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Less than a month
to the commencement of the next general elections, politicians appear
to be scheming again to rig the polls. Attahiru Jega, the chairman of
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told a
beleaguered audience in Abuja that some high profile Nigerians were
involved in double registration.

“We even caught some high profile double registrants, and we will start with them in the area of prosecution,” Mr. Jega said.

Although the INEC
boss refused to mention the high profile Nigerians involved in the
double registration, what is not in doubt is that some politicians may
be getting ready to manipulate the forthcoming elections.

The rigged 2007 elections

The 2007 general
elections in the country were roundly condemned by local and
international observers as not meeting basic criteria for elections.
The European Union Election Observation Mission in Nigeria 2007 stated
in its report that, “the 2007 election process was not credible, and in
view of the lack of transparency and evidence of fraud, there can be no
confidence in the results.”

This conclusion by
the EU was supported by other local and foreign observers. Late
president, Umaru Yar’Adua, also admitted in his inaugural speech that
the election that brought him to power was not free and fair. The
courts also confirmed the monumental flaws that characterized the
elections with the courts upturning no fewer than nine governorship
election results. But both INEC and politicians did not appear to have
learnt anything from the previous elections of 2003, which was also
condemned by both local and international observers.

The US damning verdict in 2003

The United States
also believes the 2003 elections were a sham. In a cable sent from the
US embassy in Nigeria to Washington D.C, officials reported the 2003
elections, particularly those held in the South-South region of
Nigeria, as flawed saying “the degree of election tampering varied
starkly across and within the region’s states.”

The Americans
described the election in Delta State in 2003 as bad, Edo State was
very bad, while that of Rivers State was very, very bad. The cable,
which was sent on April 28, 2003, to the White House, accused the
ruling People’s Democratic Party of being the major perpetrators of the
electoral heist.

“Massive vote rigging took place with the egregious collaboration of PDP agents and security personnel,” the cable stated.

The election in Rivers State was described as very, very bad by the
American Government because “in no LGAs (local government areas) did
foreign or domestic observers find the process remotely approaching
free or fair elections.”