Election Sabotage: Jega Keeps Mum On Contractor

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, insisted this morning that it will not reveal the identity of the vendor whose failure to deliver sensitive election materials resulted in postponement of National Assembly election last Saturday.

Kayode Idowu, the spokesperson for Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman, INEC told P.M.NEWS this morning that the commission will not disclose the identity of the contractor in spite of curiosity from the public. The refusal to reveal the name of the vendor, he said, is to avoid “media trial of the contractor”.

Professor Jega had last Saturday afternoon announced the postponement of the National Assembly elections in spite of the fact that millions of prospective voters had lined up in polling booths across the country, with voting already commencing in some areas.

Jega had blamed the postponement on ‘ unprecedented late arrival of result sheets’ as one of the vendors awarded contract for the printing of the document said he was unable to secure aircraft to transport the materials to Nigeria on time.

The INEC Chairman said the contractor had in turn blamed the Tsunami disaster that occurred in Japan for the problem.

According to Jega, though the vendor had earlier promised to deliver the materials to Nigeria on Thursday, the result sheets arrived in Nigeria late Saturday morning, when the process of the election is already underway across the country.

The INEC Chairman said it therefore became imperative to postpone the election because it will not be possible to distribute the materials across the 120,000 polling booths in the country before the end of the polls that day.

“We could have proceeded with the election in a few states of the country where materials are available such as Lagos, Kaduna, Kebbi, Delta, Zamfara and Enugu among others. In order to maintain the integrity of the election and take effective overall control of the process, the commission has taken a very difficult but necessary decision to postpone the National Assembly election to Monday, April 4,” Jega said.

But as controversies mount over the reason given for the cancellation of the election, Nigerians have continued to demand that the identity of the contractor who defaulted in the supply of the report sheets be disclosed.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Governor of Lagos State and Action Congress of Nigeria leader, had, following the postponement of the election last Saturday raised posers on the contract and the contractor: “Can you vouch that contract has not turned to patronage? How much did it cost Bangladesh to register 80 million? How much did it cost Nigeria? Is it not part of influence? Is it not that some National Assembly members influenced the INEC to favour one contractor or the other irrespective of its capacity to deliver? Has it been independent of all the exercise?”

There are reports that about 10 companies were awarded the contract for the printing of the ballot papers and the result sheets. One report had indicated that the company is Royal Mint of Spain, while there are speculations that the company is a Japanese company.

Idowu had denied that the company is based in Spain, but insisted this morning that INEC will not reveal the identity of the defaulting vendor since the issue is being taken through a legal process for appropriate sanctions. He said this is to avoid media trial while he vowed that the commission will ensure that appropriate punishment is meted out to the contractor.

When asked if the commission is trying to shield the contractors from Nigerians, Idowu replied: “No, no, appropriate measures are being taken to punish the vendor for breach of contract and media trial of the contractor may also be another breach of the contract.”

Idowu also told P.M.NEWS that contract for the printing of the result sheets was awarded just before the elections, but was not specific on the particular time. We gathered that the contract was awarded on 10 March.

On whether the late award of the contract was not responsible for the delay in the delivery of the materials, Idowu, while insisting that the contract was awarded at the appropriate time, added that “even if the contract was awarded late, the contractual terms will not stipulate that the materials should be delivered late.”

Apart from Royal Mint of Spain, other foreign companies allegedly contracted to print the ballot papers are Aero Vote Limited, a security printing company based in Buckingamshire, United Kingdom, Sanfrano, a Germany-based company with a Nigerian associate called Alhaji Sani; Musa.

Aero Print, and V.I Solutions said to belong to a Nigerian called Alhaji Yahaya Musa.

—Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja