Eromosele Ebhomele

Nigerians will not forget Professor Attahiru Jega of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, even as his term as chairman of the commission comes to a graceful end

Even in the midst of regrets by some members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, former President Goodluck Jonathan, though defeated in the 2015 presidential election, can always thump his chest, in pride, to declare that he changed what had become the democratic culture of impunity in Nigeria by simply appointing Professor Attahiru Jega to head the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Of course, many members of the party would continue to remember Jega as the PDP’s undoing, Nigerians would not erase his name from their memories. In fact, many have since 28 March and 11 April concluded that the Professor of Political Science and former Vice Chancellor of the Bayero University, Kano, is the actual hero of the country’s democracy.

•Jega: Leaves office fulfilled

And now that he leaves his seat today, he is seen to have left a feat that may be very difficult for his successor to achieve. Beyond making a mark as the head of the institution that successfully handled the election that turned the tide against the dominant party for the triumph of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, Jega, according to some analysts, maintained his virtues and sustained the positive image with which his family name, a royal one, had become known.

Then, to further add to the ovation, Jega, a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, decided that it was time to call it quits. He would not seek another term as against the popular belief that the average African would do everything possible to hold on to an office even in the face of criticisms and protests. Undoubtedly, Jega seems satisfied that he had not only made history, but that through him, history has been made in his country. He remains the first Nigerian from the northern part of the country to hold the position of the chairman of a chief electoral umpire in the country. He is also the first chairman of INEC to conduct two general elections in the country, the first in 2011 and the latest in 2015. Sitting at the helms of affair of the electoral body, Nigerians were able, for the first time, through an electoral process, unseat an incumbent President suddenly turning the opposition party into the new ruling party.

The seat which Jega is leaving behind, according to analysts, could be hotter than imagined. This may have been one of the reasons, according to them, that Jega has insisted on letting go even though many Nigerians would want him to stay back and complete the revolution he started. It is left to be known if the former academic would open up on his experience soon after leaving, but it is not unknown the level of pressure that he must have faced especially as he presided over a make-or-mar election in a year that was predicted to be the last for a united Nigeria.

Those who express the argument that Jega refused to accede to those who constantly put pressure on him, would often compare him with some of his predecessors who ended up being drowned either as a result of their own mistakes or their having to confront a cabal too powerful to handle. Humphrey Nwosu, the man whose tenure as the country’s electoral umpire in 1993 saw what many still feel was the freest and fairest election, was reportedly drowned by those who never wanted democracy to work. It is still controversial whether he allowed himself to be used or not. Professor Maurice Iwu ended up being mocked as the INEC chairman after he conducted what many Nigerians and even international bodies described as a sham. Jega always maintained he was not under any pressure, but that he could not be forced out of office. He successfully executed his mandate. In calling him the “defender of our democracy,” Bámidélé Adémólá-Olátéjú, a popular analyst from the southwestern part of the country, wrote: “Prof. Jega understood the burden of his appointment, his fiduciary responsibilities and the enormity of his tasks, very early…Before the politicians could realise what they signed on to, a more credible voters register was in place and the card reader was already adopted.”

•Maurice Iwu: Mocked after conducting an election

Adémólá-Olátéjú, like most other Nigerians, believes that the country’s democracy is very young, with the country still fighting to determine the fundamental contours of its political institutions. But Professor Jega, a fierce opponent of the Ibrahim Babangida military government in the early 1990s as ASUU President, did not disappoint Nigerians who had high hopes when the former President Jonathan nominated him to succeed Professor Iwu as Chairman of INEC on 8 June, 2010.

“Through the 2015 elections, Jega led his commission with integrity and profound commitment to democracy. By his own example, he showed Nigerian politicians’ their role in establishing and maintaining a healthy democracy. He saved Nigeria from political destabilisation and internal conflicts of different hues and several origins (economic interests, ethnic strife, religious upheavals) by defending and strengthening our democracy. Prof. Jega understood the burden of his appointment, his fiduciary responsibilities and the enormity of his tasks, very early. He maintained singularity of focus with determination and a clear and distinct goal of conducting free and fair elections with a motif of accuracy as a reflection of the voter’s wish. Before the politicians could realise what they signed on to, a more credible voters register was in place and the card reader was already adopted,”

Adémólá-Olátéjú added: “we are lucky we got in Jega an advocate for openness, accountability and scrutiny just when Nigeria needed him. He conducted a clinical election by previous standards, thus provoking a season of high drama and procedural precedence that pulled Nigeria away from the precipice after a lot of stonewalling and grandstanding.”

To show how commendable Jega’s tenure as INEC chairman was, Rob Taiwo, an international analyst, described the task that was handled by the 58-year old Professor as unenviable since Jega’s INEC had the task of delivering a free and fair election for 170 million people in a complex environment consisted of 69 million eligible voters, 155,000 polling booths and 700,000 temporary staff, all deployed across a landmass of 923,768 sq.km. He stressed that in such a bitterly contested election like the one of 2015, Jega emerges a hero commended by President Barack Obama of America in the latter’s post-election statement of congratulations to Nigeria just as he had remained celebrated by Nigerians for his unflappable rigour even in the face of extreme provocation. “In a stressful environment and with the world watching, he dug deep into the management toolbox of planning, coordinating, directing, prioritization and fire fighting. He used technology to enable the business model, introducing Biometric voter ID card readers into the delivery process. He led from the centre, managing vertically and horizontally, positively influencing security agencies, candidates, political parties and voters. He used committee-based decision-making when required and in an uncertain environment he responded with tactical aplomb,” Taiwo noted.

•Obama: Commended Jega

President Obama did not just mention Jega for celebration, he backed it up with a certificate of commendation for his successful conduct of the election and his maturity throughout the period. The certificate was presented to Jega by James Entwistle, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, on behalf of President Obama.

Jega showed his grasp of the system by shunning calls from a section of Nigerian politicians and their supporters for his sack. He only told them that he could not go on terminal leave as some of them also plotted and supported. Another defining moment for Jega was the subtle way he handled what could have given away the credibility of the process as shown by the Returning Officer for Rivers State. Many Nigerians who stayed glued to their television sets had already become suspicious of the old Professor who handled Rivers State, but Jega was able to play it down and douse fears. The second incident that became most talked about, was how he handled what would have been a premeditated plot carried out by Godsday Orubebe, a former Minister of Niger Delta, at the National Collation Centre.

Like in a movie, Orubebe displayed his opposition to Jega’s continued announcement of the election results. According to him Jega was biased having responded to a petition on the case of alleged irregularities in the conduct of the election in Rivers while refusing to respond in same light to the same allegations made by Orubebe and Bello Fadile, another member of the PDP concerning how the election went in some parts of the north. While the display went on, Jega maintained a poise and continued to watch like other spectators until he had the time to speak. Then with a calm, soft-spoken tone, he defended himself and reminded Orubebe of the respect he should have maintained in the eyes of Nigerians and that the former minister should have been bigger than such display. “Mr Orubebe, you are a former Minister of the Federal Republic .You are a statesman in your own right. You should be careful about what you say or what allegations or accusations you make. Certainly you should be careful about your public conduct. So please let us be careful of what we say or do so that we do not disrupt a process that has ended peacefully and in a matter of hours we would be able to finish it,” Jega told Orubebe. Till the collation ended, no other protester stood up against the protest.

•Orubebe: Jega handled his antics well

Sanai Agunbiade, the Majority Leader of the Lagos Assembly, called that scene the most fantastic period of Jega. According to Agunbiade, “Orubebe came with his drama of shame, offering himself so nakedly as an instrument of destruction of Nigeria. If anything had gone wrong with the process, it would have led to another annullment and a repeat of June 12, 1993…but Jega maintained his cool and later dressed that man down with his soaked garment that he (Orubebe) would never forget in his life. That then became a joke: ‘if you Orubebe me, I will Jegalise you’, meaning ‘if you provoke me, I will use my wisdom and sanity to overcome you,” Agunbiade recalled.

Describing Jega as an intellectual who believes in honour, Olumuyiwa Jimoh, a rights activist and current Deputy Majority Leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly, said he had a relationship with the Professor, who had a radical background, and benefitted from him as a student unionist. Jimoh said Jega’s appointment as INEC chairman was worth it. Jimoh described Jega as belonging to the generation of Africans whose energies and sacrifice were the driving force of human rights and pro-democracy organisations in Nigeria. To him, Jega performed excellently especially in his demonstration of courage, calmesss and confidence while Orubebe “was trying to make mockery of the process and put the country in jeopardy.” He noted that with Jega’s innovations, it suddenly became difficult to rig elections. “He is what the Yoruba would call bibire (meaning one who comes from a good family and would not want his family name to be stained). According to Jimoh, Jega decided to use professors and Vice Chancellors who earned their qualifications and would not want a single process like the election to soil their images. He also expressed support for the innovations under Jega and urged Jega’s successor to build on what he would meet on ground.

Jega, to Agunbiade, remained a renowned non-conformist even as the chairman of INEC. He said as a result of Jega’s pedigree, his appointment as INEC chairman was a welcome idea and that his appointment came with the hope that the electoral system would now have some level of integrity just as he said Jega showed a mastery of the tasks before him. “The build-up to the 2015 election gave a lot of concern. People thought Jega would compromise because you cannot wine with the devil and maintain your holiness. But as time went by, he showed his worth and showed that he is the same Jega,” Agunbiade said recalling that Jega made Nigerians understand his preparedness for the election even when the date was extended by six weeks.

Agunbiade, a lawyer, further explained that Nigerians stood behind Jega when he was being persecuted just before the election, because the people had come to understand his integrity, uprightness and credibility. He also recalled the strategy Jega adopted in convincing Nigerians concerning the use of card readers and how he stood his ground while some people opposed the idea. Agunbiade said a major lesson he learnt from Jega is to remain resolute in spite of what people think or say. While commending Jega for his role in making the electoral process successful and for inspiring a lot of people in Nigeria to know that there are still men of integrity, he appealed that Nigeria should celebrate and immortalised him as someone who stood for the country when the country was at the brink of collapse. In celebrating Jega, Agunbiade said a monument could be named after him. Agunbiade called on good writers to “come up to extol Jega’s virtues of integrity, steadfastness and courage as a motivation to young people in Nigeria that dignity and integrity matters a lot. I wish I could put pen to paper, I would have written a book titled: Jegaism or The Spirit Of Jega to catalogue all that happened to the man.”

With all these virtues, it is just right for President Muhammadu Buhari not to fall below the standard in nominating Jega’s successor. Many analysts agree that for the next INEC chairman to be successful, he must have the “traits” of Jega coupled with his own integrity and uprightness. Apart from this, he must be prepared to serve the nation. Agunbiade, for example, wants the next chairman to have a “Jega-plus” attributes which has to do with all Jega stands for, plus more credibility, more boldness, more virtues and be ready to do more than Jega has done.

Like Agunbiade, Jimoh and other like-minded Nigerians, Adémólá-Olátéjú summed Nigeria’s appreciation of Jega’s successful term declaring that history would record him in his role as INEC chairman, “as a man who defended democracy and did his job with devotion, loyalty and appropriate measures of creative independence, political sophistication, and irreverent unconventionality. Above all, history will record him as a patriot. Thank you Prof. Attahiru Jega!”