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Nigeria: President of the Electoral Commission dismissed

By on April 30, 2010
Nigeria’s acting President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered the country’s election commission chief to step down from his post. Mr. Maurice Iwu has been placed on immediate leave, and his removal indicates that acting President wants to start from a clean slate, and bring some credible persons to conduct the elections”.

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside election headquarters last month to demand Iwu’s removal. The United States has also urged that Iwu, who oversaw the 2007 controversial elections that brought President Umaru Yar’Adua to power, be replaced. Nigerians as well as the international community would welcome the announcement of Iwu’s removal. While the chairmanship of Iwu has been widely condemned, Nigerians should not lose sight of the fact that “one tree does not make a forest”; because it would not be enough to remove Iwu while replacing him with people who are not credible.
Nigeria is one of about 16 African countries that are scheduled to hold presidential elections in 2011, and removing one country’s election commission chief prematurely will not be automatically something that will clear up all the problems, then we can say also that “One tree will never hide the forest”.

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