Towards credible elections in 2015

Professor Attahiru Jega’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has continued to chalk up questionable competence in every election its has conducted in the country in its over three years of existence.
It set an ugly tone in the 2011 general elections when it became the first electoral regime to cancel a general election midway and start all over again. But because Jega, who was highly touted as a credible person for the job of INEC Chair was still new on the job, Nigerians were willing to forget that show of shame.
Since then, elections have been held in states like Ondo and Edo. In each case, the old bedevilling factors that make Nigerian election nototrious for failure to meet basic standards of credibility continued to shadow the performances of Jega and his Commission.
The just-concluded governorship elections in Anambra State provided yet another platform to test-run the competence of INEC, but alas! Rather than improving on the Edo and Ondo exercises, the elections fell way below the expectations of many stakeholders, such as a cross section of the political parties and their candidates, local and international observers and the electorate.
Though the election was generally peaceful and devoid of incidences of ballot snatching, much of its drawbacks centered on the INEC’s shoddy preparations and deployment of electoral materials, especially on November 16th 2013.
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