During his meeting with the Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities in Abuja, the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, reportedly stated that “the Commission needed the support of the Universities to source the requisite members of suitably academic staff of impeccable integrity and who must also understand that this is a call to national service”. According to the report, Prof Mahmoud also acknowledged that ” without the involvement of the tertiary institutions, especially the Universities, INEC would find it difficult to conduct credible elections.”
With particular reference to above, many Nigerians felt that the Commission would have fully utilized the services of the teeming National Youths Service Corps members to handle the forthcoming elections, rather than involving the Academic staff of the Universities in the process, since the 23,258 staff strength reportedly required was far below the number of the serving Youth Corps members.
According to news, the Chairman went further to list the categories of the university staff INEC would not want as follows:
a. Those in the past convicted of electoral malpractices
b. Those known to have obvious political leanings
c. The Card carrying partisan politicians among them
The INEC boss reportedly emphasized that the need to engage only the academic staff of the Universities with integrity and transparency was for the Commission to continue to enjoy the confidence the public reposed on them to conduct credible and transparent elections. Thus the repeated emphasis the INEC placed on the integrity of the staff of the universities tend to confirm the fears of Nigerians regarding the credibility, sincerity and transparency of the group.
In the past, there were widespread rumours of collusion by these electoral umpires with the Nigerian money bag politicians which allegedly enabled the imposition of some undesirable candidates on the people. That, perhaps, was the more reason many Nigerians did not bathe an eyelid during the past ASUU prolonged strike actions, for they felt that ASUU leaders were rightly paid in their own coin, since the leaders they had allegedly imposed on the public were the very ones who failed to accord them the desired attention they sought.
Even though the INEC boss, in his reported speech, had assured that “each Collation
and the Returning Officer would be made to swear to an oath of neutrality”, many people had received this with mixed feelings, as not many could vouch that those Academics would comply and conduct themselves lawfully in line with the electoral rules and regulations.
Many further argued that the National Youths Corps members should handle the roles hitherto assigned to the Academic staff as Collation and the Returning Officers, in addition to the basic duty of the Corps as Ad hoc Staff.
It should be noted that the suggestion to assign the positions of Collation and the Returning Officers to NYSC members was born out of desperate ardent desire to achieve neutrality and transparency among the electoral umpires in Nigeria.
That notwithstanding, I feel that
trusting a critical national assignment of such magnitude to such youths who had no exposures, in depth maturity, well established identities and tested stewardships may have some grave consequences if things went awry. Such erring youth has no name, no reputation or established identities to defend, hence will have nothing to lose, even if prosecuted for electoral malpractices.
In my own humble opinion, let us keep engaging the services of the University Dons as the Collation and the Returning Officers in our elections. If they keep selling their self-esteem to betray the trust we repose on them, at the altar of their inordinate ambition for materialism, then posterity will judge them.
Collins Onuzulike Okolochukwu Obodo
DCC retired
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