As a matter of fact and despite INEC and Jega’s grandstanding, preparations for the elections were not (and still, are not) as reassuring as to be desired. With only a few weeks to the election more than a third of the total registered voters stood the chance of being disenfranchised out of no fault of theirs.
The almighty Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) required for voting were not ready or physically available at various centres for collection, and if they were, the manpower to man the centres and hand them out applying all the procedures of authentication, was not available. And, in all probability, that percentage of those without PVC could not be significantly reduced.
This column of February 1 on the prospect of the postponement had anticipated such with a “naïve” endorsement that: “Certainly there is some logic in the argument. If 50, 40, 30, even 20 per cent of potential voters are denied their right to vote, by any act of omission or commission of the electoral umpires or authorities, such election cannot be considered fair or wholesome, and the credibility would be suspect.”
However, for anyone to hang the postponement on the issue of Boko Haram or insecurity in some parts of the Northeast is, in my opinion, being too clever.
Defeat of Boko Haram or attaining security in the few security-challenged local governments cannot and must not be condition precedent for the election to hold; for, regardless of any promises to the contrary, those matters will still be there well beyond the new March 28 date, unless, of course, those that will clear the mess are, in the suspicion of some people, those behind the mess all along!
Good thing President Jonathan cleared the air on that: “Nobody is saying that Boko Haram will be totally wiped out before elections can be held but in the next six weeks some serious advances will be made.”
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