The first time I heard his name, I was barely in my teens, but old enough to understand that a dictator ran Nigeria, and a quiet gentleman was leading a standoff on behalf of his colleagues.

It was July 1992, and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was locked in an epic battle with the military government, which led to a proscription of ASUU, and a manhunt for its leaders. However, the government underestimated the resolve of the union’s leadership, especially the quiet lecturer from Bayero University Kano (BUK) called Attahiru Jega.

The rest, as they say, is history.

After a determined battle, the Federal Government caved, and signed a landmark agreement with ASUU in September 1992.

However, being a radical unionist doesn’t prepare your for managing national elections; especially when the boulevard of failed elections is littered with the tarnished reputations. From Humphrey Nwosu, the boisterous umpire who declared the elections of June 12, 1993 inconclusive; to Eme Awa, whose transition didn’t even get off the ground.

If we cast the net further, there is Justice Ovie-Whiskey, whose name will forever be associated with the “twelve two-thirds” debacle, that prevented a run-off between Obafemi Awolowo and Shehu Shagari in 1983. So, when Attahiru Jega accepted to become chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2010, many felt he just bought a one-way ticket to perdition.

After the tumultuous tenure of Professor Maurice Iwu, there was a clear need to revamp INEC, so it didn’t surprise anyone when Iwu’s appointment was not renewed. Instead, the Acting President at the time, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, nominated Attahiru Jega as INEC chairman.

It was an inspired choice, because Jega had been a member of the Electoral Reform Committee chaired by Justice Uwais. This meant he, unlike many of his predecessors, had a clear understanding of election processes and how to reform the system.  Apart from this, his background (degrees in Political Science from Ahmadu Bello and Northwestern Universities), and role as Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University Kano, meant he also came with proven academic and administrative capacity.

Though the 2011 election was not perfect, it was adjudged the most credible since 1999, a commendable feat for a man who was appointed barely a year before.

However, his real test was always going to be the 2015 elections, and how INEC managed the most divisive election campaign in Nigeria’s history.

Once the All Progressives Congress (APC) was formed in February 2013, the 2015 presidential election became the nation’s focus. If there was any doubt about the election’s significance, the defection of five governors and several National Assembly members, removed it. The nomination of Muhammadu Buhari, whose regional popularity hadn’t found a national platform before 2015, heightened the pre-election tension. This is where the independence and foresight of the former INEC chairman must be commended.

First, the use of permanent voter’s cards and digital card readers was a masterstroke. Though the card reader didn’t demonstrate 100% reliability, its introduction significantly reduced multiple voting and limited the usual practice of “writing results.”

The use of card readers was a massive vote of confidence in technology, rare in a country where government is usually averse to innovation. By using the reader, INEC cleaned its data base and tightened the noose around electoral fraud.

Apart from technology, the INEC chairman also made a sensible decision to depend on his constituency, the academia, for sensitive jobs. It was normal to see professors, in many cases, current or former Vice-Chancellors, act as returning officers.

At a dinner organized by the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, Professor Jega explained his reason for selecting academics, saying, “we were looking for people with integrity; and we have no doubt that there are many people with integrity in the Nigerian university system. So, it is like a ready-made constituency to get the kind of people we needed for the job to be done.”

It was a simple, yet effective strategy that used technology to complement a competent frontline of returning officers.  By doing so, INEC not only made it more difficult to rig elections, the commission also made it easier to detect election irregularities using the legal process.

Of course, a profile of Attahiru Jega will be incomplete without mentioning his expert handling of Godsday Orubebe, a former cabinet minister, who temporary lost control of his senses on national TV. By refusing to take the bait from a desperate politician, and painstakingly completing his job of announcing the presidential election results, Attahiru Jega gave us the most memorable event of 2015.

It will be a travesty to limit his work to a few hours of televised professionalism, but his calm and determined demonstration only reflects the man’s virtues.

For being the first election umpire to supervise a peaceful transition of power between political ties; and the platform for Nigeria to achieve true democratic election, Attahiru Jega influenced 2015 in a way no other Nigerian did.

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Oyebode is a banker and has worked on public finance policy at state and federal government levels