Chairman  of the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC), Alhaji Uthman Abdulrahman Ajidagba , recently spoke with journalists on the forthcoming local government elections in the state. Biola Azeez brings excerpts:

WITH your academic background, what's your understanding of political terrain and politicians' attitude towards electoral contest?
First and foremost,  I am not a politician and I don't belong to any political party. I've been an academic all through. When I was appointed as secretary, it was still in education, controlling teachers. I've never been a politician in my life. Whatever I would say about the attitude of Nigerian politicians will be based on what I read or listened to in mass media. I don't know them. 

Some Nigerian politicians do not encourage sportsmanship, they don't accept defeat in electoral contest. What is your take on this?
It's not only among politicians, it's in our culture, even among students who fail and attribute it to teachers. So, all hands must be on deck.  We need reorientation, but I doubt if reorientation can solve the problem because it's in our culture.  Culture is a way of life. No matter the level of one's education, there will still be the manifestation of the cultural traits in you.  It's in your blood.  Culture is culture.   

What is the level of preparation ahead of the local government slated for October?
We are adequately prepared. One thing that may interest you is that the crop of commissioners we have here is unprecedented in the history of KWSIEC.  I'm blessed with three lawyers as commissioners; I do not mean they are SANs, but they are senior lawyers . That puts us in the good stead because there is nothing we will do that will not require the law. So, we don't have any reason to reverse our decision because our decision must have based on the enlightenment we got from the law. So, this has equipped us adequately well. Apart from that, I also have one astute administrator and in terms of administration, he is there for us. To underscore that and having studied the enabling law, we have been moving in that direction and that's why we have released the timetable. You know we are conducting the election on October 26, and the election date is more than three months to this time. Otherwise, some people  may say they have overheated the polity; we have the law, we want to be properly prepared. That is why we do things accordingly.

Are the logistics in place? And then, what number of personnel will the commission require for the conduct of the election?
That is a bridge which we will cross when we get there because as I said, we are working according to plan.  In terms of logistics, there is no problem about that. We will keep you informed.

Some days ago, the commission held a stakeholders' forum, what were the responses of the stakeholders?
It has been very fantastic, and I'm sure that you (journalists) know more than me because your people were adequately represented. The political parties were adequately represented and they asked questions; it was a marvellous outing.

How are you taking care of the observations in respect of the timetable and the issue of nomination form fees?
On the timetable, we told them and we are still saying that we work according to the law. What we understand is that maybe they cannot say the time frame for the election is too short because we have given adequate preparation. And what we did the other time, we gave adequate and sufficient notice to them. But again, that also underscores the fact that there is nothing we do that people will not question and it has assisted us and we will be on our toes. We are independent, but we are not independent of people. So, we are responsible to people, that is the lesson we learnt at the forum. On the fee, again, even if we say nobody should pay, people will still ask questions, nobody should pay?  But in the last election in 2010, it was N50, 000 and N100, 000 for councillorship and chairmanship posts respectively. And we are all aware of the inflationary trend; that informed our position. 

What assurances can you give the opposition parties on having a level playing ground in this election?         
There are two key words here: opposition and level-playing field. As far as we are concerned, we will be an unbiased umpire by the grace of God. But, as I responded the other time, the issue of free, fair and credible election is a function of so many factors. As a referee, we cannot go to the field and play. So, we all have crucial roles to play, including the journalists, to ensure that we have the best. By virtue of our position now, we can no longer vote. They cannot say I, as the chairman, voted for this political party or one of the commissioners voted for a party. To us, there is no opposition. I mean, what is opposition, to us? There are political parties; opposition or no opposition belongs to the political class. They know who is, and who is not, the opposition.

What roles do you expect ordinary Kwarans to play in the election?
They have enormous roles to play. They should conduct themselves peacefully and they should play the game according to the rules. The electorate/populace should realise one thing and that is the crux of the matter. The electorate should realise that in the history of electoral violence in Nigeria, the gladiators have never been involved. You will never see that in an election, a councillor or chairman is killed; it's the electorate that suffer. So, the electorate should conduct themselves properly and not allow themselves to be used by the political class and that's the role they have to play. They should go out for accreditation and go back home. But in a situation where the contestants are in the comfort of their homes, enjoying and the electorate are there saying "no, this one should win or that one should not win,''--- I say we should know our limitations. As the umpire, the commission should know its limit. Even as journalists, you should know your limit. And I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the security agencies to perform their roles according to the law.
 
What are challenges facing the commission and what is it doing to surmount them?
The challenge we have now is not only to maintain and surpass the record, but also to improve on it. We want a non-violent election. And the politicians, we appeal to them to play the game according to the rules.

Before the present commission came, there was an Appeal Tribunal ruling, which ordered a rerun for Offa Local Government chairmanship and up till now, the re-run has not been held. Will it take place during the coming general council polls?
Yes. I was surprised this question was not asked during the last stakeholders' forum we held because I knew you will ask this. The position of the law is what we will abide by. I told you I'm blessed with three lawyers; they will study the judgement and whatever is the position of the law, we will follow.
 
And what is the position of the law?
We have not seen the judgement, you are just telling me now. We only read it on the pages of newspapers. If we get hold of the judgement, we will study it and we will come out with a position, an unbiased position.