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Attahiru
Jega, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission is
receiving a lot of flak, and many will say rightfully so, for the
fiasco which unfolded on Saturday. He postponed the National Assembly
election because according to him, an “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.’’

The electoral body
appears to have had serious logistic failures that meant voting
materials like ballot papers and score sheets didn’t reach their
destination on time. This is the official explanation. However, in
Nigeria nothing is ever that straight forward. Theories abound about
the real reasons for the postponement. They include a conspiracy theory
that suggests Mr. Jega is being sabotaged by his own staff who have
been ‘settled’ so he can be disgraced and forced to resign; to rumours
about governors who hijacked election materials forcing Mr. Jega to
first consider postponing election in a few states, and then nationwide
because it became clear that theft of electoral material was once more
widespread than INEC first realised.

There is also a
rumour that this is a ploy by incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan to
postpone elections to extend his tenure of office. Then there are those
who say that the President has no hand in the fiasco unfolding but will
get blamed anyway because that is the nature of things in this country.

It really shouldn’t
matter which of these stories we believe. Whether it is the official
version by INEC or the many other stories making the rounds. What is
clear is that Mr. Jega and INEC were certain that under the
circumstances they could not hold credible polls. So should they have
gone ahead and conducted the elections anyway? It is a tough question
and the decision to postpone was probably not taken lightly.

This is probably
one of the most anticipated election in Nigeria in recent times, an
election that has swallowed billions and billions of naira. This is an
umpire that has put his personal integrity on the line. A man who has
promised Nigerians in no uncertain terms that he will deliver the
fairest elections they have ever seen.

On the balance, it
would appear Mr. Jega and his team made the right decision. And there
can be no doubt that it was a bold and courageous move. It isn’t easy
to admit failure especially on such a national scale and for an
assignment of such importance. It might have been easier for Mr. Jega
to allow the elections to take place, flawed as the process was and try
to wiggle his way out of trouble later.

Whatever the issues
are that led to this debacle; it is hard to see how the electoral body
can fix them before tomorrow. Nonetheless, many Nigerians appear
prepared to give Mr. Jega and INEC the benefit of the doubt. So the
electoral body should be praying for a miracle because if they are
unable to give Nigerians the elections they want and deserve tomorrow,
many will be demanding for someone’s head and that would be right.