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It’s possible that
the Independent National Electoral Commission Chair, Attahiru Jega,
thinks that with a ‘seasoned media professional’ as his spokesperson,
he needn’t bother too much about dealing with the media or getting his
message across to the public. At least, apart from the big ticket items
like postponing elections and saying, ‘Sorry’.

That would be a mistake.

That, at least,
was my conclusion as I watched his spokesperson evading a reporter’s
question about whether rumours that Jega had resigned were true.
Instead of giving a straight answer, Kayode Idowu just kept smirkingly
repeating: “We don’t respond to rumours.” That assertion was of course
(and necessarily) at variance with the actuality: INEC had to come out
and reaffirm that National Assembly elections would indeed be held in
Lagos on April 9 in direct response to rumours that they would not. And
with the announcement that elections will now not be held in three
Federal Constituencies in Lagos State, among some 63 National Assembly
elections nationwide, it is fair to conclude that there was some truth
in those rumours.

Perhaps the gap on
INEC’s media front explains why the postponement and apology press
statements have been so badly handled. Surely, media experts ought to
have advised Jega that a press statement of the nature he made at high
noon on Saturday April 2, would either have to be supported by a
detailed technical briefing by other INEC National Commissioners, or be
followed by a question and answer session?

That, in turn, might have encouraged someone at the commission to anticipate the kind of questions that might arise.

As it is, one is
left with the distinct impression that at each stage, INEC is not quite
thinking it through, and that this, at least as much as the vital
business of clearing up the mess, is why its Chairman hurries away from
press conferences, only to try to deal with some questions that ought
to have been answered at the previous briefing when he comes to the
next. For example, why ballot papers full of mistakes were again
produced. Having consistently argued that the key to INEC’s success
will be transparency, transparency, transparency, including showing
parties what ballot papers will contain before printing them, this
writer naturally rejects the suggestion that such unnecessary secrecy
is conducive to security.

Simple questions
INEC might have anticipated at the first postponement conference and
which remain valid include: whether the commission has a means of
directly communicating with its officials in the field, and if so, why
it didn’t appear to be working and whether it will be working for
future elections in the cycle.

With the second
statement further postponing the National Assembly elections to
Saturday, April 9, this time (thankfully) coming before we got all
dressed up again with no place to go, the obvious question, which
remains valid, would have been why the whole timetable was being pushed
forward. Why couldn’t the April 9 Presidential election go ahead as
scheduled? Certainly, with the further postponement of some National
Assembly elections to April 26, suggestions that INEC would not be able
to cope with conducting three elections (President, Senate and House of
Representatives) at the same time sound particularly hollow, since some
areas will now have to hold four elections (Governor, State House of
Assembly, Senate and House of Representatives) on the same Easter
Tuesday! Again, while holding the National Assembly elections first
might have been justifiable when time was not so tight, we must now
bear in mind that it is the newly-elected and sworn-in President who
inaugurates the National Assembly, but that he must be in place by May
29. What happens if there has to be a run-off election? Or two? With
governors also subject to possible run-off elections but bound by the
same May 29 deadline, what is the thinking behind pushing their own
election forward to April 26, particularly when the courts have struck
down the National Assembly’s attempt to fix the order of elections?

At times like
this, Nigerians tend to resort to the French language, what with voters
being urged to come out en masse hoping that voting materials that were
en route will have arrived in time.

But the French
expression that I’m hoping will tell the story is réculer pour mieux
sauter. It’s what jumpers do: they go right up to the take-off board,
but instead of jumping immediately, draw back for a long run-in so that
they can make a much better jump. As Salomé probably said the next
morning: I have no use for this man’s head! But by the time of reading,
with so much chicanery already exposed, we’ll know whether Jega has
indeed been able to make a better jump.