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“The office of the INEC chairman is a
mausoleum of reputations. Hope Jega’s has not begun the journey to
embalmment,” a Nigerian commentator said of Saturday’s election
postponement.

The news first came via an
Ibadan-based journalist. He informed his editors in Lagos, that a
source told him, that INEC will postpone the National Assembly
elections. One of the editors dismissed it outrightly, saying there
would have been a formal announcement and the commission cannot do
that, “it would be disastrous,” he concluded.

But the other editors started to work
the phones. And bit by bit, information kept trickling in that the
elections would be cancelled. First, it was some parts of the Federal
Capital Territory. Then, Niger, Edo, Plateau, Ekiti, Rivers, and Taraba
States.

Some minutes after noon, the INEC big
masquerade, Attahiru Jega, in a press briefing, confirmed what some
Nigerians had suspected. The elections, he said, have been postponed
till Monday, April 4, while offering his apologies and regrets.

The initial reports across the country
were basically that of lateness. Anxious voters all ready and waiting
to exercise their franchise, but INEC officials were not in sight. A
drive across Oshodi-Isolo local government area of Lagos State between
9 and 9:30am revealed committed voters and security agents waiting on
the commission. Young men played football to while away the time and
accreditation of voters did not commence on time.

Mr. Jega’s excuse was that result
sheets were not ready for the elections. “The reason for this is the
unanticipated emergency we have experienced with late arrival of result
sheets in many parts of the country. The result sheets are central to
the elections and their integrity. Accordingly, in many places, our
officials have not reported at the polling units, making it now
difficult to implement the Modified Open Ballot procedure that we have
adopted,” the chairman said.

Mr. Jega assumed office in July 2010
and by August, the Senate approved N87.7 billion for INEC under his
watch; a situation that had never been witnessed before in the country.
The money was meant for vehicles, collapsible ballot boxes, voter
register review, hotel accommodation for state INEC electoral
commissioners, and other items. Mercifully, a further request for N6.6
billion last February to complete the voters’ registration that was
extended by a week, was turned down by the National Assembly.

Questions, more questions

As Nigerians debate the propriety or
otherwise of this postponement, there are many questions that ought to
be answered. The country was shut down yesterday and if the elections
will hold tomorrow, who bears the cost of tomorrow’s economic
paralysis? How true is it that some state governors’ attempts to
manipulate the elections prompted the non-availability of the result
sheets, thereby forcing a postponement? Is it better to suffer
postponement than to have elections fraught with irregularities? Will
anybody bear the cost of this late delivery, after all the money the
exercise has gulped?

The political science professor came
to office with a lot of goodwill, as nearly all Nigerians admitted he
is one of the best, for the thankless job of elections’ chief umpire.
Moreover, he was part of an electoral reform panel headed by former
Chief Justice Mohammed Uwais and the INEC job offered him a vantage
position to correct some of the ills the panel identified. But while
some Nigerians are still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt,
as seen in their comments after the postponement, will tomorrow’s
elections not witness similar hiccups? Is the commission truly ready
for the elections?

Good and credible election used to be regarded as a fanciful
concept, something beyond the reach of successive electoral bodies in
our country; can Attahiru Jega take us to the Promised Land?