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Jega as the Juggler at INEC
By Abubakar Mustapha
Newsdiaryonline Frid April 1st 2011
The notion that one individual can make the difference of a life
time in certain problem areas of governance and the practice of
democracy in general was given a new fillip with the appointment
of Professor Attahiru Jega as the INEC Chairman . Everyone was
ecstatic at the mere mention of his name among those being
considered out of a widespread conviction that Professor Jega,
the articulate and highly seminal academic with an appropriately
"radical" track record in "opposition" trade unionism as former
ASUU President, could provide the singular surgical solution to
the stubborn issue of corruption and connivance of INEC to
thwart elections against the popular wishes of Nigerians. It is
of course natural to expect radical academicians who constantly
and stridently criticize governments and their functionaries
through media spotlights to indeed have the answers to the
problems as they profess and pontificate their way to fame. Thus
it was that Professor Attahiru Jega was consciously railroaded
into the INEC Pandora’s box and expected, no, required to live
up to his self-made reputation as Mr Know It All now being
invited to Fix It !
But embedded in that public profiling of Professor Jega as a
"radical lecturer" and "social critic" is the bug of mindset
which has long ago become very much part of the psyche of the
professor as he latched onto the euphoria of public acclaim to
see himself and indeed portray himself as anti-establishment as
well as populist in the Nigerian context. Paradoxically, this
stance thrust Professor Jega out as a valuable resource person
and beneficiary of a potpourri of patronages by expertly
meandering his way through the abyss of conferencing and "workshopping"
dubiously dedicated to proffering insights and panaceas to the
hydra-headed Nigerian Factor. His earlier appointment as VC of
BUK marked the professor’s watershed, not Waterloo as advocated
by several of his colleagues of the radical fringe who were
outraged that he finally capitulated to the other side. But the
professor obviously saw it differently. It is not capitulation
but co-habitation for the purpose of leveraging the creaking
machinery of government to serve the populist cause. Yes, if you
can’t beat them from outside, beat them from within!
This provides an accurate analysis of the antecedents of
Professor Attahiru Jega as they affect his perception and
mindset in accepting national assignments, especially as a
diagnosis for the some recent impolitic posturing of INEC which
raises serious questions about the sincerity of the professor in
taking up the task of electoral umpire in a political duel,
after establishing himself firmly on one side of the terrain. It
is an open secret that as far as the so-called opposition camp
of populists and radicals is concerned the only proof of the
freeness an fairness of the general elections is a change in the
political configuration to replace the
ruling PDP. This wishful dream is however an impractical
proposition given the superior physical and logistic prowess of
the PDP that literally towers far above even the biggest
opposition party whether ACN, CPC or ANPP. The original
advantage of the PDP lies in its role as the first formidable
mainstream of the civilian political class that proved capable
of pulling the military out and taking over the reins of
government for the sovereign will of the people for democratic
rule. Since 1999, the party has only waxed stronger while
gallantly conceding isolated few states for the fledgling
opposition parties and even today with the Goodluck/Sambo
providential presidential ticket making waves across the land,
there is no indication of any change as envisaged by the
utopians of the opposition. So if free and fair elections cannot
provide the magic carpet for the radical populists, they must be
hinging their outlandish hope on Professor Jega’s potential to
use technical tricks to tilt the scales.
Lest you think this is unrealistic, please consider the INEC
stance on the brazen violation of its much-touted Code of
Conduct for the April elections pertaining to the use of
violence for campaigns by the CPC. A clear case of organized
vandalization of the PDP offices and other property in Gombe by
the riotous entourage of CPC leader General Buhari so soon after
unveiling the Code of Conduct and adopting it accordingly, yet
Professor Jega is unable to bring the statutory sanctions of
instant disqualification to bear on the errant CPC ! Shocked by
the mindless brigandage visited on the PDP by its mobs, the CPC
got its leader to apologize to President Goodluck Jonathan whose
campaign structures were especially targeted, thereby admitting
culpability. Is this not suspiciously contrary to the
"no-nonsense, firm and unbiased" credentials flaunted by Jega
and his cohorts ?
Jega also gave himself away by hurriedly triggering INEC into a
needless appeal of the court verdict which exempted certain
governors from the April elections as a consequence of
court-imposed fresh tenures at varying times after their initial
assumption of office as elected governors in 2007. Bearing in
mind that it was the respective governors and their parties that
initiated the litigation after INEC arbitrarily nullified the
effect of such fresh tenures, there is more than meets the eye
in the unjustified persistence of INEC in curtailing the
effective tenures of the affected governors. We had barely
recovered from this bolt from the blue before Jega was again
alleged to be preparing another bombshell in the form of a
manipulation of the election sequence to commence with the
presidential poll instead of the already fixed and accepted
sequence provided for in the Electoral Act. This tactical move
was generally seen to be solely aimed at favouring the
opposition and General Buhari in particular.
These last minute maneuvers by the Jega-led INEC should not be
taken lightly because they are fully loaded ploys that are
capable of not only discrediting the process but also
jeopardizing the free, fair and smooth conduct of the elections
and transition to a new administration. We cannot all be
hoodwinked into attributing some super-human neutrality on
Professor Jega by turning a blind eye to his highly suggestive
body movements as compiled here. An evolutionary process is the
established path to sustainable democratic dispensations which
all true democrats and genuinely impartial stakeholders in the
polity should protect and uphold at all times. The current
democratic dispensation is barely a decade and a half old and is
already making steady progress towards meeting the citizens
expectations. Undue radicalism and populist exuberance in the
management of INEC as is being noticed nowadays can only crash
land the process and postpone the emancipation of the masses
from the machinations of ideologues. Jega should please note
that he has spots like a leopard and cannot change them at will
!
Mustapha Zukogi can be reached at
Mustapha_zukogi@gmail.com
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