Crossfire over INEC’s top appointments

Jega

Alleged lopsided appointments in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is presently generating ripples in the Presidency and among other key political stakeholders, reports Remi Adelowo

In spite of the public posturing and pronouncements of key political figures that talks about the next general elections in 2015 is premature and, at best uncalled for, The Nation can reveal that preparations for the post-2015 political dispensation may have begun in earnest.

While President Goodluck Jonathan has severally parried questions over his speculated interest in the next presidential race, statements credited to some of his key aides and associates point to the fact that the president may throw his hat into the ring once again for a second term in office.

However, die-hard supporters of the president are also aware that he is likely to face the stiffest opposition to his second term ambition from politicians from the core north, who are clamouring for a power shift to the region. This likely scenario, revealed sources, is being treated with all the seriousness it deserves by apostles of the Jonathan 2015 project.

Against the backdrop that the recent appointments of northerners into some key portfolios in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is an alleged ploy by certain powerful interests to scuttle Jonathan’s alleged second term bid, The Nation gathered that there is disquiet within the president’s kitchen cabinet that their principal may have been programmed to lose long before the race for the next elections is flagged off.

Presently, questions are being asked why INEC, which is the primary institution responsible for the conduct of elections in the country, is allegedly dominated by the northerners.  One of such posers is whether the principle of federal character, which stipulates that appointments into federal positions and distribution of socio-economic amenities must ensure fairness and equity among the six geo-political zones in the country, has been strictly adhered to.

In the view of some stakeholders, the current structural imbalance in INEC may have been deliberately skewed in favour of the north to ensure that the region regains the control of the country’s political reins come 2015. 

“Many Nigerians may see this (North’s alleged dominance of INEC) as just a happenstance, but the reality is that it’s all about political calculations for 2015,” said a politician from the South-South who prefer to remain anonymous.

A breakdown of the INEC management team and their geo-political zones will suffice: 

The National Chairman, Professor Attairu Jega hails from the North-West, ditto the Secretary, Alhaji .A. Kaugama. The electoral body also has 15 directors, 13 of whom are from the North; two from the South-South, while only one comes from the South-East.

These directors include, U.F Usman, the Director of Logistics from the North-West; M. Kuta, Internal Auditor (North-Central); A. Muhktar, Director of Human Resources (North-West); A. A Uregi, Director of Finance (North-Central); Alhaji .I. Biu, Director of Voter Education (North-East); Mr. I.K Bawa, Deputy Director, Legal (North-Central); Mr. A.A Adamu, Head of Commission Secretariat (North-Central), to name but a few.

Investigations also revealed that most of the INEC national commissioners who preside over committees overseeing key departments are northerners. They are Col. Hamanga, Chairman, Logistics Committee, who is from Adamawa State; Dr. Nuru Yakubu, who heads the Operations Committee and hails from Yobe State; Hajia Amina Zakari of the Political Monitoring Committee; Ambassador Wali, head of the Procurement Committee and Professor Jega, the National Chairman.

That is not all. A newly-constituted INEC’s 9-man Strategic Planning Committee is also dominated by the North. The members are M.S Mohammed, Mustafa Kuta, Nuru Yakubu, Istianus Dalwang,Torgbo Nyitse Emanuel Akeem, all from the North. Two other members of the committee-Okechukwu Nduche and Mike Igini are from the South.

While some politicians from the South are said to be raising eyebrows over this alleged lopsided appointments, and pointing accusing fingers at Jega for the anomaly, sources in INEC said the chairman is not in any way responsible for postings in the commission.

According to a source, “These northerners in INEC are career civil servants, whose postings are handled by the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. Besides, most of these officers have been in INEC long before Jega came on board.”

Those opposed to this line of argument are, however, pondering why postings to INEC is not put under the purview of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), headed by a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor Abdulrahman Oba, which main responsibility is to ensure that all federal institutions conform to the dictates of the principles of federal character.

But speaking to The Nation on the telephone, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC boss, Mr. Kayode Idowu, described the allegation as “absolutely false and baseless,” adding, “there is nothing like that (north’s dominance of INEC) at all.”

Expatiating further, Idowu said, “Professor Jega got into office six months to the 2011 elections and his priority then was to conduct a credible election. To achieve this, he needed to make use of the experienced hands he met on ground. Yes, there is a restructuring going on in INEC, but I can tell you authoritatively that the only posting that has been done since he came on board is in the ICT department, which is headed by a man from the South-East.”

Giving a breakdown of the management structure of INEC, Idowu disclosed, “apart from the chairman, there are 12 national commissioners, comprising of two people from each of the six geo-political zones. Then, we have 67 directors and 29 heads of directorates department and units.

“Of these 29, Benue has six; Anambra, four; Imo, three; Abia, three; Niger, two; Sokoto, one; Kebbi, one; Plateau, one; Delta, one; Enugu, one; Bayelsa, one; Ekiti, one and Kogi, one; Yobe, one; Taraba, one, and Adamawa, one.    

“The breakdown of the 67 directors, according to Idowu, is as follows: Benue has nine; Anambra, nine; Imo, four; Delta, three; Cross River, three; Plateau, three; Akwa Ibom, three; Abia, three; Kebbi, three; Edo, three; Niger, two; Kaduna, two; Zamfara, two; Bayelsa, two; Lagos, two Bauchi, two and Borno, two. Others are Sokoto, one; Enugu, one; Kano, one; Kogi, one; Katsina, one; Osun, one; Gombe, one; Ogun one and Jigawa State, one. So, the question is, does this statistics show any so-called domination by the North,” he asked?

Absolving his boss of any wrong doing in these postings, Idowu said, “the statistics being bandied around are half cooked; again, these top officials are career civil servants and all of them have been in INEC before the chairman (Jega) came on board. And as far as INEC is concerned, no committee is more strategic than the other. Tell me which committee is more important than the ICT and Operations committees, which are headed by two men from the South-East?”