2019: Between Southern leaders and INEC chairman

Some weeks back, opinion leaders from the Southern states and the Middle Belt under the aegis of Southern, Middle Belt Leaders Forum addressed the media in Abuja where they demanded the sack of the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu. Opinions have been divided ever since that media conference. Group Politics Editor, TAIWO ADISA, examines the undying suspicion of INEC’s as elections approach.

Somehow, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as presently constituted, has got an unenviable tag of being an outpost of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). And the perception is not just hanging in the air. Those who hold the perception believe that the manner in which President Muhammadu Buhari constituted the commission left much to be desired.

First, the president chose to pick the chairman of the commission from the north, he himself being a northerner. Previous governments had shied away from doing that, ostensibly to create the impression that the leader was ready to uphold the independence of the body and give a sense of balance and equity within the polity. Professor Mahmood Yakubu is from Bauchi, while Buhari is from Katsina State, both states regarded as core northern states.

Southern, Middle- Belt leaders react

Bolstered by the undying perception challenges of the electoral commission, the leadership of Southern and Middle Belt Forum, comprising leaders of the Pan-Yoruba socio-political Organisation, Afenifere; the apex Igbo socio-cultural association, Ohanaeze Ndigbo; the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) representing the South-South and the Middle Belt Forum drawn from ethnic nationalities in 14 of the 19 states of the north, met in Abuja and passed what amounted to a vote of no confidence in INEC.

The forum demanded the sack of Professor Mahmood Yakubu, as it insisted that there was no guarantee of free, fair and credible election under his watch. The forum said it was worried by the audacious refusal of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to submit to constituted authorities and equally demanded the immediate sack of the IGP and the INEC chairman.

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Eminent leaders who belong to the forum include Chief Edwin Clark, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Chief John Nwodo, Air Commodore Dan Suleiman, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, and Yinka Odumakin.

A communique made public at the end of the meeting held at the Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, raised “accumulated indications” showing that INEC might rig the 2019 elections in favour of President Buhari.

“The latest in the serial assaults on decency in public affairs is the audacious refusal of the police to submit to civil authority and the elastic tolerance of the growing impunity of its inspector-general.”

The communique further declared: “It is on record that the IGP has defied the authority of the president when he refused to relocate to Benue State to restore law and order.

“Since the president confessed that the IGP ignored his directive, there has been no evidence of his compliance with the order and no sanction has been imposed on him for this.”

The Communiqué reads in part: “Apart from keeping the current service chiefs who ought to have retired, retaining them in conjunction with the choice of INEC chairman is very suspicious an in tandem with the narrative that they are poised to play partisan roles in favour of the incumbent.

“We have fears that INEC may not be able to deliver free and fair election as the bug of nepotism and sectionalism that this administration is renowned for has also eaten up the leadership of the commission.

“From 1960 till date, only President Muhammadu Buhari has been audacious to pick only people who are either his relations or of the same ethnic stock with him to lead the electoral a body. The Balewa government headed by a northerner appointed Professor Eyo Ita Esua from the south who was in charge of Federal Electoral Commission from 1960 to 1966.

“General Olusegun Obasanjo, a Yoruba man, set up the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) under Michael Ani (1976-1979). President Shehu Shagari from the North appointed Victor Ovie Whiskey (1980-1983) from Bendel State as the electoral boss.

“When Dr. Goodluck Jonathan came in from South-South, he appointed Professor Attahiru Jega from the North-West (June 2010 October 2015).

“It is only President Muhammadu Buhari who first appointed his relation from the North-West, Mrs Amina Zakari, as acting chairman when he became president in 2015 before he appointed Prof Mahmood Yakubu from the North-East, as substantive chairman. The relationship between the powerful Amina Zakari and the NBC chairman is so strong that it has the tendency to influence the outcome of the election in favour of the appointee

But Human Rights activist and the senator representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani, was quick to fault the proposal, stating that the call was premature.

Co-secretary of the forum, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said that the leaders would not back down on their demand for the sack of Yakubu in view of what they called “accumulated indications” suggestive of plans to rig the elections.

But Sani told newsmen in Abuja that the call for Yakubu’s sack was unnecessary as, according to him, the INEC boss has not demonstrated any propensity for rigging the election.

Sani’s statement read in part: “The recent call for the removal of INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, made by the Middle Belt and Southern Leaders is unnecessary and uncalled for. The incumbent INEC chairman has not in any way demonstrated inclination or proclivity to unfairness or injustice in his conduct and his leadership of the electoral umpire.

“The leaders have the fundamental right to raise issues and observations in any of the activities of INEC and demand redress. The track records of the chairman and his pedigree are enough assurance and guarantee to give him the benefit of the doubt to lead INEC through the next elections.”

A coalition of civil society groups under the banner of the Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group (IDSDG) also rose in defence of the INEC boss, stating that the Southern and Middle Belt leaders got it wrong.

The briefing in Abuja was attended by leaders of the coalition, including Dr Chima Amadi, executive director of IDSDMG; Mr Ledum Mitee, former Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) president, Okechukwu Nwanguma of the Network of Police Reform in Nigeria; Comrade Ezenwa Nwagwu of Partners for Electoral Reforms.

Others are, Faith Nwadishi, Director, Contact and Mobilization, ISDMG; MacDonald Ekemezie of the Koyenum Immalah Foundation, Aminu Mahmud of the

Public Interest Lawyers League; Mr Akindele Lawson, National Democratic Alliance, the  Yoruba Revolutionary Assembly and  Comrade Sheriff Mulade Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice.

The coalition decried what it called “the growing attempts by ethnic entrepreneurs to undermine the integrity of the electoral process and diminish the democratic gains our country has made since the return to civil rule in 1999.”

The group further submitted: “The Ondo governorship election was also a watershed. For the first time, the outcome of the election was not challenged in court because of its transparency although the three leading candidates were senior lawyers. This is significant given the fact that a number of previous governorship elections in the state were in fact determined by the courts. If the INEC chairman was working for Buhari, why didn’t he hand the aforementioned states over to the ruling party or secure victories for Buhari and his ruling party in the by-elections held in Dukku North constituency in Gombe State, Ardo Kola in Taraba, Osun West Senatorial Zone won by the opposition parties?”

What the law says

Section 153(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended,  provides for the establishment of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the appointment of its chairman, which is subject to the confirmation of the Senate.

Section 14(1) Part I of the Third Schedule to the  constitution also sets out the qualification for appointment of the Chairman indicating that “a chairman, who shall be the Chief Electoral Commissioner, shall be person [s] of unquestionable integrity and not less than fifty years of age.”

What’s left for INEC Chair?

Investigations revealed that the INEC boss was touched by the heavy criticisms coming from the elders and had told his close associates that he would ensure he gain the confidence of all stakeholders.

The defences from the civil society coalition appear robust, especially as the commission appears to have shaken off its initial tardiness that led to a spate of inclusive elections, but the chairman himself is the only one whose actions and inactions will win him commendations. To gain the confidence of the people, his words must come clean and his actions also.