The Insight by Lateef Adewole
Last Saturday, 16th of November, 2019, marked another sad reminder of the free-falling that has bedevilled our country in recent times. This was exemplified in the conduct of the two governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states. If I have seen and criticised elections in the past, these two took the “condemnability” to another height. They were called different names including- war!
Many of the activities that characterised the elections before, during and after, could only be described as heart wrenching. I decided to control my emotions about them so as to prevent having heart attack, before those my ‘politician-friends’ begin to laugh at me. They have always told me I worry unnecessarily too much about happenings in Nigeria. But can anyone blame me? This is the only country I can call my own. And it belongs to all of us.
Some incidents were notable. But before I continue, I read the congratulatory messages of President Muhammadu Buhari to the winners in the two states, who happened to be from his party, APC. But I didn’t read any part where all the brigandage, killings and the many atrocities that characterised the elections were condemned and promise of punishment made. What did that speak to? Let me leave everyone to their “personal police”- their conscience.
I watched the young, vibrant and delectable governorship candidate of SDP in Kogi, Natasha Akpoti, as she narrated her ordeals throughout the electioneering period, in a television interview few days ago. They were very unpleasant, especially against a woman. Distinct among them was when she went to attend the stakeholders meeting called by INEC in Kogi. She said that despite over 50 fully-armed security agents present at the venue and surrounding, as she approached the venue, thugs loyal to a party and candidate in the election took over the entrance.
She was rough-handled, hit and pushed to the ground, not once but twice and called all kinds of unprintable names. She was prevented from gaining entrance. When it became unsafe for her, she was advised to go back. Yet, they followed her to her car, attacked and vandalised some cars in her convoy. All these happened, while the security agents looked on. What a terrible experience for a lady. She even said she almost could not vote for herself on the election day, due to threats to her life at the polling station.
Then came the news of the murder of Senator Dino Melaye’s nephew, Olorunjuwon. A young man’s life was cut short in his prime just for political interest of some people. Then I asked: where were Dino’s children at that time? We all know the answer.
The most inhuman was the case of the PDP women leader of Wada Aro Campaign Council in Ochadamu, Kogi state, Mrs. Achechu Abu. Even though the election was over, it was reported that thugs loyal to a party and candidate still went ahead to murder the woman in cold-blood. They locked her inside her house, poured petrol on the building and burnt down the house with her inside, in broad day light fah! “Ni ilu t’oloba, t’onijoye”? It even affected other houses. The killers are still roaming the state freely or could even be dining and wining with the “high and mighty” within the state as I write this. I learnt some people were arrested. We hope they are the real killers.
For the State Governor, Yahaya Bello, to more or less justify such action, in his broadcast on television, where he claimed that what happened to the woman was a reprisal from his supporters. I have never heard anything more terrible from official quarters, about such a criminal and inhuman act. This must have emboldened the killers, as reports have it that they terrorised that whole community from dusk to dawn on that day, raided houses and robbed them at gun points.
It is the biggest shame that all these, and many more happened despite the deployement of about 35,000 police officers to Kogi for that elections. These were different from the sister security agents; military, civil defence, etc, who were also deployed in their numbers. Very unfortunate.
The Bayelsa case was as bad, though less challenging than Kogi, as acknowledged by the police hierarchy. It must have been because, Kogi has a sitting governor fighting for reelection. We knew what happened when Governor Dickson contested for second term too, four years ago. The election was inconclusive for three times. INEC and everyone was tired and had to just declare the available results. Also, there were a few realignment of forces before this election.
So, in all of this, how did we get here? How did we begin to nose-dive in our electoral processes, despite all the gains and improvements we made between 2010 and 2015? What has changed? What went wrong? These and many other questions trouble the minds of many concerned Nigerians. It is a sad reality. I have always said that what we began to experience since 2015 was a repeat of our dark past of “do-or-die”, desperate political era of pre-2010, especially during the government of Chief Obasanjo.
Over years, I have studied the trajectory of our elections and electoral processes, and the quality and performances of the electoral bodies and their leadership. I came to a realisation that these are directly affected by the person, personality, character and the disposition to power, of any sitting president at each time, in what I summed as the “president’s mood”.
For any proper electoral reform to take place, it has do with the sincerity of any sitting president at such material time. More often than not, it must agrees with the interests of the sitting president and his party. Otherwise, such reforms hardly see the light of the day. They usually teleguide the process to attain some predetermined ends. I am short of using the word “manipulate”.
It can also be deduced that no matter how brilliant and competent the chairman of the electoral commission is, his or her effectiveness, performance on the job and delivery of free, fair and credible elections under his or her watch, are influenced by the sincerity of the sitting president at the time as well, given that the president appoints him or her, even if ratified by the National Assembly (NASS), he provides the finances, provides the security and can also orchestrate his sack.
Exceptional cases will be when such electoral body chairman is “stubborn” and tries to do things the right way, even if they contradict the interest of the President. That will be at his own risk sha! Such was the case in 1993 presidential election, where against all odds, Professor Humphery Nwosu went ahead to conduct the June 12 election despite the attempts to stop him and began to announce the results before he was eventually halted. But why was the June 12 after? Annulled! Because, the “power-that-be” was really not interested in relinquishing power.
Historically, the President’s desperation to hold on to power, desperation to make their party dominate the political space, at the states and legislative arms, always affect the quality of the elections conducted by the electoral bodies, irrespective of who the head is.
In 1979, the elections were conducted as free as possible, though, not without controversies. The then head of state, General Obasanjo, meant well and was determined to hand over power to civilian government. That made it easier. The 1983 general elections conducted under the supervision of the then incumbent president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, where he participated for second term, was a degenerate from that of 1979. His party NPN was desperate to capture the whole country, which led to unnecessary crisis in the South West. The military, led by our current president, then General Muhammadu Buhari, sacked that government on December 31st, 1983 in a coup d’etat.
I just mentioned 1993 above. Many Nigerians were witnesses to the political “abracadabra” of General Babangida, since he took over from General Buhari, in a bloodless coup of 1985. Banning and unbanning candidates and political parties, until we arrived at a two-party system of SDP and NRC. What followed was as I previously described. Gen. Babangida did not have intentions to leave office if he was not forced.
Let me not even go into the regime of Late General Sani Abacha and the “five fingers of leprosy” political parties at that time.
In 1998, General Abdulsalam Abubakar took over as the head of state, following the demise of Abacha. He, surprisingly had unprecedented shortest “voluntary” military rule. Less than a year. He established the current INEC, and appointed Justice Ephraim Akpata, who conducted the general election which I considered more like an “arrangee” to serve certain ends. It brought Chief Obasanjo as the next civilian president then.
This was because, South West was being placated for the death of their son, Chief MKO Abiola, who died in federal government’s detention, fighting for his mandate. Also, Obasanjo belongs to the military class. He was one of their own and the northerners were also more comfortable with him, to be trusted with power (based on antecedents).
From 2003 to 2007, the “do-or-die” politics crept fully into our national life. Thuggery, brigandage, political assassinations, arson, etc, all became the hallmarks of our political and electoral processes. They evolved from the desperation for second term by President Obasanjo, his vicious desire to control the whole states through installation of PDP governors, as happened in five of the six South West states, and the parliaments. Then, all you needed to become anything was endorsement of Obasanjo.
I could recall how a senator who was accused of having hands in the death of Chief Bola Ige won an election while he was in detention. Ironically, the same person could not win a reelection while he was free and campaigned vigorously in 2011. The worst elections then were conducted in 2007, by Professor Maurice Iwu, under Chief Obasanjo. I do not know if Iwu will still holds that medal, given our recent experiences. Late former President Yar’adua even acknowledged the flaws that characterised that elections, which brought him to power.
Then came 2010, after the sudden death of President Yar’adua and ascension of former President Jonathan, who changed the game! His personality, humility and non-desperation for power, changed everything. Even, while he belonged to the same PDP which had all those electoral baggages. The first action he took was removing the “electorally notorious” INEC boss, against his own and his party’s interests.
He then appointed a no-nonsense “alutrous” (filled with the spirit of aluta) individual in the person of Professor Attahiru Jega. He gave him free hands and all the supports he needed; legal (through signing into laws, the necessary amendments to the electoral acts), financial (by providing all the funds he needed to function effectively) and in any other manner.
There was massive turn-around in our electoral processes. Parties began to present popular candidates for elections, including PDP, so as to win peoples’ votes. One-man-one-vote became our sing-song. Politicians began to campaign vigorously to get elected. Incumbents began to work hard so as to win reelections, since their was no “Mr. President” whose endorsement of a candidate will translate to automatic win at the polls.
The 2011 was conducted and it was very peaceful, except when the presidential result was announced and some fanatical people took laws into their hands. They killed innocent people, including nine corps members, burnt houses and destroyed properties worth billions of naira, stupidly, all because, they believed their candidate must win. What rubbish was that? I lived in Kaduna then. So, I had first hand experience. We were locked down inside houses for about one week, unable to move around. No foods, no basic needs. It is better imagined than experienced.
Following the massive departure in the improvement in the conduct of the 2011 elections, the world began to take Nigeria serious, accorded us respect and saw our elected leaders as being truly elected. The President Jonathan’s statement, which has now become words on marble, resonate with millions of Nigerians: “My ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian”. How many of our past and present leaders can boldly say that?
Going into 2015 general elections, it was this same political freedom, peaceful political space, as provided and guaranteed by Jonathan, that made the previously struggling opposition parties to blossom. Forces began to gather and gaining momentum, even against the incumbent. The people rode on freedom of speech, freedom of expression, social media, print and electronic media, to viciously attack, denigrate and decimate the then PDP government, under Jonathan and his person. All kinds of names and aliases were used to describe the president by the opposition figures. And they still slept happily in their houses.
There were some incidents of excesses on the part of the security agents, like the issue of locking the house of representatives gates, invasion of APC offices, siezing of newspapers, etc, but they were not sustainable, given that, such actions could not readily sit well with the president then. Anyone alive and aware during Chief Obasanjo government and also now, will understand what it means to be free to express oneself.
All the ganging up against the then government finally paid off. Voters were successfully made to hate that government and vote them out. Opposition party APC won at the presidency. It was unprecedented. It was incredible. Majority of the states and parliamentary offices were also won by the APC candidates. The “change”, has their campaign slogan then was, finally came. Though, we were never told what type specifically. Everyone has eventually given their “personal” interpretations to the “change”, based on the conditions they found themselves afterwards.
Now, since that historic 2015 elections, things have since changed. Professor Jega resigned after his first tenure. Another Professor Mahmood Yakubu was appointed as INEC chairman. Kogi and Bayelsa states governorship elections were conducted and inconclusive elections sneaked into our political lexicon. That has remained with us since then, even after four years. The Saturday’s senatorial election in Kogi West was declared inconclusive.
So, what do we have now? All that we abhorred during Chief Obasanjo government, and some worse, have been “reintroduced”, if the last weekend elections in Kogi and Bayelsa were anything to go by. That was how many of the 2019 general elections were. I have written a few times about it. They were all shams.
Thuggery, political assassinations, ballot box snatching, and all kinds of unwholesome atrocities that can be committed before, during and after elections, are back here with us. Thugs now have prime places within the political circles. They even sponsor candidates and ensure they won in the last general elections, by deploying violence. That is the sad realities facing us today.
With all said, we can see strong correlations between the quality of our elections and how effective INEC and its leadership can be, on one hand, and the disposition of any sitting president at each time, on the other.
For the sake of posterity and the kind of legacies he would like to be remembered for, we are imploring President Buhari to, as a matter of urgency, sign the electoral amendments of 2018, into laws, once represented. At least, his second term ambition is no longer at stake. He has it already. It was bad enough that he refused accent to it three times last year. 2023 must never go the ways of these previous elections. Enough is enough.
May God continue to guide us aright.
God Bless Nigeria.
Lateef Adewole is a political analyst and social commentator can be reached by email lateefadewole23@gmail.com or via WhatsApp +2348020989095 and @lateef_adewole on Twitter
