Though the promises made by Professor Amupitan are welcome, they are likely to be viewed with a fair degree of reservations by a lot of Nigerians instead of being delivered with an open heart. The usual pre-election talk of transparency, preparedness, and peace has too often been succeeded by the traditional tales of logistical failures, intimidation, and irregularities.
The doubt is not fruited out of cynicism but experience. Citizens have been exposed to well-polished speeches and spectacular figures, which hardly translate into smooth running at polling units.
In the case of the Anambra election, it is not just an issue of deployment of the personnel or the signing of peace accords, but rather, of making sure that the will of the people does actually matter, without any form of coercion, compromise, or technical glitches.
With that said, it can still be redeemed. By walking its talk, the INEC could be playing a turning point by taking decisive action, which is visible in a short time, to correct any lapses and to deal with violations and to guard the voters, as well as electoral officials, against unnecessary interference.
Nigerians, and more so Anambrarians, should enjoy the process in which peace accords are not of a ceremonial nature but of a functional nature, where politicians are accountable to the actions of their followers and security agencies are not biased.
This is another challenge of whether Nigeria is ready to pursue the maturity of democracy, as citizens desperately hope that the election will be characterized by an improved electoral culture. Whether or not the country will stand up to that expectation is the question to be answered, or do we once again go through the same process of promises not kept and lessons not learned?
