Ladies and Gentlemen, We invited you here today to make known the position of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the timetable for the 2015 general elections. Let me state from the outset that the Commission’s position was reached after carefully weighing the suggestions from briefings held with different stakeholders in the electoral process.
The conduct of elections in a country
like Nigeria is invariably a collective venture that involves not just the
Election Management Body (EMB), but also a diverse range of stakeholders,
notably security agencies, political parties and their candidates, voters, as
well as interest groups, such as the civil society organizations and the media.To
guarantee successful conduct of elections, there are things that are wholly the
responsibility of the EMB. But there are other things critical for the success
of elections, which fall outside the control of the EMB.
In other words, while INEC must work
hard to perfect its systems and processes for conducting elections, and take
responsibility for any imperfections thereof, whatever the Commission does may
not by itselfbe sufficient to guarantee the success of elections. There are a
number of issues in the preparation and conduct of an election, the most
critical of which is security, which is not under the control of INEC.
Current
State of INEC’s Preparedness
On Thursday, February 5, 2015, I was
invited to brief the National Council of State, which is the highest advisory
to the President comprising past and present leaders in Nigeria, on the level
of preparedness of INEC to conduct the 2015 general elections. I made a
presentation to the Council titled ‘Preparations
for the 2015 General Elections: Progress Report,’ in which I gave a
detailed account of what the Commission has been doing in readiness for the
national elections (National Assembly and Presidential) scheduled for February
14th, and the state elections (Governorship and State Assembly)
scheduled for February 28th, 2015.
The summary of my presentation to the
National Council of State meeting is that, for matters under its control, INEC is substantially ready for the general
elections as scheduled, despite discernible challenges being encountered with some
of its processes like the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by
registered members of the public.
In addition, INEC has been doing
everything it can to facilitate the collection of the PVCs by registered
members of the public.As at 5thFebruary 2015, the total number of
PVCs collected was 45, 829, 808, representing 66.58% of the total number of
registered voters.
In the delivery and deployment of electoral
materials, INEC is also at a comfort level in its readiness for the general
elections as scheduled (see the presentation to the Council of State). The
Commission’s preparations are not yet perfect or fully accomplished. But our
level of preparedness, despite a few challenges, is sufficient to conduct free,
fair and credible elections as scheduled on February 14th and
February 28th. Compared with 2011 when, within a short time, we
conducted general elections that were universally adjudged free, fair and
credible and the best in Nigeria’s recent electoral history, our processes are
today better refined, more robust and therefore capable of delivering even
better elections.
Other
Variables
But as I mentioned earlier, there are
some other variables equally crucial for successful conduct of the 2015 general
elections that are outside the control of INEC. One important variable is
security for the elections.
While the Commission has a very good
working relationship with all security agencies, especially on the platform of
the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) since its
inception in 2010, it has become pertinent for it to seriously consider the
security advisory presented to it by the Security and Intelligence Services. I
would like to reiterate here that INEC is an EMB and not a security agency. It
relies on the security services to provide a safe environment for personnel,
voters, election observers and election materials to conduct elections wherever
it deploys. Where the security services strongly advise otherwise, it would be
unconscionable of the Commission to deploy personnel and call voters out in
such a situation.
Last Wednesday, which was a day before
the Council of State meeting, the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA)
wrote a letter to the Commission, drawing attention to recent developments in
four Northeast states of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe currently experiencing
the challenge of insurgency. The letter stated that security could not be guaranteed
during the proposed period in February for the general elections.
This advisory was reinforced at the
Council of State meeting on Thursday where the NSA and all the Armed Services
and Intelligence Chiefs unanimously reiterated that the safety and security of
our operations cannot be guaranteed, and that the Security Services needed at
least six weeks within which to conclude a major military operation against the
insurgency in the Northeast; and that during this operation, the military will
be concentrating its attention in the theatre of operations such that they may
not be able to provide the traditional support they render to the Police and
other agencies during elections.
INEC’s
Decision
We have done wide ranging consultation
to enable us have as much input as is necessary before taking an informed
decision. In the series of consultations that we held with stakeholders, the
questions consistently posed to them for consideration are:
(i)
In view of the latest
development, should INEC proceed with the conduct of the general elections as
scheduled in spite of this strong advice; and if so, what alternative security
arrangements are available to be put in place?
(ii)
Or, should INEC take
the advice and adjust the schedules of the general elections within the framework
of Constitutional provisions?
The Commission held a
meeting after the consultations, and decided to take the advice of the Security
Chiefs and adjust the dates of the elections. We have done this relying on
Section 26(1) of the Electoral 2010 (As Amended), which states thus: “Where a
date has been appointed for the holding of an election, and there is reason to
believe that a serious breach of the peace is likely to occur if the election
is proceeded with on that date or it is impossible to conduct the elections as
a result of natural disasters or other emergencies, the Commission may postpone
the election and shall in respect of the area, or areas concerned, appoint
another date for the holding of the postponed election, provided that such
reason for the postponement is cogent and verifiable”.
INEC notbeing a security agency that could
by itself guarantee protection for personnel and materials, as well as voters
during elections, the Commission cannot lightly wave off the advice by the nation’s
Security Chiefs. The Commission is specifically concerned about the security of
our ad hoc staff who constitute at least 600,000 young men and women, together
with our regular staff, voters, election observers as well as election
materials painstakingly acquired over the last one and half years. This concern
is limited not just to the areas in the North-eastern part of Nigeria
experiencing insurgency; the risk of deploying young men and women and calling
people to exercise their democratic rights in a situation where their security
cannot be guaranteed is a most onerous responsibility. Under such
circumstances, few EMBs across the world, if any, would contemplate proceeding
with the elections as scheduled. No matter the extent of INEC’s preparedness,
therefore, if the security of personnel, voters, election observers and
election materials cannot be guaranteed, the life of innocent young men and
women as well the prospects of free, fair, credible and peaceful elections
would be greatly jeopardised.
Consequently, the Commission has decided
to reschedule the 2015 general elections thus: the national elections (i.e. Presidential
and National Assembly) are now to hold on March 28th, 2015; while
the state elections (Governorship and State Assembly) are to hold on April 11th,
2015. It should be noted that this rescheduling falls within the constitutional
framework for the conduct of the elections, notably, Sections 76(2), 116(2),
132(2) and 178(2). See also Section 25 of the Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended).
For the avoidance of doubt, we will
under no circumstances approve an arrangement that is not in line with the
provisions of our laws. Our hope is that with this rescheduling, the security
services will do their best to ensure that the security environment needed for
safe and peaceful conduct of the 2015 elections is rapidly put in place.
We in INEC reassure all Nigerians and
indeed the international community of our commitment to do everything within the
law and to conduct free, fair, credible and peaceful elections. We call on the
security agencies to honour their commitment to restore sufficient normalcy for
elections to take place within the period of extension. We also call on
Nigerians, political parties, candidates and all other stakeholders to accept this
decision in good faith and ensure the maintenance of peace.
As for us in INEC we’ll endeavour to use
the period of the extension to keep on perfecting our systems and processes for
conducting the best elections in Nigeria’s history. In particular, we believe
that we would resolve all outstanding issues related to non-collection of PVCs,
which agitate the minds of many Nigerians.
Finally, we wish to call on all
Nigerians to accept our decision, which is taken in good faith and the best
interest of deepening democracy ion our country.
Thank you.
Professor Attahiru M. Jega, OFR
Chairman, INEC
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