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Attahiru Jega And History

October 16, 2010

Shortly after Professor Attahiru Jega was nominated Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), my lawyer friend Sani Madugu informed me as we were chatting on facebook. Not long after that my mobile phone started ringing. It was my course mate back in the days at Bayero University Kano calling from the United States where he is now based to inform me about Jega’s nomination excitedly.

Shortly after Professor Attahiru Jega was nominated Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), my lawyer friend Sani Madugu informed me as we were chatting on facebook. Not long after that my mobile phone started ringing. It was my course mate back in the days at Bayero University Kano calling from the United States where he is now based to inform me about Jega’s nomination excitedly.

We had graduated a decade ago yet the nomination of the man Daily Trust of June 9, 2010, referred to as ‘a radical’ as the new INEC Chairman got us all excited. I called another friend residing in London immediately I finished talking to the one in the US and announced the news. And this one shouted ‘Alleluya!’ Several others had called me from all over the nation to tell me of Jega’s nomination even though it is no longer news.

I did not, however, envy Jega. In a country where ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo declared that even Jesus Christ would not conduct a successful election, who would envy a mere mortal as INEC Chairman? Jesus raised the dead, walked on water, told a crippled man from birth that his sins were forgiven and when cynics doubted him he told the man to stand up and walk. He fed thousands with few loaves of bread and fish, turned water to wine and performed numerous remarkable miracles, yet Obasanjo used him as a figurative expression to describe how impossible it would be for a mere man to conduct a successful and credible election in Nigeria. But Jega is not a mere mortal for if he is Daily Trust wouldn’t have boldly called him ‘a radical.’

Can a radical then be the answer of an INEC that failed woefully under Professor Maurice Iwu? Even the very critical Nigerian press that had waited patiently for this day were not disappointed by Goodluck Jonathan’s choice of professor Attahiru Jega. Those who did not know the new INEC boss whispered here and there and were told briefly by those who knew him or have heard of him and they seemed satisfied. Jega’s profile and personality fits what Nigerians want as INEC boss.

For those of us who knew Professor Attahiru Jega, I will confidently tell anyone that the man cannot be pushed around by any politician or group. Jega cannot be bribed. He would not be intimidated and even if anyone tries that he would not succumb. But can Jega conduct a credible election as INEC Chairman in 2011?

How can one know a free and fair and a credible election when almost all Nigerian politicians win by out rigging one another? It is so pervasively shameless that people snatch ballot boxes even though they are aware that television cameras are everywhere watching them. Godfathers connive with INEC officials and police to change election results in secret venues before it gets to INEC office. This is a country where even those who shout fowl had rigged but were out rigged.  The masses have always felt that their votes did not determine the outcome of elections and perhaps that is why politicians did not keep their promises after winning an electoral position. Maybe that is why politicians depend more on the patronage of hoodlums more than law abiding citizens. When one looks at all these indices and much more, one realizes Attahiru Jega’s daunting task as INEC Chairman and even the brave hearted begins to doubt if being a radical is enough. Perhaps Olusegun Obasanjo understands the matter much more as he had been an actor for eight long years and his figurative expression that even Jesus Christ would not conduct a successful election in Nigeria is not much of a hyperbole.

For Attahiru Jega to accept to be INEC Chairman I am sure is not for fame or the money. Jega must have the conviction that he can make a difference and I believe he will. For his courage to accept such problematic position I give kudos to the man. Thousands of students who went to Bayero University Kano who were tutored by Jega and those who had watched him talk in symposiums and equally those who he never taught who knew him or have heard of him will all expect Attahiru Jega to do a miracle with INEC. Millions of Nigerians who read his story in the Nigerian dailies would expect the same thing. As history unfolds we will see.

No matter what happens and no matter how it happens I believe Attahiru Jega will leave his mark as INEC Chairman. And for now I will tell you that Goodluck Jonathan made a good choice for an INEC Chairman and the Jega I know will not disappoint. But let’s leave all that to history and history is just by the corner.

George Onmonya Daniel

[email protected]

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