INEC chairman and his men have been going through severe stress and strain since last week’s postponement of the presidential election. Leading the attack on INEC are politicians, the cause of INEC failure and the source of our nation’s nightmare. In their blind fury, they ignored the fact that INEC is just a symptom of a dysfunctional system foisted on Nigeria since 1964 by dishonest, anti-democratic and self-serving governing political elite that periodically undermine the democratization process by sabotaging successive electoral bodies. There is no evidence the political class ever wanted an independent electoral empire.
It is on record that while grandstanding, Obasanjo, the self-appointed perennial kingmaker was using the late Tony Anenih, ‘Mr. Fixer’, to undermine the democratization process across the country, he was blaming cheated aggrieved victims and the electorate claiming, “Nigerians would complain even if Jesus came down to conduct election”. But that was before the judiciary retrieved stolen mandates from his boys in Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun and with the late Umaru Yar’Adua, the embarrassed winner of the 2007 presidential election, going on to set up the Uwais commission to prevent the repeat of the 2007 tragedy.
INEC as a product of its environment is but a reflection of the discredited political class to which free and fair election has never been an attraction. That was why when Humphrey Nwosu successfully broke the jinx in 1993, the election was annulled even before he could announce the official result. The anti-democratic kingmakers, led by Generals Babangida and Obasanjo who have held the country to ransom since the end of the civil war jointly foisted an interim contraption headed by Ernest Shonekan on the country.
It was Obasanjo who as president in 2003 declared election as “a do or die” affair, a euphemism for war. Sadly almost 20 years into the fourth republic, both PDP and APC have not demonstrated they see election beyond Obasanjo’s “do or die affair’. Not a few Nigerians must have come to this sad conclusion after their last week television appearance during which they threatened the peace of the country after blaming INEC and everyone else except themselves and their members that have done everything to undermine the integrity of INEC. They spoke not as leaders of political parties, the 17th century ingenious creation of intellectuals for deeper reflection on how to confront societal problems, but as leaders of factions working for warlords.
Oshiomhole, accused INEC of colluding with PDP claiming “From all we have now known, I can put my hand on the Holy Koran that INEC leadership knew that they were going to postpone the elections. They shared this information with the People’s Democratic Party and advised them not to waste their resources, while pretending to us that they are on top of the situation”. On the other hand the Rivers State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign council alleged the commission’s action was ‘a vindication of its earlier position that the electoral body is working with the APC-led federal government to truncate the country’s democracy.’
In spite of INEC’s “We promised Nigerians that we shall be open, transparent and responsive”, both PDP and APC leadership have continued to incite their supporters who look up to them for direction against INEC.Their representatives who appeared in a segment of the media owned by their principals, interested only in dragging Nigeria to their levels, pontificate about the civilized world, membership of which we have been denied since 1962. By saying they have no faith in INEC, Secondus and Oshiomhole seem to be preparing the nation for an apocalypse since one party has to win and one has to lose.
Yet both PDP and APC cannot wash themselves clean of INEC’s claim of possible sabotage by the politicians. In a space of two weeks, they had to deal with serious fire incidents in three of their offices in IsialaNgwa South Local Government Area of Abia State, Qu’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State and Anambra State Office at Awka where fire destroyed over 4,600 Smart Card Readers which took at least six months to procure.
Both Secondus and Oshiomhole could not admit they preside over an undisciplined political class. There are 91 registered parties with 79 presidential candidates including many who cannot even articulate our crisis of nationality. For that reason, INEC will be “printing ‘421.7 million ballot papers for six scheduled elections, as well as 13.6 million leaves of result forms for the 79 Presidentialcandidates alone” whereas in order to get on the ballot in the US, a presidential candidate must meet ballot access requirements -”a variety of complex, state-specific filing requirements and deadlines” well in advance of primaries, caucuses, and the general election. In the US 2016 election, perhaps because of the stringent condition, only about 28 including six independent candidates were on the ballot.
But in Nigeria, INEC has been sued or joined in over 640 court cases, while as at February 15, the eve of the postponed election, there were 40 different court orders against the commission on whether to add or drop candidates. In Rivers and Zamfarawhere APC have no candidates because INEC was obliged to obey court orders following disputed party primaries, members of the ruling party are now threatening to disrupt next Saturday’s election. In Imo and Ogun, elected governors who were restrained from imposing their successors by party guidelines are sponsoring opposition candidates while contesting for senate seats on the platform of APC.
INEC has other challenges. Besides anti-democratic mischief makers as godfathers and king-makers, we also have errant elders who are in the main driven by other considerations other than love for the free and fair electoral process. In the Niger Delta where it is said votes are allocated because of the terrain, the elders and political leaders are driven more by consideration for resource control than a desire for free and fair election. The Middle Belt Forum and their elders are driven by fears of herdsmen. Ohanaeze says it is supporting Atiku/Obi ticket because Obi is their own. The confused Yoruba Afenifere elders probably on account of blurred vision are casting their lot with Atiku/Obi in the believe that where Buhari who enjoys a cult-like followership in the north has been unable to risk removing feeding bottle from the mouth of northern LGAs who depend on revenue from the federation account to survive, Atiku will. And more bizarre, they believe Obi will forgo the current unstructured anarchy that work for the interest of Igbo as itinerant traders all over the country especially in the north where according to a northern governor, they occupy an area larger than the five southeast states put together.
Since Nigeria political class, the self-appointed kingmakers and chieftains of ethnic groups are not particularly interested in free and fair elections, marginalized and impoverished ordinary Nigerians whose future is at stake must help INEC succeed on Saturday. They must vote for candidates of their choice as advised by the president without fomenting trouble if only to put to shame PDP combative leaders who have taken up arms against the president for warning would-be armed ballot box snatchers who in the past killed, maimed as in Rivers and in Ekiti where they cut-of the leg of an opposition party agent.
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