Nigeria Content Online

Despite a rather
shaky start, the April national elections have kicked off and
indications so far suggest that they will be fairer and more credible
than Nigerians expected. It is true that we have only just voted in the
first of three major polls, but the account of the voting in these
elections has been fairly positive so far.
The turnout was
encouraging, though not as high as it could have been. For instance, in
Kano, a place with seven million registered voters, only two million
came out to vote. Clearly, there is room for improvement but it is a
good start, and it is likely that more voters will turn out for the
most important poll — the presidential.
Across the country,
voters seem satisfied with the conduct of the election.

When I asked a
friend in Kano — a loyal supporter of one of the parties expected to do
well in the state but which performed woefully — for his assessment, he
said: “We lost fair and square”. He didn’t make any reference to
rigging and admitted that his party’s loss was more to do with its
inability to connect with voters.
Although there were
reports of intimidation, violence, voters who couldn’t find their names
on the register, underage voting and even attempted rigging, it seems
these incidents were not widespread.

The Independent National Electoral
Commission has announced that it will be holding rerun elections in
some wards across three councils in the Anambra Central senatorial
district. Undoubtedly, over the next few days, we will see more
election cancellations in a few other places.
Results are already
being challenged in certain areas, with candidates and parties sending
petitions to the electoral umpire. Some of these cases will certainly
end up in front of election tribunals and the courts but indications
are they will be in the minority. The general consensus is that by and
large, the votes of those who went to the polls counted. The European
Observer Mission said of the polls, “We observed an overall encouraging
conduct of the elections in a generally peaceful atmosphere. Our
observers reported that the majority of visited polling units were
operational, and that accreditation and voting were mainly conducted in
a timely manner. However, problems such as inaccurate voter’s registers
and inconsistent implementation of electoral procedures were observed
and need to be addressed before the next elections.”
The architect of
this relatively free and fair poll is President Goodluck Jonathan.

Time
and time again, he has reiterated his commitment to ensuring that
people’s votes count. Many, including me, were sceptical of the
president’s utterances. It’s not surprising really because Nigerians
have become wary of listening to politicians make promises they never
fulfil. But as the English like to say, the taste of the pudding is in
the eating. So it has come to pass that the incumbent government does
not appear to have launched a rigging machine as was seen in the 2007
elections.
In order to fulfil
his promise, President Jonathan relied on Attahiru Jega to deliver
credible polls.

This, to an extent, the man has done. Last week, some
Nigerians were calling for his head; today, they are singing his
praises to the high heavens. However, the job is just starting. The
bigger test will be with the presidential polls where the stakes are
higher. Mr. Jega must use the days he has left to ensure that his
logistics arrangements are effective. That he minimises the late start
in the polls as experienced in some places last Saturday. That voter
register anomalies are corrected and also as important, make it clear
that he will have no hesitation nullifying polls which fall short of
acceptable standards.

True, our standards are low to begin with but if the presidential
and gubernatorial polls are conducted in an atmosphere of peace devoid
of massive rigging, and the majority of those who come out to vote are
able to do so, many Nigerians, even those whose candidates lose would,
I am certain, be satisfied. These polls can be the foundation upon
which we build a more credible electoral system and the winner in all
this will be Nigeria.