Jega admits rot in INEC, unveils 2015 plan From Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja

Says officials connive with politicians to rig elections
THOUGH the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is
supposed to be an unbiased umpire as regards electoral matters, the
bodyis to some extent bogged down by electoral malpractices.
According to the Chairman of the INEC,Prof. Attahiru Jega, electoral
fraud is perpetrated by officials of his agency in connivance with
politicians.
Jega, who noted that the actions of such members and ad-hoc staff of
the commission had continued to rubbishthe efforts of the commission
in transforming the process of electing public officers, was reacting
to variouscriticisms which the commission received from some chairmen
of political parties and stakeholders who converged on Abuja yesterday
towitness the official unveiling and public presentation of Strategic
Programme of Action of INEC from 2012 to 2016.
The INEC chairman noted, however, that many officials of the
commission who were identified to have compromised standards had been
either prosecuted or dismissed from their duties in an internal
exercise without media hype.
Earlier in their reactions to the INEC strategic programmes for
credible elections, three different chairmen of political parties ,
Chiefs Sam Nkire of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Chekwas
Okorie of the United Progressive Party (UPP) and Victor Umeh of the
All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) had taken turns to urge INEC to
improve on its efforts to weed out the bad eggs in the commission,
stressing that their activities had continued to inhibit theefforts of
the commission as well as cast doubts in the minds of Nigerians in
delivering a free and fair general elections in 2015 and beyond.
While Nkire stressed the need to checkmate some corrupt INEC officials
who he said had given INEC a bad image by working in hand with
security operatives from the army andpolice to rewrite election
results, Okorie noted the need to expedite action on the Electronic
Voting System (EVS), saying it would limit themistakes of the
commission.
On his part, Umeh urged INEC to review its position on the recruitment
of ad-hoc workers, sayingthat given some of their actions, they posed
great threats to the success of INEC's efforts in conducting credible
elections.
In his remarks, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
representative, Prof. Sam Egwu restated the organisation's confidence
in INEC and its agencies, stressing that UNDP had continuously voted
its money for the Democratic Governance Project (DGP) in the country
that led to the organization ofa free and fair election in 2011. The
agency, however, urged the INEC chairman to use the opportunity of the
2015 elections to improve on its 2011 performance which was adjudged
to be credible by the UNDP
"For the avoidance of doubt, UNDP is actually supporting the INEC with
a number of partners that we are familiar with. But more importantly,
as we commend the leadership of INEC for remaining focused on the
desire to improve on the credibility ofthe 2015 elections beyond the
remarkable achievements of the 2011 elections, we also urge the
commission to improve. The strategic plan that is being unveiled today
we know has been a very long and intensive consultative process which
INEC leadership has been engaged forthe past one year. The strategy we
believe is not just to prepare for the 2015 elections, but to put in
place a programme to all relevant stakeholders that can lead to the
ownership of process as well as ensure that the electoral system will
become stable for the progress of the country. It is our belief that
we have produced a strategic plan, INEC will follow through to... so
that by 2015 and beyond, we will look back and saythat we have put our
money to support Nigeria in the areas that matter most," the UNDP
representative stated.
Earlier, Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, Andy Uba who was
represented by his deputy, Senator Abdukadir Jagere, said that
democracycould only be said to have been sustained in Nigeria if INEC
improves on the gains of 2011 general elections.
The INEC Programme of Action Plan which spans five years has the
following as core objectives:
. To provide electoral operations, systems and infrastructure to
support delivery of free, fair and credible elections;
. To improve voter education, trainingand research;
. To register political parties and monitor their operations;
. To interact internationally and nationally with relevant stakeholders; and
. To re-organise and re-position INEC for sustained conduct of free,
fair and credible elections.
According to the commission's National Commissioner and
Chairman,Strategic Planning, Dr. Nuru Yakubu, the action plan is
action-oriented and further seeks to achieve the overall mandate of
INEC.