JEGA ,INEC Commissioners At Loggerhead Over Osun REC

Ahead of the August 8, 2014 Osun State gov­ernorship elec­tion, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Attahiru Jega ap­pears set on a collision course with some of the national commission­ers over his decision to retain the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, Mr Taiwo Akeju.

This indication emerged from the recent meeting of the commission when three of the six commissioners attempted to raise the issue of the Osun REC, but Prof Jega and the commissioner representing the South West, Prof Lai Olurode threw cold water on that intent with the INEC chairman telling the meeting that his decision on the Osun REC should not be re-opened. Olurode reported­ly supported Jega’s position on the issue.

Prior to the meeting, it was gathered that commission­ers favourably disposed to­wards the re-deployment of the Osun REC had prepared a memo for presentation be­fore their colleagues, point­ing out the clear and present need to redeploy Akeju, stat­ing that this would improve the image of the commission before the skeptical elector­ate and portray it as non-par­tisan ahead of the election.

According to them, the PDP and other political par­ties in the state had lost con­fidence in the ability of the Osun REC to be impartial in discharging his responsi­bility of managing the elec­toral process in the state, and therefore reiterated the urgent need for him to be re­deployed.

As further evidence sup­porting their call, the memo cited the staunch defence of the REC by the Osun State government as a confirma­tion of allegations of par­tisanship stridently made against Akeju by other po­litical parties in the state. The anti-Akeju commissioners further advised that the com­mission should create level playing ground by redeploy­ing him and posting an im­partial umpire to conduct the August election.

For the first time, the se­cret memo also admitted that a court order stopping Akeju from conducting the 2011 election was served on the commission, but Jega and Olurode overruled concerns of other commissioners who advocated that the commis­sion should obey the order. The memo further gave in­sight into complications that arose after Jega prevailed on the commission to ignore the order. “We should ac­cept that we have engaged in one lie or the other after we disobeyed that simple court order in 2011. We even engaged in the unusual by appealing against court rul­ings after we had flouted the simple order. We are now in a cul-de-sac as we are going into a crucial election with a REC with so much baggage. We should reverse our stand to retain our battered image.

“We should recall that when the REC granted an in­terview early this year direct­ly attacking one political par­ty, we again raised the need to effect his re-deployment, but this was blocked. Our ex­cuse that there is no evidence linking the REC to APC is no longer tenable. Nigerians have the feeling that INEC is working against PDP in Osun state. We should not allow this view to stick.

“We want to also state that we owe Nigerians a duty to be impartial and we find it dangerous for a particular commissioner to carry his political feeling into cru­cial issues especially over the Osun REC controversy. We are also worried that the commission chairman has succumbed to the said com­missioner whose position is almost a law within the com­mission. We submit that this should not be so in the inter­est of our collective image,” part of the memo read.

The memo also made other shocking revelations, to the effect that a section of the commission appears to be doing the bidding of op­position political activists. This indication was gleaned by a section of the memo that reads as follows: “We are worried by a trend which confirm that opposition political figures now have a foothold within the com­mission. A commissioner is always openly hobnobbing with the opposition and ac­cess to confidential files within the commission ap­pears unrestricted especial­ly to opposition politicians. We believe this should not be so as the commission should not by law and tradi­tion be partisan. The current situation is compromising the credibility of the com­mission.”

Strong feelers from the commission indicated that the secret memo, which was shot down at the meeting by the tag-team of Jega and Ol­urode is generating ripples within the commission. As the rift within the commis­sion continues to deepen, some directors who are privy to the memo are keeping sealed lips.