And the next INEC chairman is…

And the next INEC chairman is…

By Bola BOLAWOLE

Two dangerous rumours grew wings and spread like wide fire in the harmattan haze last week, but thank goodness that the Presidency moved swiftly to shoot them down. The first rumour was that the government had given the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) the nod to introduce N5,000 and N10,000 denominations in addition to the existing denominations, the highest of which is N1,000. The second rumour was that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, had been sacked by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

To introduce N5,000 and N10,000 denominations at this point in time is to kukuma relieve the doddering economy of its troubles and send it to an early grave where it can rest in pieces! Yet, it is not as if there are no sound economic reasons for higher Naira denominations! Where the cost of printing a unit of currency trumps the actual value or purchasing power of the currency in the marketplace, it makes no sense to hard-nosed economists to continue with its printing, which amounts to running at a loss from the starting point. Who wants to ever run such a business enterprise, except if there is a sound prognosis of massive turnaround somewhere around the corner?

Yet, deleting lower currency denominations and introducing higher ones fuels inflation. Where hyper-inflation is already the order of the day, higher currency denominations can only worsen the situation. We may have gotten ourselves caught between the devil and the deep blue sea!

I grew up knowing that we had coins – but no more! Before we changed to Naira and kobo on 1 January, 1973, we had coins, and after the change, we still had coins. I was in the secondary school then and I still remember the record waxed by Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey (who celebrated his 83rd birthday recently), as he chronicled the event: “Naira and Kobo la o ma na: K’igba yi san wa s’owo, san wa s’omo, san wa s’alafia…”

According to the CBN Act section 2, Naira coins are still legal tender but where are they? Inflation has wiped them out. Many paper denominations such as 50k, 1, 5, and 10 Naira denominations have been wiped out as well. You hardly can find N20 and N50 denominations these days; and even if you do, what can they buy? The least currency in circulation now is N100; even the purchasing power of that is minimal. The purchasing power of the Naira has suffered monumental depreciation, impoverishing the citizenry to the bargain. What is expected of the government is to arrest the alarming situation and not take any precipitate action that will worsen things.

The second rumour was the alleged sack of the INEC boss, Mahmoud Yakubu. First appointed into office by the then President Muhammadu Buhari on 21 October, 2015 to succeed Professor Attahiru Jega, who supervised the 2015 elections, Yakubu received the handing over notes from the acting chairman, Amina Zakari. He supervised the 2019 elections and was re-appointed “for a second and final term” of office according to a statement signed by the then presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, on October 27, 2020, in accordance with the provisions of Section 154 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

So, the INEC boss is due to step down later this year and it is appropriate that the search for his successor should commence in earnest. The likelihood is that the search has already commenced, which is why kites are being flown in some quarters. I flew my own kite ever before Tinubu took office when I listed many of the offices that the South-west zone had unjustifiably been denied a shot at for decades to include the Chief of Army Staff, Comptroller-General of Customs, Immigration, Nigerian Ports Authority, CBN, Chief of Staff, National Security Adviser, and INEC, among others.

It is difficult to redress the injustice of decades in just one term of office but the much that Tinubu has been able to do has shown that he heard, loud and clear, the groanings of the South-west as per their brazen marginalization in the scheme of things in Nigeria. The zone’s resilience, nurtured from the days of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the First Republic, is why the South-west has carried on as if nothing is amiss. Less than a tenth of what the zone stoically suffers is what some others suffer and they shout “marginalization” at rooftops! Bourgeois politics? Yes! When in Rome, act like a Roman!

The INEC top seat is one that the South-west has been excluded from, from its inception. Although the nomenclature has changed variously from Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) to National Electoral Commission (NECON) to National Electoral Commission (NEC) to the current INEC, the South-west has not been fortunate enough to register its presence under any of them. The list of past INEC bosses from 1960 till date speaks volumes in this regard: 1. Eyo Esua (1964 -1966); 2. Michael Ani (1976 – 1979); 3. Victor Ovie-Whiskey (1980 – 1983); 4. Eme Awa (1987 – 1989); 5. Humphrey Nwosu (1989 – 1993); 6. Okon Uya (June – November 1993); 7. Summer Dagogo-Jack (1994 – 1998); 8. Ephraim Akpata (1998 – 2000); 9. Abel Guobadia (2000 – 2005); 10. Maurice Iwu (2005 – 2010); 11. Attahiru Jega (2010 – 2015); 12. Mahmoud Yakubu (2015 till date).

Right from Independence, there have been 12 election bosses and not a single one of them had been from the South-West or the section of Kwara and Kogi states that are “brothers” of the South-west. No marginalization can be more brazen! So, this is one reason why it is only just, fair, and equitable that the searchlight for the next INEC chairman should be beamed in the direction of the South-west and/or sections of Kwara and Kogi states that bear affinity to it. That should be the first qualification of the next INEC boss.

That President Tinubu is from the South-west does not vitiate the fact that he can appoint the next INEC boss from that geo-political zone. There are precedents already set in that direction. Besides, the need to redress the unimaginable marginalization of the South-west in this regard makes the need so urgent that it should not be postponed.

Of course, there are other qualifications that will be considered. Once the place of origin of the candidate is settled, the next is integrity. Our elections have suffered from lack of integrity. As the fish rots from the head, we must settle for a candidate with integrity. Impeccable character is an attribute that must not be compromised. This should not be seen as another job for the boys or one for party hacks. The fulcrum of a healthy democracy is free and fair elections. Without credible elections, democracy is sick, and if the sickness persists, death results.

Our recent experience also dictates that the next INEC boss should be on top of the law. The way the law is manipulated by political parties and politicians alike dictates that the INEC boss must not be ignorant of the loopholes being exploited to unhinge the INEC. And with the way election results always end up in the court, it will be an added advantage if we shop for an INEC boss that is familiar with the way judges interpret the provisions of the Electoral Act and our Constitution itself, which is the grundnorm, as lawyers call it. A retired judge or justice is what I have in mind here.

This is the digital age. Nigerians are craving for technology to drive our elections. INEC has made a lot of improvement in this regard, but its best is not good enough yet. The next INEC boss must be technology savvy to be able to take us to the next level. Virtually everything today is electronically driven. Artificial Intelligence is such a threat these days that one pastor I watched recently described it as a demon or the soon-coming Anti-Christ!! Well, even if it is, it is one we have to learn to live with!

Technology is changing virtually everything, the courts themselves are not spared. One reason why electoral crimes are said to flourish is lack of prosecution; and apart from the prohibitive cost of prosecution and shortage of manpower, lack of expertise in the field of electronic evidence is a mountain that many of our lawyers and judges, even the brightest of them, find difficult to comprehend, talk less of surmounting. The field of electronic evidence is new; mercifully, we have Nigerians in that field that can hold their own turf against the very best from anywhere in the world. Search for them!

This is the time to bring the best talents to bear on our election matters. Aren’t we, the giant of Africa, ashamed to continue to totter and fall where smaller African countries organise credible elections that have made them the pride of Africa and the toast of the international community?

* Former Editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-Chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Westerner newsmagazine. He writes the ON THE LORD’S ON column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in the New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.

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