The incessant refusal by the government of the day to following the statutory guideline in the appointment of the Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has emasculated the electoral umpire thereby making its desecration possible as has been evidenced in the activities of the electoral body
Miracle Egbo
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in recent time has become scorn locally and internationally. The journey of the electoral umpire to altar of desecration started with the bungled attempt of smuggling an avid supporter of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Henrietta Onochie as Resident Electoral Commissioner designate. It took the stoic resistance of the civil society groups to void what was orchestrated to happen by the administration of former President Mohammadu Buhari. Many thought that with the stoppage of Onochie by the civil society groups, the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would take some lessons instead it elevated the impunity of his predecessor to a ridiculous level.
Information at the disposal of Tentacle revealed that when President Tinubu forwarded the names of ten new Resident Electoral Commissioners to Senate for confirmation, the civil society groups reminded the Senate that three of the nominated names are card carrying members of APC; therefore they are not qualified to hold such sensitive position. The opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP through its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba reminded the Senate that some of the nominated REC members have been confirmed as card carrying members of the ruling party, urging the Senate to reject their nomination because it is injurious to the 1999 constitution as amended.
The names of the REC nominees fingered as the card carrying members of APC are; Dr. Bunmi Omoseyindem, Elekamba Umoren and Isah Ehimeakhe who as at time of filing this report has been confirmed without diligent check on their backgrounds. In the case of Ehimeakhe he is a well known member of the ruling party and has always been at the forefront of the campaign of the party to win election. It was gathered that immediately he was nominated as REC member he pulled down all his face book account where he was championing the cause of the ruling party. An informed source told Tentacle that he is an avid loyalist of President Tinubu, and his nomination is one of the ways to encourage him to continue to support the cause of the ruling party now and in future elections. If the story of Ehimeakhe is chilling check the tale of Umoren. Mr. Umoren was aide to the current Senate President, Godswill Apkabio, and when Akpabio was Minister of Niger Delta Ministry, the same Umoren was his Chief of Staff. Information affirmed that before his nomination he was a confirmed card carrying member of the ruling party, worse still, after his confirmation by the Senate, he was posted to Akwa Ibom where he allegedly comes from.
Ehimeakhe who is from Edo is said to be reaping the fruit of being the avid supporter of the ruling party in the state. It was gathered that he is very close to Senator Adams Oshimhole, a stoic member of the ruling party, and have allegedly been penciled down to be used in the next year’s governorship election in the state.
It was gathered that despite the rejection of the nominees by the Electoral Act 2022 as amended and even the constitution of the 1999 in conjunction with the resistance of the civil society groups in the country, the Senate braved the storm and confirmed the nominees as Resident Electoral Commissioners. The confirmation of these RECs further heightened the fear that the ruling party has perfected plans to rig 2027 election without much problem. Facts at the disposition of this medium revealed that the ruling party used Yunusa Hudu-Ari, the infamous Resident Electoral Commissioner for Adamawa to test the water and to tell the electorate what to expect in the 2027 general election. Information insisted that the feeble prosecution of Hudu-Ari is a sure signal to his ilk in INEC that they can do anything to help the cause of the ruling party in future elections in the country.
The former National Chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jegga reminded Nigerians that the time to reorganize the electoral body has come and nobody should not make mistake about that. In a lecture he delivered in Abuja, Professor Jegga said that INEC as whole needs overhauling to avoid the mistake of the immediate past, adding that what is happening to the electoral body is not cheering when a confirmed card carrying member of a political party would be appointed to conduct election. He said that by that singular act the credibility of the electoral umpire has been badly damaged, adding that the time has come to redeem the image of the electoral body before it is too late.
In the same vein, an Abuja based lawyer and Human Rights activist, Maxwell Opara averred that the commission has been desecrated by the legislative and executive arms of the government by allowing confirmed card carrying members of the ruling party to conduct elections in this country. He said that Nigeria is headed to anarchy if these set of people are allowed to conduct election in this country. Opara called on the National Assembly and executive arms of government to save this country from turning to a lawless country. According to him, if this shenanigan continues the opposition has no choice but to resort to self help in future elections in the country. He maintained that electoral umpire is APC affiliate as evidenced in the current appointment of new RECs confirmed by the Senate.
Professor Sam Amadi, a Professor of Law at Baze University Abuja in an interaction recently said that INEC has been completely desecrated with the appointment of card carrying members of the ruling party. Professor Amadi maintained that if the ugly trend is not arrested on time, the electoral body would have lost its little left credibility completely. He said that constitution does not allow what the National Assembly did recently by confirming persons that have been identified as members of a particular political party as member of REC. According him, “it is abominable and should be condemned by all and sundry. It is unheard of that a confirmed member of a political party is allowed to be a referee in a contest he or she is deeply partisan. We should as a people speak with one voice to condemn it without equivocation. It is inimical to the conduct of credible election in the country”.
Ezenwa Nwagwu, a Board member of the Yiaga Africa, a non-governmental organization that is involved in the monitoring of election in the country thundered that the new RECs is complete breach of INEC sanctity, and should be condemned by well meaning Nigerians who are lovers of democracy. He said that when people like these are allowed to work in INEC, the electoral body is bound to fail because whatever elections they conduct cannot be credible.
It would be recalled that the recent mess in INEC came to its head when its National Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu defied all the guidelines of the commission in order to please the ruling party. The Supreme Court made allusion to that when it said that the conduct of the electoral body in the 2023 presidential election further depreciated the trust the electorate had in the electoral umpire. The mantra of “Go to Court” popularized by Professor Yakubu has further emboldened political parties especially the ruling party that you could commit electoral infractions and tell your opponent to go to court because the judiciary has been heavily compromised in the recent times.
The judiciary has further contributed to the desecration of INEC by tell it that it is at its whims and caprices to conduct election irrespective of what the constitution and the Electoral Act of 2022 as amended said.
Whatever is the case the desecration of the INEC has started in earnest, it would take radical Nigerians to reverse the trend or turn the country to one party system as being planned by the ruling party.
