‘WE ARE RESPONSIBLE TO THE PEOPLE’ Saturday, August 24, 2013 Dr. Uthman Abdulrahman Ajidagba, chairman of Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission recently spoke to journalists, among them THISDAY’s Hammed Shittu, in Ilorin about his commission’s preparations for the October 26 local government poll in the state. How prepared is your commission for the October 26 local government election? We are adequately prepared. One thing that may interest you is that the crop of commissioners we have here is unprecedented in the history of KWSIEC. Apart from my chairmanship, I’m blessed with three lawyers as commissioners; I do not mean they are SANs, but they are senior lawyers and are old at the bar. That one puts us on the good stead because there is nothing we will do that will not require the law. So, we don’t have any reason to reverse our decision because our decision must have been based on what the law says. So, this has equipped us adequately well. Apart from that, I also have one astute administrator and therefore in terms of good administration, he is there for us. To underscore that and having studied the enabling law, we have been moving in that direction and that’s why we have released the timetable. You know we are conducting the election on October 26, and the election date is more than three months away. We have the law; we want to be properly prepared that is why we are doing things accordingly. What are the logistics put in place that will help the commission conduct a free, fair and credible local government poll in the state? That is a bridge which we will cross when we get there because as I said, we are working according to plans. In terms of logistics, there are no problems. Few days ago, the commission held a stakeholders’ forum. What was the response like? It was fantastic. The political parties were adequately represented and they asked good questions; it was a marvelous outing. How are you tackling complaints trailing the election timetable and the issue of fees for nomination forms? On the timetable, we told them that we would work according to the law. They cannot say the time for the election is too short because we have given adequate notice. And what we did the other time, we gave adequate and sufficient notice to them. But again, that also underscores the fact that there is nothing we do that people will not question and it has assisted us. We will be on our toes. We are independent, but we are not independent of people. So, we are responsible to the people; that is the lesson we learnt at the forum. On the fee, again, even if we say nobody should pay, people will still ask questions. In the last election in 2010, it was N50, 000 and N100, 000 for councillorship and chairmanship respectively. And we are all aware of the inflation trend; that informed our position to increase the fees. What the commission printed the other time is now going for a higher cost and that informed our position. With your academic background, what’s your understanding of the political terrain and politicians’ attitude towards electoral contest? First and foremost, I am not a politician and I don’t belong to any political party. I’ve been in academic line all through. I have never been a politician in my life. Whatever I would say about the attitude of Nigerian politicians will be based on what I read or listen to in mass the mass media. I don’t know them. Some Nigerian politicians do not encourage sportsmanship; they don’t accept defeat in electoral contest. What is your take on this? It’s not only among politicians; it’s in the character of many Nigerians. Even among students, when they fail they attribute it to teachers. So, all hands must be on deck. We need re-orientation, but I doubt if re-orientation alone can solve the problem because it’s in our culture. Culture is a way of life. No matter the level of one’s education, there will still be the manifestation of that cultural trait in you. It’s in your blood. Culture is culture. What assurances will you give the opposition about a level playing ground in this election? There are two key words there: opposition and level playing ground. As far as we are concerned we are umpires. Off course, we will be unbiased umpire by the grace of God. But, as I responded the other time, the issue of free, fair and credible election is a function of so many factors. As a referee, we cannot go to the field and play. So, we all have crucial roles to play including journalists, to ensure that we have the best. By virtue of our position now, we can no longer vote. They cannot say I as the chairman voted for this political party or one of the commissioners voted for a party. To us, there is no opposition. I mean, what is opposition, to us? There are political parties; opposition or no opposition belongs to the political class. They know who is and who is not in opposition. What roles do you expect ordinary Kwarans to play in the forthcoming elections? They have enormous roles to play. They should conduct themselves peacefully and they should play the game according to the rules. The electorate should realise one thing and that is the crux of the matter. The electorate should realise that in the history of electoral violence in Nigeria, the gladiators have never been involved. You will never see that in an election, a councilor or chairman is killed; it’s the electorate that suffer. So, the electorate should conduct themselves very well and not allow themselves to be used by the political class; that’s the role they have to play. They should go out for accreditation and go back home. But in a situation where by the contestants are in the comfort of their home enjoying and the electorate are there saying ‘no, this one should win or that one should not win,’ then, there will be problems. We should know our limitations. As the umpire, the commission should know its limit. Even as journalists, you should know your limit. And I want to use this opportunity to appeal to security agencies to perform their roles according to the law. What are the challenges facing the commission as regard the conduct of the council poll and the moves to address these challenges? The challenge we have now is not only to maintain and surpass the current record, but also to improve on it. We want a non-violent election. And the politicians, we appeal to them to play the game according to the rules. Before the present commission came in, there was an Appeal Tribunal Ruling, which ordered a rerun for Offa Local Government Chairmanship. Up till now, the rerun has not been held. Will it take place during the coming general council polls? Yes, I was surprised this question was not asked during the last stakeholders’ forum we held because I knew you will ask this. The position of the law is clear. We will abide by. I told you I’m blessed with three lawyers; they will study the judgement and whatever is the position of the law, we will follow. And what is the position of the law? We have not seen the judgement, you are just telling me now. We only read it on the pages of newspapers. If we get hold of the judgement, we will study it and we will come out with a position; an unbiased position.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 11:06:56 +0000
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