- Amina Bala Zakari’s acting appointment is untidy.
Buhari can do better in choosing a substantive electoral chief
President Muhammadu Buhari should be decisive in appointing a substantive chairman for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). In making his recommendations for the approval of the Senate, President Buhari should bear in mind, the national and international acclaim, which Nigeria gained, because of the integrity and general acceptance of the immediate past chairman of the commission, Professor Attahiru Jega. The same consideration should also bear in his choice of candidates, to replace the national commissioners, whose tenures have come to an end.
We consider the circumstance under which Amina Bala Zakari was appointed as acting chairman, well past her tenure, as untidy. Even more unnecessary is the controversy surrounding the process of her appointment and the accusations of filial relationship with the President. While Mrs Zakari may be eminently qualified to be INEC chairman, as some of the accusations do not restrict her candidature under the law, it is important for the president to take into account, the effect on the general perception about her integrity and independence.
While no doubt, President Buhari is remarkably a person of high integrity, it is important that the president is seen by all to be completely detached, in making a choice of a substantive chairman for INEC. In projecting a candidate for that important office, geo-political, ethnic and religious considerations ordinarily should not be important issues. But where political opponents bring them to the front-burner, it may be wise for the president to stay as far away as possible, from any basis for such accusations, in the overall interest of the integrity of the electoral process. So, it is important that the President does all he can to avoid any accusations of bias and favouritism.
Luckily as the appointment and performance of Professor Jega had shown, there are Nigerians of high integrity, and we urge the president to source, from across the country, such men and women to replace the chairman and commissioners, whose tenures have expired. We believe that it was to avoid accusations of bias that the Justice Muhammadu Uwais electoral reform panel, recommended to late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, that the appointment of the Chairman of INEC should be placed in the hands of non-partisans.
In making the choice of the chairman of INEC and the national commissioners, the president should remember the enormous powers, privileges and responsibilities of the appointees, as provided for in the Third Schedule, Part 1F, of the 1999 constitution, as amended; and the fact that the success or failure of the electoral process, depends on the general acceptance of drivers of the process. As provided by the constitution, it is envisaged that the persons to be appointed must be persons of “unquestionable integrity”. Going down the provisions, it is apparent that the chairman and his commissioners are entrusted with enormous powers over political parties and the conduct of elections.
We also note that the real integrity of the persons appointed is as important as the perception of the general public. So if for any reason there is reasonable suspicion that there is likelihood of bias in the choice of the chairman of the commissioners, then there may be a challenge to the credulity of the election that will be conducted. That is why the appointive authority must exercise all possible caution from the beginning. That also explains the constitutional provision insulating the electoral body, among a select few, from any form of interference by any “authority or person”.
In making a choice over who would be the next chairman of INEC, we urge President Buhari to act statesmanlike, in the overall interest of our country.
