It was around 2pm when I was on the queue at No.27 Gerald road Ikoyi, having painstakingly gone through accreditation, then a black jeep drove in to the polling unit and echoed from behind a tinted glass window of the vehicle that was wound down "election has been cancelled", in the normal fashion of astonishment electorates at the unit moved towards the jeep to make further enquiries when the man reiterated his pronouncement and further explained that the elections has been postponed to Monday 4th April based on shortage in supply of electoral materials to some locations.
To me, that was the height of disappointment from a highly revered body like INEC whom to an average Nigerian is an independent body as the name suggests, as we went off the polling booth, concerned citizens who were alongside with me started analyzing the event; while some saw it as a failure and incompetence on the side of INEC others suggested that, they are working under instructions, some said they have an ulterior motive behind the cancellation, but one of my friend actually gave kudos to Prof Jega for taking such a bold step to cancel the election as it shows that the commission does not want to engage herself in conducting an incredible election.
But to me there is no better way to explain this than to say that it is a display of laisser-faire attitude in handling the nations resources, which have been displayed in the attitude most of our Governmental parastatals by spending more resources than required in accomplishing any task given by the Government hence it is our "Government money" we always believe that since the Government is not our personal business, she cannot suffer loss or run bankrupt, this attitude is what have crippled many Government industries in the past, this is why we spent at least 50 times more money to achieve the electronic voters registration process that did other countries like India and South Africa, when shall this stop?.
Some concerned citizens lamented that Prof. Jega was supposed to have inspected all electoral materials at least 24 hours before the elections as any business man would do to make sure he delivers purchased consignment to clients within contract time, others were of the opinion that it is very obvious that the commission cannot conduct a credible election on Monday April 4th 2011, owing to the fact that some reasonable part of the electoral materials have been exhausted in the Saturday elections "we will begin to experience ink, ballot papers, result sheets and other materials shortage", as I also witnessed people made categorical statements that no electronic voting materials were seen at the polling units.
From all indications a friend in a nutshell said that, INEC have failed Nigerians, Dr Chris Ngige said that what happened was an abortion of process since it was done when the election has started, stating it would have been in the best character of the commission to disseminate this information earlier before elections, I challenge the head of Logistic in INEC to consider himself as a failure and see the need to upgrade his professional competence to meet up with cutting edge ideologies.
Nigerians blessed with enormous human capital and natural resources should as a matter of urgency engage in proper utilization of these our God given potentials, I call on all Nigerians and INEC in particular to handle all responsibilities with all sense of dedication, responsibility and high level of integrity in a bid to create a landmark in their service to the nation. All Ad-hoc staff must ensure that they preserve their integrity in order to preserve this hard earned democracy.
Long live Citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria!,
Long Live Independent National Electoral Commission!!,
Long Live Federal Republic of Nigeria
Michael Nwaolisa
HND, CCNA, MDNKI, MNIM.
Writing from Lagos.
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