THE immediate past Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu, has described as spurious and false, statements credited to the former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, that the commission, under Iwu’s leadership, pirated the software for the production of the Voters’ Register from a Canadian firm.

In a statement signed by the former INEC boss and made available to Sunday Tribune, he berated Tinubu, describing his last Wednesday comment as a “spurious allegation which is not only false in its entirety but also shows the desperation of a politician in him (Tinubu) ahead of 2011 elections.”

The former INEC chairman said that the commission under his leadership did not rely on external support in any form, including software packages, for the compilation of the Voters’ Register, saying that the facts are there for unbiased minds to see and verify.

He explained that there was an electronic Voters’ Register which was produced in 2006/2007 using the DDC machines supplied through contracts with three Nigerian companies with foreign support, when the commission became compelled due to technical problem, to register a voter population of over 60 million and the funds were not released on time coupled with the inability of vendors to deliver in good time.

However, he denied that the commission bought any software from any Canadian company not to talk of not paying for it, challenging Tinubu to “name the company and provide the details, which he claims to have.”

“It is widely held that there was a politically-motivated grand conspiracy to interfere with the initial contract for procurement of the DDCs meant for the 2006 voters’ registration.  It nearly succeeded, and would have negatively impacted on the 2007 elections but for my quick reaction and admirable cooperation and assistance from a Nigerian patriot who helped the Commission with an alternative and wholly-owned Nigerian platform.  And this Nigerian company, to my knowledge, does not have any ‘software licensing’ agreement with any Canadian company that can be said to have been robbed of its copyrights to the software by the dint of the piracy Tinubu falsely attributed to INEC under my leadership.”

He further defended his stance of not engaging foreign firms in the process for the conduct of the 2007 elections despite pressure from the country’s development partners, saying “any process that is not firmly under your control could go awry. And the conduct of elections is not one process you leave to chance.”

The embattled former INEC boss stated that he had chosen to maintain silence over matters concerning his tenure as the immediate past chairman of INEC, enduring vicious attacks against his person and integrity from the likes of Tinubu, for the reason that his public comments may become a major distraction to the current INEC board from its mandate to deliver the goods in the next election.

He further revealed that he finds comfort in heading an INEC that delivered on Nigeria’s first civilian-to-civilian transition and laid a solid foundation for the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria through capacity development and initiation of strategic reforms in the electoral process which have now been incorporated into law.

“I have tried not to join issues with politicians but such clear falsehoods as these cannot be allowed to run riot so they do not stick as truth. If Tinubu is seeking political and financial patronages in the course of INEC putting together a fresh Voters’ Register, he should do so without running others down. But for him to say that the Voters’ Register is unworkable because the software used for it was pirated is taking politics beyond borders,” he stated.

He further countered Tinubu’s statement by revealing how heinous the crime of software piracy was and how it transcended national borders, saying that had INEC truly pirated the software, with the large number of DDCs used by INEC, it would have been discovered and the purported Canadian company would not have spared him and the contractor-vendor that procured the said software.

He went ahead to make a case for the 2006 Voters’ Register, emphasising that various shortcomings associated with the register was indeed its strength, which was the fact false entries could easily be detected. “Besides, even a perfect register, assuming there is any, compiled with the most sterling of equipment ought to be updated at least every four years to remove the names of those who had died since the time of the last election and include the names of those that had attained the statutory age of 18,” he posited.

While expressing his belief that history “will judge the well, especially now that Nigerians have learned through ex-Governor Donald Duke, that as INEC chairman, I never rigged any election.”  Iwu warned that he is no longer politically-vulnerable as he was by the demands of office when he was INEC chairman.

“Ahmed Bola Tinubu, you are wrong. I am no longer politically vulnerable and as such will never again remain silent like I did during my tenure for the sake of Nigeria’s stability and unity,” he declared.