They are:

· United National Party for Development (UNPD);

· National Movement of Progressives Party (NMPP);

· Kowa Party(KP);

· People for Democratic Change(PDC)

The registration was approved at the meeting of the Commission which held, July

16, 2007.

This brings to 54 the number of political parties so far registered by the

Commission to participate in electoral contests in Nigeria.The Commission said it

approved the registration of the four political parties after they had satisfied all

requirements specified in section 222 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of

Nigeria and the Electoral Act 2006.The Commission further stated that it was

considering applications from political associations that have applied for

registration and that its position on their applications would be made known soon,

adding that it was bound by law to register any political association which

satisfies the requirements of the Constitution and the Electoral Act,

2006.

Umenger.I. Emmanuel,

Acting Director, Public Affairs

By Rose Oriaran

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By Rose Oriaran

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“As we prepare for the 2011 elections, there is an attempt to corrupt messages coming out of the Election Management Body” [EMB] he lamented.
Professor Iwu regretted a situation where considered and well thought out suggestions made by the Commission on how to reform the electoral system and other vital messages were being deliberately distorted by some sections of the media.

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Ibadan.

WHAT PROFESSOR IWU SAID

The attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been

drawn to the Nigerian Tribune editorial of Thursday, July 9, 2009 in which the INEC

Chairman was portrayed as an umpire whose national stature was on the decline.

According to the newspaper, the INEC Chairman while addressing the

quadrennial delegates conference of the Nigerian Civil Service Union in Enugu a

fortnight ago, claimed he had saved Vice President Goodluck Jonathan from being

killed by plotters who were put to flight by his (Iwu’s) bravery.The story, to say

the least, is brazenly preposterous.

The Commission would not have been bothered by what is manifestly fictitious

but for the fact that it is an editorial material being served the readers by a

newspaper which in the estimation of most Nigerians ranks among the national

newspapers that have been classified as serious tabloids. What Professor Iwu

said pointedly is that, the successful conduct of 2007 General Elections saved

Nigeria from sliding into anarchy which was what many anti-democratic forces

wanted.

The INEC Chairman had at various fora decried the debilitating phenomena of

violence during elections. This is sustained by a negative mindset with which our

political actors enter into electoral contests. Lamenting the limiting impacts of

violence on our electoral process, Professor Iwu took members of the Nigerian Civil

Service Union back to the general insecurity that pervaded the political

environment in the run up to the 2007 general elections, the spate of politically

motivated killings and youth restiveness in the Niger Delta which snowballed into

the bombing of Vice President Goodluck’s residence in his home state Bayelsa.

The problems of electoral violence, excessive deployment of financial resources by

political actors, gender inequality which limits the level of effective feminine

gender participation in politics and a mindset that conceptualizes electoral contest

as a do or die affair have been the bane of our efforts at enthroning democratic

culture in this country. These problems are still with us.

Our political terrain is replete with a few elements who threaten fire and brimstone

when they fail to achieve their ambition. Such people unleash recriminations on

perceived enemies and assault the entire system in an attempt to capture political

power.

This do or die spirit that has become the character of electoral contests in Nigeria

goes against the very foundation of our electoral system. It was this negative

mindset about elections that propelled political opponents to bomb Goodluck

Jonathan’s residence and this was the context in which his name was mentioned

during Iwu’s lecture to delegates at the quadrennial conference of Nigerian civil

Service Union which held in Enugu recently.

With regards to the outcomes of the 2007 general elections which the editorial

says are hotly being contested in election tribunals, it is the contention of the

Commission that the phenomenon is not aberrant to our electoral system. If

anything, it enriches the system and instills the confidence of the aggrieved

contestants in our electoral process.

To attempt to portray pronouncements by the tribunals as indictment only betrays

the psychology of the rich and most powerful few in our midst who continue to

trample on the defenseless in society. Moreover, INEC does not expect to be

hugged when we ask such people to obey laws governing the conduct of elections.

Emmanuel I. Umenger,

Acting Director, Public affairs

By Rose Oriaran

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The INEC Chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu made this known while addressing

participants at a two-day workshop organized by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ),

Abuja Council on post-election reporting.
He emphasized that the Fellowship will be targeted at such thorny areas as violence in

Nigerian politics, gender inequity, and excessive use of money in politics and the mindsets

of Nigerians toward elections.
He charged Journalists to use their investigative skills to find out how women fared in the

last elections and how they could be encouraged to participate in future elections. He also

enjoined them to research into the high cost of politics and ways of reducing the cost so as

to encourage more people of talent and integrity.
The INEC Chairman further implored professional Journalist interested in the Fellowship to

secure the consent of their employers so that they do not lose their job at the end of the

one-year sabbatical.

By Rose oriaran

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He also accused INEC leadership of an attempt at covering not only the alleged bribery scam but sundry other imaginary electoral crimes. This is preposterous, we hasten to say.

Much as the Commission does not intend to join issues with an AC chieftain whose party has literally declared war against her, it is pertinent that we put in proper perspective what informed the administration of the oath of secrecy on its staff.

First and foremost, the oath of secrecy is a normal administrative procedure known to all government establishments, especially those whose activities or functions are very sensitive in nature. It is therefore a requirement which every civil servant in the employ of the government is duty-bound to subscribe to in order to ensure that security-based information as well documents which they manage or handle are not arbitrarily disclosed or divulged except as permitted in the interest of the general public. In his unrestrained outpouring of invectives on the Commission’s leadership, using the administered oath of secrecy as a façade, Mr. Igbokwe has neglected to accept the widely known fact that Executive Office holders are also required to subscribe to an oath of secrecy just in the same way as officials at various levels of government are required to take this oath. Only God Knows what secrets such oaths are designed to cover if Igbokwe’s thesis to the effect that here at INEC they are administered with an intent to cover some “messy deals and many acts of fraud”.

Secondly, oath taking by staff is not peculiar to INEC. To attempt to make an issue out of a purely administrative procedure as Igbokwe has done only shows the extent to which the AC has taken its campaign of calumny against INEC, using The Nation as a mega phone.

Early this week, the paper claimed Professor Maurice Iwu was foisting an oath of secrecy on his staff in order to cover the alleged bribery scam which every Nigerian knows is being investigated by the Police.

The fact remains that INEC reported the alleged scam to the Police and prayed same to institute thorough investigation into the matter. The Nation’s brazen claim that the alleged bribery was a damning revelation is not only farcical but ridiculous. What’s more, it is preposterous to imagine that INEC which called for investigation into an allegation of bribery against its staff will turn around to cover what it had reported.

Thirdly, the Commission desired a rigorous and transparent investigation process, having tremendous regard to the weight or gravity of the issue reported; an issue which elsewhere, would have been handled administratively. One therefore wonders why an otherwise patriotic reaction of INEC to a weighty allegation of bribery is being celebrated by The Nation and its sponsors as an alibi for lampooning its leadership.

Finally, we wish to reiterate that the oath of secrecy being administered on INEC staff has nothing whatsoever to do with this alleged bribery scandal which is being investigated by the Police.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT,

INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION, HEADQUARTERS,

ABUJA, FCT.

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The Commission has since investigated the said report and wishes to state as follows:

1) What the INEC staff and his colleagues were doing was not tampering with, or deleting the names of any registered voter but indulging in the Continuous Voter Registration exercise which is on-going in all the 774 local government areas in the federation;

2) That even though the said exercise is on-going, the list of those under the Continuous Voter Registration regiment registered (before the re-run election) will be consolidated next year and not used for the re-run election;

3) That in the course of an exercise involving the registration of voters, only personal data and biometrics are captured. It is therefore not possible for any list to show the partisan disposition of the registrant(s);

4) That the Commission is taking precautionary measures to ensure a hitch-free governorship re-run in Ekiti state;

5) That the Commission’s resolve to provide a level playing field for all contestants in the impending governorship re-run election in Ekiti state remains unshaken; and that

6) The Commission enjoins all stakeholders in the electoral process in Ekiti state to guard against issuing statements that are capable of unnecessarily heating up the polity.

Signed:

Deputy Director

Public Affairs,

UMENGER, I.E.

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By Rose oriaran
Dated 04/09/2008

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Speaking further, Dr. Macebah pointed out that the Media held the greatest promise for Democracy, because in a docile community such as ours, only the vibrant member which happens to be the Media holds the greatest promise to sustain democracy.

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By Rose Oriaran

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