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Foremost democracy
monitoring group, the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has asked the
new chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),
Attahiru Jega, to flush out all officers of the commission who worked
with his predecessor, Maurice Iwu in order to ensure credible elections
are held next year.

The group also
asked Mr Jega to commence the review of the voters’ register,
especially with a view to removing names of none existent people from
the from the document. TMG, which hailed the appointment of the new
chairman and the subsequent confirmation, said in a statement signed by
its national coordinator, Mashood Erubami, and publicity secretary,
Auwal Rasfanjani, on Monday, that the country is dangerously transiting
towards the 2011 elections, adding that it is appropriate for him to
take definite steps so that future elections will not fail.

The group said the
removal of those that worked with Mr Iwu and the review of the voters’
register have become necessary if the nation is to hold a credible
election. “In the first instance, most of the people that worked with
Prof. Maurice Iwu are by the current imperatives for fair elections
unnecessary land mines that must be removed from the path of
progressive advancement of the election administration umpire,” stated
the group. “Secondly, the fundamental review of the current fraudulent
and non- transparent and verifiable collated Voters Register is a
desirable step that must be swiftly taken as a good measure to divest
the register of its content of Ghosts and foreign names which have
undermined the register from being an essential ingredient for
conducting free and fair elections.”

Meeting the expectations of the electorate

TMG also advised Mr
Jega to ensure that the foundation of the country’s electoral system is
rooted in the constitution and related electoral laws. This way,
according to the group, the expectations of Nigeria electorate in 2011
will not be doomed. The group also urged the new INEC boss to make
inclusiveness, transparency and accountability, the prerequisites for
peaceful, participative and credible elections in Nigeria. “To this
extent, INEC must be seen to be properly constituted by non partisan
elements from the society and must not be seen to be demonstrating
allegiance to head of state, the ruling party, or show it has political
allies, so as to build confidence in the electorate and build
confidence of the people in the elections it will conduct.

The attitude
of winners take all by any political party, using extraneous means that
are foreign to the electoral laws must not be permitted at anytime, so
as not to worsen the current ethnic tensions and religious bigotry in
the country,” the TMG said.
Reactions to Mr. Jega‘s selection as the umpire for the 2011 general
elections has been mostly positive, but fears have been expressed about
his ability to do the job if systemic problems are not addressed.