polling units

Eventual creation of additional 30,000 polling units by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) raises the bar of expectation on the Commission for free and fair elections in the country, CUDJOE KPOR argues.

The noisy controversy and angry disputes which followed the attempt by the electoral umpire to create 30,000 additional polling units (PUs) last year have suddenly ended. But Acting Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs. Amina Bala Zakari, resuscitated the project on September 2, after more than a year of its suspension. This time, a number of other government agencies teamed up with INEC to create the suspended constituency delimitation project for the additional PUs to ensure that all of them nationwide have an average of about 500 voters casting their ballots there on voting day.

Against that backdrop, Zakari, who took over from Professor Attahiru Jega, decided to complete her predecessor’s unfinished business. But now, all the high tension war drums are very intelligently silent.

Jega, the former INEC chairman, shelved the project ahead of the 2015 poll because their creation sparked heated protests from the South, with the allegation that they were skewed in favour of the North.

In retrospect, INEC announced in August 2014 that it would create the 30,000 additional PUs to bring the total number of PUs in the country from 120,000 to 150,000. With that optimal number, every polling unit nationwide would have about 500 voters.

The even spread of voters would make uniform time for all voters on Election Day. That way, some PUs with 1,000 voters will not be battling with accreditation, while others with, say, 200 voters, will be through with voting, for example.

Now, by the new configuration, 21,000 of the extra PUs were allocated to the 19 Northern states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) while about 9,000 were allocated to the 17 states in the South.

In other words, if the voting population had been equal in both North and South, there should be no problem: 15,000 in each geographical zone would suffice. But the hostile public reaction and the uninformed interpretations of INEC’s proposal made the commission suspend its implementation till after the April general elections.

INEC’s Secretary, Mrs. Augusta Ogakwu, had conveyed the commission’s capitulation to the public uproar on November 11, 2014, after INEC resisted the initial swell of pressure mounted by its opponents from the South.

Her words: “The commission met and reviewed reports sent in from the states by Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) on the reconfiguration of the polling units’ structure and creation of additional polling units.

“Taking everything into consideration – especially the controversy over creation of additional polling units that has been overheating the polity, and the apparent inadequacy of time for the exercise – the Commission took a decision to suspend the exercise until after the 2015 general elections.”

Early last month, Zakari indicated that INEC was ready to complete the exercise when Surveyor General of the Federation (SGOF), Ebisintei Awudu, led a delegation to meet her at the commission.

She noted that the delimitation exercise, which commenced before the last general election, was put on hold due to the high level of controversy generated by the project at that time.

She said: “Now that the elections are over, we have to dust up our Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and process the agreement to commence the delimitation.”

Apart from the Surveyor General, INEC is also partnering with agencies like Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), National Air Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), National Population Commission (NPC), among others, collaborating with it on the delimitation project.

Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation (OSGOF) will provide maps in addition to full technical support related to surveying and mapping in general and specifically in the upcoming Kogi governorship elections scheduled to hold on November 21 and that of Bayelsa on December 5. It will also support INEC with 2.5 million Satellite Imagery Map of the whole country, settlement data, training, technical and other logistics.

A week later, another controversial issue was laid to rest, when the commission assuaged frayed nerves by not announcing registration of new voters. Instead, it released the timetable for voters in Kogi and Bayelsa states who either transferred or relocated to other PUs to apply for change to their current PUs.

In the exercise, the deadline for change of PU for transferred and relocated voters in Kogi and Bayelsa for governorship polls was slated for Tuesday October 6 and Tuesday October 20 in that order.

Going by the new arrangement, anyone who has relocated outside the PU in which he registered cannot vote in the new location unless they transfer registration officially to the new PU. In other words, any voter who has already moved or who intends to transfer his registration must write an application to the INEC REC through the electoral officer of the local government area where he is currently residing.

“A person who has relocated to another place outside the (polling) unit in which he registered cannot vote in his new location unless he transfers his registration. The application should be written through the electoral officer of the local government area where he/she is currently residing.

“Such an application should contain the current address of the applicant. This will assist the commission in allocating the PU nearest to him,” it said, adding that the applicant should attach a photocopy of their Permanent Voter Card (PVC) to the application.

The constituency delimitation proposal had also drawn the ire of critics who rejected it because the PVCs of voters in the new PUs will not be configured to card-readers there. In other words, 500 voters in each of 30,000 PUs will have free-floating 15 million votes which riggers in INEC could allot to any party or candidate they wished.

While the controversy raged, INEC’s Electoral Operation Committee at its head office went ahead to create and announce the 30,000.

Now, the question arises: Were last year’s noisy altercations a problem of communication as it now appears in retrospect with the silence, or the opposition politics of empty barrels stood in the way of implementing the policy?

The question becomes more relevant especially as concerned critics in the South South, South East and South West geo-political zones had accused INEC of structural bias, with some leaders calling for Jega’s resignation.

In fact, some elders under the aegis of Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly (SNPA), such as former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, Ijaw leader Edwin Clark and prominent clergyman Emmanuel Gbonigi accused Jega of implementing a Northern agenda. The South East zone of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after a meeting in Umuahia, Abia State, dismissed INEC’s plan as a great disservice to the unity of the country and demanded its reversal.

At the height of the controversy, the Senate also directed the commission to discontinue the plan to set up the new PUs until after the 2015 election. The Senate Committee Chairman on INEC, Andy Uba, identified time as basis for the suspension of the project, stressing that time was too short to begin tinkering with existing PUs for an election that was almost at hand.

Jega had, however, explained that the distribution of the PUs was based on the existing voter’s register.

“There is no sectional or parochial agenda in this decision and there will never be any under this commission. The basic aim of the exercise we are presently undertaking is to ease access of voters to the ballot box by decongesting overcrowded PUs and dispersing voters as evenly as possible among all the Pus,” he said.

With the exercise on stream now, the expectation is that INEC would be able to configure the card readers and the PVCs for the 30,000 PUs before the Kogi and Bayelsa elections and make them PU-specific and not free-floating or transferable.

Analysts also insist that the voter register, with its biometric data, must be cleaned out as prerequisites to minimise fraud and ensure credible elections, not only in the new 30,000 PUs – but wherever election is taking place any time.