By Adekunle Adekoya

THERE is palpable apprehension in the land, on account of the February 25 election for the purpose of electing a new president and National Assembly members.

 The main cause of angst is that people are not assured that all is well, despite the fact that we now have a president-elect, who, alongside his running mate have been issued certificates of return. The presidential pair has equally presented their certificates of return to incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, in his Daura home town.

On election day, the nation was shut down as vehicular movements were restricted to only the barest essential. As a result, commercial activities were scaled down, but as I write, they are yet to resume their full swing. Why?

There is widespread belief that the election was not conducted in full compliance with the provisions of the law. In fact, not a few fingers, including some very prominent ones, are pointing in the direction of INEC, the electoral umpire, and the bone of contention is that many of the results were not uploaded from polling stations through the BVAS units to the INEC server, which then displays it on the election results viewing portal, iRev. This is where those quarrelling with the election outcome seem to have built their case. It remains to be seen and proved what actually happened, as many stakeholders in the election have vowed to seek redress in court.

While we all wait for that, some questions, which border on some of the issues I have always written about in this column, are germaine. One of them is about staff of our public and civil service not doing the job for which they were hired, or at best, paying lip service to them. With hundreds of billions appropriated for INEC to conduct the election, a major pillar of which is electronic transmission of the results, INEC should have ensured that there will be no excuse or opportunity for it to be blamed by any stakeholder. But it would seem that this has not been the case, and it goes back to the way we all are, as a collective. We desire a good country, but are not willing to work or sacrifice to bring about that good that will make our country a desirable destination in the global community. Who are those in charge of the IT (Information Technology) unit at INEC? Can they say, in all honesty, that they have done a good job, the purpose of which was to deliver an election free of manipulation in any way? Were the ad-hoc staff that operated the BIVAS units sufficiently well-trained in the use of the device? And its timeliness? 

This becomes important regarding issues coming up on the matter. What manner of access controls were in place to guard against cyber-infiltration? Can the INEC chairman vouch that he supervised his IT unit so well that he got assurances from the staff that the system will work without hitches, so that he would be seen to have done his job as electoral umpire without blemish? If these questions cannot be answered satisfactorily, then it stands to reason to aver that INEC may not have done its job well. I will, at this stage, ignore the observations of the various election observation missions in the country who have already passed a damning verdict on INEC. President  Buhari, who has repeatedly assured us all that he would ensure a free and fair election also has his queries. To what extent did he  ensure that INEC will help him deliver on his promises? It is not enough to issue a directive and retire to teeth-picking. Follow-ups are necessary to ensure that directives are followed. I doubt the president followed up with INEC, especially since he is on record as saying he was not aware when asked why a former police boss did not comply with his directive to relocate to a crisis point. 

I aver that the same is true of almost the entire public and civil service. Right now, it is our collective experience not to be able to renew our passports without pain, despite hundreds of millions of naira spent by the Immigration Service on the e-Passport project. We are so blest that even when a prospective passport holder completes the form and pays online, that is merely scratching the process in the face as there exists one hundred thousand roadblocks to be surmounted before taking final possession of the document. More or less is the situation with the national drivers license. Either a new one or renewal, the effort to get the license is akin to an attempt at climbing Mountain Everest, so much are the obstacles, while law-enforcement agents, who undoubtedly are aware of the situation continue to victimise defaulters in the name of enforcement. If INEC did not do its job properly with electronic transmission of polls results, it has left itself open to all manners of accusations, and must take responsibility for the state of suspended animation in which many Nigerians now find themselves, six days after the Feb 25 election. The needful must be done; this ugly situation must be redressed before the next round of elections. Nigerians have endured so much!