Southsouth, Southeast, Southwest battle for INEC’s Secretary.

By Yusuf Alli, Abuja.

INEC Chairman Prof. Jega

•Kaugama bows out in six months •Odds favour Southwest

Three geo-political zones are battling for the office of the Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which may be vacant in the next six months.
The zones are Southsouth, Southeast and the Southwest.
Also, there are indications that the presidency may bring in an experienced civil servant outside the electoral commission for the post. But INEC staff members are also pushing for the appointment of one of their experienced directors.
The said since there are about 67 directors in the commission, it is needless bringing in another director who will have to learn the rudiments of managing an Electoral Management Board (EMB).
The tenure of the current Secretary of INEC, Alhaji Abdullahi Kaugama would end in the next six months, it was learnt.
Besides the tenure issue, it was also learnt that in line with the ongoing reforms of INEC by its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Secretary would have been asked to step aside because he is from the same Northwest geopolitical zone with INEC chair.
Although Jega inherited INEC Secretary, there had been agitations within INEC that a zone cannot produce the two top posts in the electoral commission.
A source in government said: “Since the INEC chairman is from the North, naturally the position of Secretary will come from the South. I am aware that this has been the pattern at least since the Second Republic (1979 to1983).
“What we have now is that the three zones in the South (Southsouth, Southeast and Southwest) are jostling for the office. 
“As a matter of fact, the Southsouth has thrown up some candidates including the Administrative Secretary of the commission in Imo State Mr. Udoh from Cross River State, Head of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) from Akwa Ibom, Okop; the Director of Political Party Monitoring from Delta State, Mrs. Regina Omo-Agege, and former Head of Legal Affairs, Wole Uzzi.
“The odds may however favour the Southwest because out of the three zones, only the Southwest has never produced either the chairman or Secretary of the electoral commission. But some stakeholders want the office thrown open to all the zones.
“It is left to INEC management to come up with a benchmark for the selection of the new secretary.
“If INEC is allowed to choose its Secretary from within, it has to pick one out of the 67 directors on its payroll.
A breakdown of the directors in the commission is as follows:  Niger (two); Delta (three); Kaduna (two); Sokoto (one); Benue (nine) Anambra (nine); Zamfara (two); Cross River (three); Enugu (one); Kano (one); Plateau (three); Imo (four); Akwa Ibom (three); Bayelsa (two); Kogi (one); Katsina (one); Osun (one); Abia (three); Gombe (one); Kebbi (three); Lagos (two); Edo (three); Ogun (one); Bauchi (two); Jigawa (one); Yobe (one); and Borno  (two).
Another source however claimed that attempts by Jega-led INEC to start its reforms with the choice of a new Secretary may suffer some setbacks as the Presidency is contemplating bringing in an experienced civil servant on board.
The INEC officials are however opposed to the plan because the commission has enough directors who could fit into the bill.
The source said: “I think some politicians are trying to pull the strings to have a civil servant from outside as INEC secretary. They probably want somebody they could control.
“Yet, this was the same method that almost crippled INEC in the past. Most of the former secretaries came from the civil service who owed allegiance to the powers that be. In line with INEC reform focus, the PricewaterhouseCoopers Report favours a Secretary from within.
“If a Secretary comes from outside, he will just start learning which may not augur well for the system.
“Most staff favour internal candidate for the job. We have had stability in INEC because Abdullahi A. Kaugama had been part of the service since 1987.
“Kaugama started his Federal Service Career with the then National Electoral Commission (NEC) as an Electoral Officer in Kano from March 1987 to November 1992; he rose to become the Chief Personal Officer (NEC) Jigawa till April 1994. He later became Deputy Director (Admin and Human Resources) at INEC Headquarters Abuja from May 2004 to March 2005.
“He was promoted Director on GL 17 while still serving as the Administrative Secretary of INEC Katsina State, a position he held until 1st February 2007, when he was appointed the acting Secretary of the Commission.
“If the government imposes a Secretary on INEC, it will not be tidier enough for the system and it might have implications for the transparency of the electoral process in 2015. That was a major internal challenge which INEC had during the annulment of June 12, 1993 election.”