Thank you for your clarification.
The hope must be that those who are make sport of impugning Jega's integrity are not setting the stage to reject INEC's declaration of a victor in the presidential elections if their candidate was to lose the election.
oa
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Samuel Zalanga
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2015 5:25 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Cc: naijaobserver@yahoogroups.com; naijaintellects@googlegroups.com; naijanet@googlegroups.com; nigerianid@yahoogroups.com; talknigeria@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Jega tells Senators he can't guarantee elections will hold March 28
Thanks for your concern. My concern was not about Professor Jega per se but rather about how Nigerian institutions really work. Individuals do not operate or make decisions in social or institutional vacuum. No institution works in isolation in a well-functioning society. It is obvious that the issue now is not just what INEC does, (no matter how much), because there are other variables integral to conducting credible and peaceful elections that are beyond JEGA or INEC.
Given what Jega publicly said as his explanation for what led to the postponement of the election which was beyond INEC's control, ultimately, only the powers that be can allow the elections to proceed even on March 28, unless if ordinary Nigerians are going to organize an uprising.
There are two news items circulated in this forum which are good news. I wish the kind of assurance that President GEJ gave about the elections taking place on March 28, is the kind of assurances that Nigerians have been receiving from the president.I can imagine that would increased the confidence of people in him as their leader. Many Nigerian citizens are like orphans. I grew up in a typical northern village and when I say they are like orphans I really mean it. The only hope they have for a better life is an effective state that governs well and that makes human development its priority. It makes a huge difference to hear the president give that assurance especially when there are rumors about people close to him who do not want to risk losing their privileges. I am pretty sure that if President GEJ have made such a statement consistently for some time, Professor Jega would not bring up this issue at the national assembly.
Under normal circumstances, the decision about the elections should just be left to INEC because all the other variables such as security should not be an issue if Nigeria was functioning well.
It is nice that they are calming the situation in the Northeast. But I wish the security issue had been taken care of long ago. One does not need a Ph.D. in strategic studies to know long ago that the instability in that region would be a problem for the election. I still feel embarrassed that the Nigerian military could not take care of this situation on its own. Someone I know is attending a training at the Kofi Annan Institute or Center in Ghana and he told me that high ranking officials there said what is happening in Nigeria is truly an embarrassment for a "regional power."
On another note, the situation in Northeastern Nigeria properly understood is not even about the elections. As someone who has strong sympathy for bottom-up history, I think it is unfair to look at the security situation simply from the prism of the ruling elites i.e., elections and who wins? For me, it is about the value of human life (elections or no elections), the meaning of state capacity, the meaning of citizenship and the challenge of creating appropriate conditions for human flourishing and whether Nigeria's integrity as a nation can be protected by the government.
The lives of many ordinary citizens in the northeastern part of Nigeria have been undermined and they may not recover from it for years, because it is life changing. I am not sure that what we saw in Abuja in the last few years suggests any sense of urgency about the situation or even having real empathy for the people. So in my assessment, to even think of the crisis in northeastern Nigeria from just the lens of the elections is somewhat failing to appreciate the destructive nature of the situation from the point of view of ordinary citizens' life experiences, and that they deserve human flourishing irrespective of who is in power in Abuja. Security is the basic thing that a government should provide but if a government will allow its citizens to live for a long time under such mess and only do something about it now is not inspiring on empirical grounds. I still wonder whether the people around the President GEJ really allow him know the real situation on the ground from the perspective of ordinary citizens.
From my perspective, irrespective of who wins, Nigeria's problems are institutional. If personalities per se can solve such problems, we will not have racial problems in America today since Obama is our president. Nigeria's problems are well documented. As I see it, PDP might win because they have access to a lot of money and corruption in Nigeria has penetrated the lowest level of society, including religious institutions and leaders. Nigerians can surely vote for PDP but they should be prepared to face the consequences just like people who climb the mountain in Colorado during winter and die because of snow avalanche, but explain it in terms of them dying doing want they love to do. Nigerians can be proud to live in suffering as a consequences of their choice.
Nigerians should be courageous to live in pain since there is no any indication that PDP has a new vision for Nigeria. I say this because I have followed the substance of the campaign but did not hear anything new or different from the past. I have nothing against them if they have a pathway forward for the country. I am more for good governance than any personality per se. But as it is, even if my father was the founder of the party, based on empirical evidence, and based what we know led to the transformation of other developing countries, PDP as the ruling party is not as currently constituted positioned to change the direction of Nigeria. And if they will do it, the party will have to go through radical transformation from within. Remember Robert Michel's book "Political Parties" where he concluded based on his theory of the "iron law of oligarchy" that socialist parties that promised to create just and egalitarian society in Europe were not internally egalitarian. How can you give someone what you do not have?
Again, on empirical grounds, this does not mean that APC is a party of saints, but I think for some Nigerians, they want to try something else. My preference would be for the Nigerian masses to take history in their hands and form a peoples' movement that will allow them to become persons from being treated as "non-persons." I do not think this is like to happen.
But if all they do is to go to Church or Mosque and pray expecting a miracle, they have to ask why there have been increased number of churches, mosques, more copies of the Holy Bible and Holy Quran, and more prayers per hour now than in 1960, and yet the country has fallen deeper into moral, ethical, and institutional crisis? Based on empirically verifiable evidence, it seems like the God Nigerians are worshiping which is an Abrahamic God has not disciplined them enough to have the wisdom to get the affairs of their country in order or control their insatiable desire for power and filthy lucre. The religious people in Nigeria would say that Hinduism and Buddhism are "pagan" religions (i.e., not true religions), but those that are worshiping the Abrahamic God who is real, are relying on Buddhist China or other "pagan" Asian countries for cell phones, automobiles, SUVs etc. because their God cannot communicate with them effectively to give them wisdom to produce these things.
But we know that the capacity to reason and be creative is God's gift for all humanity. He is not going to deny it to a person in India, China, Taiwan or South Korea simply because the people do not read the Holy Books of Christians and Muslims. So Nigerians should look into themselves to see what they need to change instead of hiding behind miracle or Holy Books, religious bigotry, ethnicity, regionalism etc. while continuing their lives in ways that history confirms do not help in transforming a nation for the better.
By the way, Professor Jega was my professor when I was an undergraduate at Bayero University. Thank you very much. We hope for the best, but prayer to God would only work for Nigeria if Nigerians allow the prayers to transform their character as a pathway to cultural, institutional and social transformation.
Samuel
On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 11:50 AM, Anunoby, Ogugua <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:
What is your point?
Are you suggesting that President Jonathan is engineering the delay of elections by manipulating Jega- the INEC Chairman and his Commission? Are you suggesting that Jega has become Jonathan's lap dog as have all other members of his Commission?? Up until now, all Forum participants who claimed they knew Jega as Bayero University faculty and ASUU Chapter Chairman, and also as National ASUU Chairman were unrestrained in affirming Jega's high level of integrity and dedication to public service. They were full of praise for him.
What has changed about the man? Has he been 'born-again" as a man of no integrity and sense of history? Is it forgotten that "I" in INEC stands for "Independent"? Has INEC ceased to be independent? If so what is the evidence? What is the evidence that Jega is a puppet and Jonathan is the puppet master? Belief is not proof.
Why is there not enough appreciation in some quarters, of the difficulty of Jega's situation and the sincere effort he and his commission might be making to get the elections to happen as they should? I do not know the man. My sense is that he has a tough job at a very tough time. He seems to me to be trying his hardest and doing his best, in the situation he finds himself through few faults of his and his commission.
Jega is acting within his legal remit as INEC Chairman. His job is to lead INEC as Chairman and conduct scheduled elections if conditions on the ground are right for free and fair elections. It is not his and his Commissions' job to create or ensure the conditions. If therefore those whose responsibility it is to ensure that conditions are right, inform Jega and announce to the country, that they unable to ensure the conditions, Jega must decide whether or not to proceed with the elections. He has. That some people may be unhappy with whatever call Jega makes is no reason for him not to make the call that he believes is the right one at the time.
What about calling on sponsors and supporters of Boko Haram to ask Boko Haram's leaders to suspend their insurgency because their continuing activities are prolonging Jonathan's rule and preventing Buhari's replacement of Jonathan as president, after Buhari's certain election victory? Elections can be skittish events? Their outcome are not always as predictable as partisans and pundits wish people to believe. It is quite possible that the elections' delay are also a postponement of Buhari's election defeat. Who is to say that it is not?
Jega's present situation is bad and tough enough. I cannot see that he enjoys it. Please let us not make Jega another victim of some Nigerians' unreasonable indignation, recklessness opportunism, and lack of respect for caution and propriety.
oa
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Samuel Zalanga
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 12:41 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Cc: naijaobserver@yahoogroups.com; naijaintellects@googlegroups.com; naijanet@googlegroups.com; nigerianid@yahoogroups.com; talknigeria@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Jega tells Senators he can't guarantee elections will hold March 28
Viewed in context, Professor Jega is right, but it is a scary statement or observation when the affairs of a country become so unpredictable like that
On a personal note, sometimes I wonder whether President GEJ understands that just the way things are going on is not a good statement about his legacy irrespective of who wins the elections if it takes place at all. No matter what, there should be a sense of honor for himself and the nation.
Although Daniel Arap Moi ruled Kenya badly but the fact that he handed over power quietly makes him still remain respected. It is not fair to run the affairs of a nation the way things are going on now in NIgeria. It just makes me feel really embarrassed. Many of us who teach know that in the U.S. we cannot conduct the affairs of our classrooms like that. Respect in traditional African culture to the elderly means that the elderly have responsibility towards those who look up to them. Religious prejudice has increased in Nigeria recently.
I hope that the President is not allowing the people around him to cloud his judgement. A tiny group of people cannot hold the country to ransom. It will be very unfortunate if what is originally a normal functioning of government (i.e., regular elections) is allowed to not only polarize but also tear the country apart. I still maintain that ordinary Nigerians if not manipulated can live in peace with each other, notwithstanding normal criminal gangs. This is bringing shame not only to Nigeria but to Africa. We can do better than this.
I wish I can say let us pray, but to expect prayer to perform miracle while humans continue to engage in their evil ways is a mockery of God in strict theological sense. If poeple want prayer to work, they should be sincere in allowing prayer to transform them and on that basis change their ways.
Samuel
On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 10:51 AM, Kola Fabiyi <fabiyi@live.com> wrote:
Jega tells Senators he can't guarantee elections will hold March 28
February 18, 2015
Adebayo Hassan and Chinenye Ugonna
Premium Times
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Attahiru Jega, has told Nigerian federal lawmakers he could not guarantee the 2015 general elections will hold on rescheduled dates in March and April.
At a meeting with Senators Wednesday, Mr. Jega said he could not commit himself to the "sanctity" of March 28 and April 11 – dates for the rescheduled Nigeria's general elections.
He said the electoral commission could not guarantee aspects of the poll that are beyond its control.
Mr. Jega met with the lawmakers to review the decision to postpone the polls from February.
Under the Nigerian law, a further six-week extension of the elections is possible, a prospect opposed by many Nigerians, the main opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, and the international community.
INEC had said the postponement were necessary for security reasons, as military chiefs had warned against going on with the vote to allow it focus on fighting the terror group, Boko Haram.
But the APC said the delay was instigated by President Goodluck Jonathan, to save him and ruling party from losing the elections to the APC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
Since announcing the new dates nearly two weeks ago, the commission has declined to clearly confirm that there will be no further delay beyond March 28 and April 11, for presidential, National Assembly, governorship and state assembly polls.
Responding to a question by George Akume, Senate Minority Leader, on the sanctity of the new dates, on Wednesday, Mr. Jega said it was difficult for him to respond, saying he could only give assurances over aspects within the control of INEC.
"That's a very difficult question to answer. I have said not everything that has to do with the conduct of successful election is within the control of INEC," Mr. Jega said.
Use of card readers
Mr. Jega also said the commission will go forward with its plan to deploy card readers for the elections.
There have been some concerns, mainly from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, about the plan as Nigerian law prohibits electronic voting.
On Wednesday, while PDP Senators opposed the plan, their APC counterparts welcomed it.
Heineken Lokpobri, a PDP Senator from Bayelsa State and Odion Ugbesa, from Edo State, argued against the use of card readers for the elections, saying it would be illegal.
In his response, Mr. Jega said card readers would only be used for accreditation not actual voting.
He said there was no law forbidding the use of electronic devices for accreditation.
"Card reader is used for accreditation not voting. Voting his defined as dropping of ballot paper into ballot box. Accreditation is essential for integrity of the election," he said.
"Nothing in the constitution says we should not use electronic device in the process of accreditation. Anybody that is not satisfied can go to court. We have solid ground on that," he said.
He added that the card readers would curb electoral malpractices, as cloned cards would be detected.
Mr. Jega said INEC will perform a mock test on the card readers.
He said some tests had already been taken in the United States, and will now be tested in the six geopolitical zones.
"The card reader has passed in all the 13 test categories conducted in terms of its durability and versatility," he said.
Mr. Jega said the postponement of the general elections will enable INEC to have a flawless, near-perfect elections.
INEC National Commissioners are to visit state offices to conduct evaluation and comprehensively determine the level of preparation in the election.
He said after the visit, the commission will meet with the heads of departments and directorates of units to conduct a comprehensive assessment, to figure out additional things to be done before March 28.
Mr Jega said a meeting with the inter-agency committee on security will hold a meeting to discuss security on the Election Day.
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Samuel Zalanga
Department of Anthropology, Sociology & Reconciliation Studies
Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Drive #24
Saint Paul, MN 55112.
Office Phone: 651-638-6023
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