What about his name?

 Editorial

Buhari’s warning to politicians to desist from using his name for electoral advantage begs the question.

The sound bite was good; quite good. As President Muhammadu Buhari received his aides, led by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, in his office, he was in the mood to discuss the future of the country.

He told the well-wishers that he already had an idea of the country to hand over to his successor. The president tacitly pledged that no idle or lazy politician would succeed him. He admonished that whoever wants to occupy the choice offices of the land should start campaigning early and perish the thought he can leverage the Buhari name for success.

Instructively, President Buhari said he would ensure that the security agencies are above board in 2013. It was a way of admitting that he knew so much was wrong with the 2019 general election and the off-season polls preceding and following it.

Perhaps the most embarrssing of the elections was the recent governorship poll in Kogi State. Not only were political parties identified as complicit in perverting the peoples’ will, security agencies were said to have irresponsibly looked away when thugs took over.

This is like returning to the darkest moments in the electoral process, akin to what took place during the Western Region parliamentary elections of 1965 that ultimately triggered the ‘Operation Wetie’ that culminated in 30 months of a grueling civil war.

In 1983, the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was accused of engaging the Mobile Police, renamed “Kill and Go” in ensuring that the party was returned at all levels in the general election. In the East where the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) had its strongholds, the NPN decided to take over by force, displacing the Jim Nwobodo government in the home state of the legendary Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

In Kano and Kaduna States the NPN federal government was not content with the rebellion that had weakened the Aminu-Kano led Peoples Redemption Party (PRP); it went the whole hog to sweep the legislative seats.

In the West, oblivious of the factor that terminated the democratic dispensation in the First Republic, the NPN tampered with the balance in Oyo and Ondo States, and the result was the breakdown of law and order in the region. The setting was enough to encourage the military to kick the politicians aside once again.

It is therefore obvious that conduct of credible elections is a sine qua non for a stable polity and a healthy economy. This might have invited the president’s remarks and resolve.

We are, however, constrained to point out that concentrating attention on the security forces in the bid to reform the country’s electoral system is not enough.

We must begin to move Nigeria towards minimal participation of the military and Police in our elections. The burden of ensuring this today is the president’s. Towards 2023, he has a duty of starting the reorientation early with a view to getting people to take their civic duty seriously without necessarily militarizing the polity.

There is no doubt that politicians would not give up early, but a determined government that has decided to be fair in its dealings would soon ensure that all those who fail to fall in line end up in correctional centres.

What we need from President Buhari is to constitute an electoral commission that excites the confidence of all. This is the time for a wholesale review of the system, and, with the collaboration of the executive and legislative arms, it is possible to ensure that the report of the Uwais Commission is given full effect by ensuring that the process of appointing managers of the electoral system is freed of partisan interest.

This is the time to revisit the Electoral Act, not in 2022, 2023 when partisan considerations would becloud all debates. If the constitution must be amended, starting early to achieve the purpose would be an advantage.

President Buhari should note that the election is not about him, his famed integrity or popularity. It is about how transparent the system is and how sincere the managers are. Whatever he does today would stand against his name in posterity.