The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Setting Lagos free?

    After one of their meetings to deliberate on the contentious new minimum wage in Abuja, the 36 state governors insisted that there was no way they could afford to pay the proposed N30000 demanded by labour without going bankrupt. But they made one exception. In the words of the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), Zamfara State governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, “We are not able to pay N18000 today. When the President assumed office, 27 states were not able to pay; not that they chose not to pay; now you say N30000 how many of them can pay? We will be bankrupt…Like Lagos that is paying about N7 billion as salaries, if you say it should pay N30000 now it will be N13 billion. From our calculation, it will be only Lagos State that will be able to pay N30000”. But then, the question is why will Lagos be able to pay? Her strategic location and population size are not enough to explain the geometric growth in the fiscal capacity of the Lagos State government since 1999.

    When people refer off handedly to the relative fiscal autonomy of Lagos today, they forget that it was not always so. Let us cast our minds back to Y2000 shortly after Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office. He had a running battle with the comrade Ayodele Akele-led Lagos State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) because of the state’s inability to pay the then proposed N7,500 minimum wage. There was a stalemate for close to 3 months. The governor was at least twice pelted with pure water and other assorted items at Alausa. Akele was adamant. Tinubu was unyielding. What was the stark reality? The state’s Internally Generated Revenue was N600 million monthly. The public service wage bill was N800 million monthly.

    Tinubu insisted the federal allocation would have to be expended on infrastructure and critical social services for the populace. He said he could not just pay salaries and shut down the state. At that time, Lagos was so much like a war zone. There were mountains of refuse on the streets. The roads were in terrible state. Residents were carrying assorted basins all over Lagos in search of water. Bank robberies and other crimes were occurring almost on a daily basis. School children were carrying benches and chairs on their heads to and from school every day. Traffic was chaotic. School walls were collapsing routinely injuring and killing children.

    So bad was the situation    that President Olusegun Obasanjo described the city with characteristic lack of charity and perhaps some relish as no better than a jungle. At the end of the day there was a compromise with labour but the state had to downsize the workforce.

    The story of the financial buoyancy of Lagos today is a function of immense hard work as well as bold, innovative and creative thinking. Under the guiding hands of three  successive governors, Tinubu, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), and the incumbent, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the IGR of Lagos State had attained a quantum leap from N14.64 billion per year in 1999 to over N34 billion per month today. It is a feat that did not just happen per chance. What were some of the measures responsible for this achievement? Let us cite some. For instance, the state undertook comprehensive tax reforms culminating in the introduction of the electronic tax Clearance Cards (etCC) as early as 1999, which is a vital, fraud free and convenient vessel of tax payers’ records that significantly plugged revenue leakages.

    Another innovation in Lagos State was the early introduction of the Electronic Banking System/Revenue Collection Monitoring Project (EBS/RCM), which enabled the state in partnership with the private sector to create an enhanced tax payers base leading to substantial increase in IGR. The state’s Board of Internal Revenue (BIR), now Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), was radically professionalized, modernized and granted operational autonomy again with positive impact on revenue generation.

    After protracted negotiations with stakeholders, Lagos State introduced the Land Use Charge Law No. 11 of 2001, which had yielded a total of N3.5 billion between 2001 and March 2007. The numbers must be more impressive now. Ibile Holdings Limited (IHL) was strengthened and recapitalized as the Special Purpose Vehicle for the state’s investment policy. For example, it was through IHL that Lagos State invested N69million in Celtel (former Airtel) in 2001, grew the investment to N3.48 billion in 2003 and by the time she divested in 2006, Lagos State reaped N19 billion, which was ploughed into the provision of infrastructure.

    Even as the state systematically grew her internally generated revenue, she devised ingenious financial engineering strategies for the radical modernization of infrastructure in diverse sectors to boost economic prosperity. For instance, Lagos State was the first government to go to the capital market in 2002 to source long term funds to finance its long term projects. In September 2002, Lagos State floated its 1st 2005/2006 Floating Rate Redeemable Bond through which it raised the sum of N15 billion at the capital market for scores of critical infrastructure projects across the state.  The bond was finally redeemed in September 2009.  The federal and some other state governments were later to exploit this option for project finance.

    Suffice to say that it is impossible to tell the tale of the still evolving but all the same remarkable radical transformation of Lagos State without mentioning the invaluable contributions of the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Jide Sanwo-Olu and his Deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat. As Special Adviser, Corporate Affairs, Secretary of the State Tenders Board, Commissioner for Economic Planning & Budget, Commissioner for Establishment, Training and Pensions and Managing Director of the Lagos State Development & Property Corporation (LSDPC) at various times, Sanwo-Olu, a graduate in surveying and former banker has been a critical part of economic management and governance in Lagos State over the last two decades.

    Under Dr. Obafemi Hamzat as Commissioner for Science and Technology, the Ministry, representing the city of Lagos, in December 2005 and December 2006, respectively, clinched the first position in the Science and Technology category of the prestigious World Leadership Awards, which both held in London. He was no less exemplary as Commissioner for Works in Lagos State and later Special Adviser on Works at the federal level. Both cerebral men had considerable private sector experience before coming into the public sector.

    Running for the office for the third time, the PDP candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, remains as likeable.  A pharmacist, he comes across as a decent gentleman, entrepreneur as well as civil society and pro-democracy activist. His deputy, Mrs Haleemat Busari is a lawyer with invaluable corporate governance experience in the private sector. Apart from being a Muslim activist, she brings the gender factor to the ticket. Neither in private sector nor in public sector governance can Agbaje and his deputy the duo of Sanwo-Olu and Obafemi Hamzat.

    Agbaje’s catchy campaign slogan is ‘Let’s set Lagos free’. The interesting thing is that he seeks to set Lagos free on the platform of the PDP, which for over 16 years led Nigeria deeper into the bondage of corruption, poverty and underdevelopment. Agbaje’s case cannot be helped by the fact that for 16 years the PDP controlled federal government unconscionably abandoned critical infrastructure all over Lagos state, leaving them in a state of utter dilapidation to the socio-economic and environmental detriment of Lagos.  Is it not the Buhari APC administration that has begun to work frenetically on these long abandoned projects in the last three years Agbaje will surely be asked?

    According to Agbaje, “When a formula does not give you the result you want, you change it! Lagosians must change this unprofitable team committed to govern for their own selfish interest”. But Agbaje’s critics will contend that he canvassed support for Jonathan in 2015 despite being intelligent enough to know what most Nigerians knew – he ran a hopelessly corrupt, selfish and inept government. Of course, most Nigerians voted to change the PDP unprofitable team.

    Change at the centre in 2015 had become imperative because of the sheer scale of the venality of the PDP and the Jonathan administration in particular leading to the squandering of 16 years in a nation’s life. But can anybody really go about Lagos except he or she is blind and claim no appreciable progress has been made over the last two decades? Agbaje is a gentleman. I believe that truth is his credo.

    Has Lagos arrived at the Promised Land? No one will say that. But she has certainly crossed the red sea. As the Buhari administration, its flaws notwithstanding, strives to bring the rest of Nigeria out of Egypt, where the PDP had left her marooned for 16 years, will Lagosians heed Agbaje’s call to journey back with the PDP across the red sea? It is unlikely.

  • Young Nigerian shocks Obasanjo in UK

    FORMER Nigerian President and self-appointed supervisor of Nigerian leaders, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, made his first public comment at his Abeokuta hill-top home on Tuesday since the conclusion of the presidential election in which his candidate and former deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was roundly beaten by President Muhammadu Buhari to secure his second term.

    The former president found the occasion of his 82nd birthday celebration where his usual crowd of friends and political associates were gathered a momentous one to break his long silence after the painful loss suffered by him and his candidate in the election.

    Responding to an appeal by the Alake of Egba, Oba Michael Adedotun Gbadebo, that the former president should stop attacking President Buhari, Obasanjo, in his usual bravura, boasted that he remains Buhari’s boss and vowed to continue attacking the sitting president until he heeds his series of advice. Many had thought that he would comment on the election, its outcome, conduct and developments thereafter, but he chose not.

    Days earlier in the United Kingdom, the former president skillfully parried a question on Atiku’s defeat in a dramatic encounter he had with a young Nigerian based in the UK. The young man was said to have set Obasanjo’s head swollen by prostrating for him in the full glare of hundreds of Britons who were gathered at the airport where they met.

    Moved by the young Nigerian’s show of cultural discipline, Obasanjo dragged him up, hugged him and wasted no time yielding to the young man’s request for a photograph.

    Apparently taking advantage of the former President’s happy mood, the young man proceeded to ask him his opinion about the just concluded presidential election in which Atiku lost against Buhari in spite of the open support Obasanjo canvassed for the former.

    The question apparently caught Obasanjo unaware as he was said to look away from his interlocutor, hissed and declared in a calm, subdued voice: “Nigeria will be good.”

  • Elections, personalities and prospects

    It  is  my  guess  that  the  gubernatorial and State Assembly elections  today  will  certainly show  how  Nigerians perceive the democracy they are participating in for  the 2019  presidential  and general  elections. If  the turn  out  is better  than  that of  the recent  2019  presidential  elections,  then  it shows  confidence in the  electoral  process  as well  as confidence in INEC.  If  the turn  out is poor then  it  is  a sign  not  only  of voter  fatigue,  but  of voter  apathy. Which  then  means something needs to be done to resuscitate voter  participation  to  sustain confidence in our  electoral  system  and revitalize our  democracy.

    Undoubtedly this time around it is not a two horse race as we saw in the presidential election.  Each  state    has  its unique amalgam  of  parties and  candidates being pushed  by incumbent governors, either    outgoing  or  seeking reelection  and  Federal legislators, both just  elected as  well  as those just  defeated, who  are  on the field,  in the state  capitals  rooting  for their political  parties  in the battle to take over  the state  houses and assemblies  in the 36  states  in Nigeria  today.

    In  many ways,  today’s  guber  and state assembly  elections will have  hangovers  and carry  overs  from the presidential  campaign and these  are  not  necessarily  that straight  forward    or    flowing normally, from  the performance the two major  parties  in the presidential  elections.  In  political  terms the political equations    may  not  be the same. Meaning 2  plus 2  may  be 5 as  in Synergy  and not  necessarily  4  as in Arithmetic. That  can be illustrated by the fact  that in states  where  the APC lost  the presidential  elections  party  stalwarts still  celebrated  the overall    victory  of  the president after  the elections massively.  In  today’s  election  there  are former  governors  who  have secured senate  seats in the last  elections and there  are  those who have lost.  Both  will  be very  active in todays’ election. A good example  will  be the Governor  of  Ogun state  who  has a senate  seat  in hand and that  of  Oyo  State  who  failed to secure a senate  seat. Both  will  be active in seeing  who  will  succeed them. Rivers  too  provide a unique  example where  the  ruling party  has  no candidate but  has of late  adopted  that  of  another party  in  what  is a do or  die  matter  for  the incumbent governor  and the Minister  of  Transport.

    In  a way  I expect  the turn  out  today    to be far  more  than that  of the presidential elections  because  of  the many  local or state political  squabbles involving  party  leaders  in the state  houses and  the  broken loyalties  of  incumbent  governors  to their  many  successors  in the state  capitals. Anyway  the die is cast  and today  the battle fields  are  the polling booths all  over Nigeria. The Games  have begun.

    Whilst  I  pray  for another peaceful  election  I  want  to highlight  the electoral  battles in some  states  because  of  some unique  and unusual  events  that  preceded  the emergence  of  the governorship  contestants in today’s  elections.  These  states are Kano, Rivers,  Lagos, Ogun,  and  Oyo  States.  The happenings  in these  states  reflect    the nature  and structure of power  acquisition and  distribution    in  Nigeria,  as  well  as its  challenges  and dynamics  in our peculiar  brand of participatory  democracy. I  will  use  the issues involved  to hazard  a guess  on the prospects  of the guber candidates  as well as their  parties  in today’s  elections.

    In  Kano,  a  regular  high  voter  turn- out state in Nigeria, it is  not  only  a straight  fight between  the APC  and PDP  but a proxy fight  between former  governor Kwankwanso  and his  successor Ganduje, who  is the incumbent  governor. But  Kwanwanso  has defected to the PDP  from  the APC  after  a brilliant  two  term tenure  after  which  he handed  power  to his trusted Deputy Governor.  But  now things  have changed since the days of the Kwakansiyya  and  the incumbent  governor  is ascendant  in Kano politics as the massive turn  out to elect  the president last  week has shown  in Kano. It  promises  to  be  a tough fight  today  in Kano  but  expect  the power of incumbency  to favor  APC  and  its candidates  a lot  in  Kano’s  volatile  politics  which  has changed  a lot  since  the  days  of  Aminu  Kano  and  the irrepressible  Abubakar  Rimi  of the  PRP  fame.

    In  Rivers  state  the stakes  are  high  but  again  the  APC  by proxy  and  PDP  are  locked  in a fierce battle  that  makes the prospect  of a peaceful  election quite  dim.  The security  forces must  be at their  best  and be prepared  to  be fair  and even handed  or else there  will  be great  violence.  That  is the bitter  truth.  This  is because  this is a stage  today  for  a fierce  show  of  power  between  federal  might  and state power  or incumbency  and  really  it is anybody’s  guess  as to  who  the winner  or  the loser  will  be. Really  it  is  going  to  be a close call  between  the  APC  by  proxy  and the PDP in  today’s guber  elections in  Rivers state.

    In  Lagos  state the  APC has  been  the party in power  for  long and the  obvious  party  of  choice  for  the  Lagos  electorate. But  today  is not  a straight  fight  between  the two  major parties namely APC  and PDP,  although  their  two  candidates Jide Sanwo Olu (APC) and Jimi  Agbaje    are  the best  known. There  are other  fringe parties    populated  by  defectors from    both APC and    PDP.  However. Sanwo  Olu  is  a time tested technocrat  who could or should  have been  governor  ages ago,  going by the brilliance  and dexterity  which  he outlined his  THEME  agenda  at the interactive section with members of the Yoruba  Tennis Club  last week. He  was  given  a challenge  by a member  of the Club, Ladi Kotun who  asked him what he would  do  for Lagos  Island  given  the fact that  the last  two Lagos governors catered  for  their  core areas  namely  BRF  for Suru  Lere  and Ambode  for  Epe. That  is  a core problem in this  election    and it  bothers    Lagosians immensely. It    is a problem  that  is  there  for  Jimi  Agbaje of the PDP to  exploit. Also  given  the fact  that an  Igbo  was  the running mate  of the loser in last week’s  presidential  election  has meant  that the Igbos  are  rooting for  Agbaje,  who  too is well known  having  contested twice  for  governorship  elections in the state  unsuccessfully  before.  The  issue  of  the rejection of incumbent  governor  Ambode for  a second term is another  grouse of some APC  supporters  and even  non partisan  residents of  the state.

    So  it is understandable  that  Sanwo  Olu  himself  at the YTC event  called  on voters  to  come  and vote today  and not  take victory  for granted. It  is a wise  call and the major  insurance for  his  election  today  given  the  rumblings  going  on in some quarters to  do  an  Otedola  for  the APC in  today’s election and  give Agbaje  a  very  rare  opportunity  to  govern Lagos  state. All  the same I  expect  the APC  to  weather  the storm  and    lead    its well  groomed    and  grounded candidate    to  a vote  that will  to allow  the  electorate  to reap  the benefit  of continuity in power  of  the APC  leadership in the state.

    Ogun  state  is a very  unique  battle  ground  today. Governor Amosun  is a lesson  in  party  defiance but  a successful  one  so far. He  has defied  his party in  campaigning for  a governorship candidate  from another party.  He  won a senate  seat  himself  and for his party. For  Amosun  you can  say a bird in hand is worth  two in the bush.

    Which  is not something you  can  say  to the Oyo State  governor  who  lost  his senate  seat  and the presidential election  for the APC.  If  Amosun’s  candidate  wins  today  and defeats  the APC  candidate  and others, then  you can  call  Amosun the Jagaba of Ogun  politics  and  a real  rival  to  the original Jagaba  of  the  South west  based  in  Lagos.  If  his  candidate loses then  the  APC  must  celebrate  a famous  victory  and  task Amosun  for  rebellion but  must  be cautious  to  apply  justice with  mercy in  dealing with  a powerful  rebel. As  for the Governor of Oyo  who  lost his  senate  bid,  Biola  Ajimobi, he should  know  now  that the Ibadans  cherish  their  traditional  line of succession  mightily  and do  not forgive  any  governor  who tampers  with  it. The  governor  should leave them  in  Ibadan  with their  Mapo  politics  and like an  old friend of  mine that  he is, just come back  to  Lago. Once  again  long  live  the  Federal Republic  of  Nigeria.

  • Melaye, Okorocha, Akpabio and Poll 2019

    DEPENDING on which part of the divide the hypothetical voter stands, there were many upsets in the last National Assembly poll held simultaneously with the presidential election on Saturday.

    Oyo State governor Abiola Ajimobi fell to defeat probably by dint of his political longevity and his controversial Ibadan politics. He lost the senatorial contest to represent Oyo South. Senate President Bukola Saraki got entangled in his own unending political rigmarole, his impatience wreaking havoc on his political obsessions and fantasies. He lost his Kwara Central senatorial seat by an embarrassingly wide margin. Former Akwa Ibom governor Godswill Akpabio also came to grief in his ultimately doomed quest to return to the Senate from his Akwa Ibom North-West constituency. The only politician the South-South has produced who can talk a waterfall virtually, it seemed, talked himself to political death. But Imo State governor Rochas Okorocha, by dint of his levity, won a gruesome and tentative victory to represent Imo West in the Senate, with the returning officer in that poll alleging that he announced the governor’s controversial victory under duress.
    However, far from the madding political crowd in the South, the pompous and witless Dino Melaye won his re-election to the Senate as his Kogi West constituency conflated the election with the state governor’s oppressive and unintelligent approach to governance and politics. It was hardly because of anything the senator did; his constituency simply established an inverse relationship between the comical senator’s victory and Governor Yahaya Bello’s grief. To them, the only way to torment Mr Bello was to ensure he secured no political victory of any kind despite deploying strong-arm tactics against his opponents, as indeed he did in the other two senatorial districts of the state during the same election. Kogi West was eager to be his undertaker, and they wanted to do it with considerable glee.
    Before the February 23 polls, most Nigerians were unlikely to understand the incestuous dalliance between Kogi West and the infamous Sen. Melaye. They saw him as pompous, egocentric, greedy, servile and theatrical. There was no iota of seriousness in him, they concluded, and they saw nothing of the nobility they associate with a lawmaker, especially their lawmaker. If any lawmaker was deserving of defeat, why, no one, in their estimation, fit the bill quite like Sen. Melaye. Contradistinctively, however, they only vaguely conceived of the Kogi governor as incompetent or oppressive. But he was at any rate distant in their summation of his person and office. What is more, they did not strangely see Mr Bello as a disgrace to the hallowed office of governor. It was, in essence, more urgent to them to dispense with the senator than to humiliate the governor, for Mr Bello had very expertly hidden his incompetence and lethargy far from the public view in a way Sen. Melaye could not disguise his triviality.
    But Kogi West was not taken in by the political laissez-faire that clouded the eyes and occluded the judgements of the rest of Nigeria. Having felt more acutely where the shoe pinched them, and having been shackled and emasculated by the governor’s misrule, Kogi West feared no worse fall than he who is down, even if that fall was inspired by a comical politician, and no worse indignity than to be represented by and associated with a clown, even if Sen. Melaye were to be described as the world’s most ardent comedian. When the time finally came to choose their senator last Saturday, it was not surprising that Kogi West voters were not indecisive at all. Were they wrong to establish a quid pro quo between Sen Melaye and Mr Bello? As a matter of fact, that connection was already unnaturally made when fate brought the clown and the inept together under the same metaphysical auspices, and bonded them in the same time and space.
    At this point, or at least by last Saturday, Kogi West emerged, through the Sen. Melaye crucible, as the most discriminating and scrupulous of the three senatorial districts in Kogi State. Of the seven local government areas in the district, six reposed their grudging confidence in the cantankerous senator, showing to the world how adept they were at drawing the line between exemplary public conduct and the tangled issues that bind the bitter governor to the defiant senator. Of course they have never found his buffoonery to be entertaining, considering that as their representative he was exposing them to global ridicule, but their animosity towards Mr Bello was of such severity that they were perfectly willing to renounce their respect and admiration for the senator’s opponent, Smart Adeyemi, himself a former senator. Sen. Adeyemi is a far better person and politician than Sen. Melaye, and his tenure in the Senate was devoid of the scandal and controversies that have dogged the politics of the re-elected senator. But his mere association with Mr Bello was such a burden that Kogi West found it therapeutic to vote against him.
    Sen. Melaye is a far worse politician than Sen Adeyemi. While the latter twice genuinely won his seat in the Senate, this is the first time Sen. Melaye would be winning both the primary that made him a standard-bearer and the main election itself. He had previously muscled himself into taking the primaries and the tickets, whether for the House of Representatives seat (2007-2011), where he enjoyed brawling with his colleagues, or the Senate seat where he played the zany to the outgoing Senate President, Dr Saraki. It is an irony that it had to take a hostile political environment and the sledgehammer of both the state government and the law enforcement agencies to enable Sen. Melaye claim his first genuine electoral victory.
    Those Nigerians ashamed to contemplate Sen. Melaye’s re-election must console themselves that at least he is not their representative in the Senate. They are left aghast that such an unfit character bestrides the legislature, but his harmless skits and parodies demean the reputation of his constituents in inverse relationship to the wreckage Mr Bello’s quietly turbulent misrule imposes on the indigenes of the state.
    Given the chance a second time, and a third, and a fourth, Kogi West would vote Sen. Melaye into the Senate over and over again under a similar political environment, except Mr Bello can find the chutzpah to back him against Sen. Adeyemi. For now, the governor will be spared that act of self-immolation. And the country, especially the Melaye haters, will also be left to chew the cud on the travesty of crowning a clown and letting him loose on the legislature.

  • Phillip Shaibu’s LMC alarm

    League Management Company (LMC) board members should be worried by the negative reports surrounding the domestic game.

    If they aren’t, this column should serve as a reminder that the roof has fallen on their heads, leaving them with one option – to vacate the place. The myriad of problems bedevilling the league are such that the participants are alleging gross dereliction of duties, with particular reference to officiating of matches.

    Footages of scenes where referees’ decisions have left much to be desired are in the social media, making us the laughing stock in the polity of soccer nations. Shouldn’t LMC chiefs be thinking of buying the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) machines in all venues to reduce the complaints about decisions?

    Three weeks ago, in the game between Yobe Desert Stars and Akwa United in Damaturu, the match officials’ hotel was invaded by some roughnecks who came to collect N1 million, which they said was given to them to throw the game in the home team’s favour. It didn’t happen because Akwa United held their ground against the hosts, winning by a lone goal. Ordinarily, such disturbing action should have troubled the LMC to take a decisive action, first by calling a press conference to either deny the act or tell us how they intend to tackle the allegations.

    Nothing has been heard about the matter. In fact, the shameful act in Damaturu smacks of match fixing, bribery where the givers and receivers should be punished as it represents a bad citation of how winners and losers emerge. It is shocking that the organisers didn’t consider the ease with which the hoodlums got to the match officials a threat to their lives, not to talk of the guerrilla setting in which the N1 million was retrieved. Perhaps, if the urchins’ motive was to maim or kill the match officials, they would have been dead (God forbid), with no one held accountable. The danger is that others are watching to see if LMC chiefs will act, lest it becomes the norm for dealing with referees in other centres, even if it means using it to blackmail them.

    And so when the Edo State Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu expressed his disappointment with match officials’ handling of matches involving Bendel Insurance, most critics felt he was crying wolf. But, footages of the three matches which Shaibu complained about have shown clearly that he wasn’t being emotional, especially as the results didn’t favour his side. Not a few accepted that referees erred in their judgment. In fact, many have commended Shaibu’s efforts to take them out of the stadium unhurt. Some other government officials would have stormed out of the stadium in anger, leaving the referees vulnerable to crowd violence.

    Those who kicked against Shaibu’s role in Bendel Insurance as a player must do a rethink. Had Shaibu not been a player who chose to relate with his boys after the game, another carnage would have been recorded at the University of Benin  Sports Complex, and not for the first time due to poor officiating.

    Late last year, Shaibu prevented a mayhem inside the Agege Stadium, Lagos, when the security back-up officials called him to save a dicey situation. Shaibu left the stadium after a peaceful 1-1 draw between Bendel Insurance and Spartans FC of Lagos. But things took a turn for the worst when some urchins deflated the tyres of the Benin side’s media bus and supporters’ clubs’ buses. Hell was let loose. The deputy governor’s return to the stadium normalised the situation. I digress.

    Shaibu said: “When Kwara United came here, we scored a clean goal but the referee disallowed it on the ground that it was an offside goal. Just last weekend, the same scenario occurred against us in Akure when we played Sunshine Stars but the goal was allowed to stand. Today, again, we have scored another beautiful goal and it has been ruled offside.

    “I think we are going to discontinue with the league than continue to allow this type of officiating to mar our games. We got a clean goal against Kwara. When the video was reviewed, it was adjudged a clean goal but we were not awarded the points.’’

    “If they defeat us we don’t care but cannot continue like this. If the LMC refuses to probe the Kwara United match, the Sunshine Stars match and this one against Rivers United, we are going to discontinue playing in the league,” Shaibu warned after the match.

    If you ask Shaibu about Bendel Insurance leaving the league, he will laugh it off, knowing he spoke on the spur of the moment. It is, however, important to remind the organisers that with the prevalent  decline in resources, it will be difficult to get sponsors to bankroll the team, if government hands off funding. Bendel Insurance had been in the wilderness for about 11 or 12 years, until the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration gave it a new lease of life, leading to its promotion to the elite class this season.

    Cynics who rant that the corporate world will do football business, only if government quits funding it, seem to forget for anything to attract blue-chip firms, it must command a price, it must be a credible brand and it must be beneficial to their corporate needs. It is important to note that shareholders must key into the project before the actualisation of this dream. Indeed, no business concern will connect its goods or services to projects that are enmeshed in controversies and allegations of sharp practices.

    What the Obaseki-led administration is doing is to build the Bendel Insurance FC brand before taking it to the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) where the required indices for its sale are formulated and passed into law. Otherwise, a new administration will come and revoke what is being done, if it isn’t backed by any law. Ultimately, the Obaseki-led government will offer Bendel Insurance FC to the business world for sale as part of the government’s long term plans for it.

    Giving the business of running Bendel Insurance to his deputy, shows clearly that the governor wants to repackage the product which will be the beautiful bride of the corporate world at the Stock Exchange.

    The LMC should provide the enabling environment for the game to thrive. It is the only way the corporate world can be interested in the business. When big spenders such as the government-owned teams, complain of little things, such as poor officiating is shameful. LMC  should, therefore, look for a sponsor to bankroll all the activities of the match officials before, during and after matches.

    LMC chiefs put the match officials in precarious positions when the host clubs take care of all their expenditures. Some dubious clubs will seize the opportunity to influence them. Pundits are worried that LMC hasn’t done anything to Yobe Desert Stars, whose fans recovered the cash from the match officials. If we can exonerate the referees for doing their jobs, leading to Akwa United’s victory, the same can’t be said of the club which gave them the cash. It is a criminal offence which is match-fixing.

    It may interest LMC men to know that Tanzanian referee Oden Charles Mbaga was banned from football for life after he was found guilty of taking bribes,  according to FIFA. In a statement, the Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee said Mbaga had also been fined CHF200,000 (£151,000/$200,000/€176,000). FIFA did not reveal details, but confirmed the Tanzanian official had breached the bribery article of the 2009 edition of the governing body’s ethics code. This is a body that works. No sentiments when it has to do with dealing with infractions on its rules.

    The scams surrounding the league are shameful. Pundits are worried that nobody knows what the league is worth. Organisers can’t tell us how much they have realised from inter and intra club transfers of players? This is the biggest revenue earner for most lucrative leagues in the world. Contracts between clubs and their players are worthless. In fact, a popular league team’s owners were shocked to hear that players they paid monthly weren’t theirs and couldn’t earn revenue from any of them being scouted by European clubs.

    One wonders what the organisers show to prospecting firms willing to do business with them? Would it not have been better showing them recorded programmes of the league to appreciate what they stand to gain in a partnership? Will firms be excited to associate their brands with the game when the benefits of such unions are not documented? I’m sure the organisers dare not show games where referees are battered. They also won’t show videos of crowd violence with fans running through teargas.

    So, what is the domestic league’s Unique Selling Point?

  • Victory, nemesis and reality

    The  Nigerian  presidential  and National Assembly elections  of February  23 have come and gone and President Muhammadu Buhari  has been reelected by a margin of about  4m votes.

    His  defeated opponent Abubakar  Atiku  has  not conceded  defeat and  has not congratulated the winner and  his excuse  is that  ‘the election was not free  and fair  but was marred by many  irregularities’.

    In the senate, the Senate President was defeated  and lost  his seat while the Speaker  was reelected.  It  is in the context of the victory  of the reelected president, the defeat of the Senate President and the inability  of the defeated presidential  candidate in these  elections  to  accept  defeat  that,  I  have  couched today’s headline.  I enjoin you  therefore  to come along with me as I    dilate  on a victory  that the winner  must  savour  for several  reasons. It  comes  alongside  a defeat  for a Senate President that    I call  Nemesis.  Which  is inevitable retributive justice  for  a member  of the ruling APC  who  threw spanner in the works  for  the party  whilst  it  was  savouring  its    2015 victory    and  was preparing to go  over to the Legislature  to take power four years  ago.

    It  is necessary    first  and foremost  to congratulate  the winner on his reelection. Quite  typical  of his levelheadedness  and magnanimity in victory  however  he has asked his followers  not  to gloat or  humiliate  the losers  of  the opposing  party  in their celebration of  victory. That  is  how  it  should  be although there is  no denying  that  in politics,  as in  life, failure  is an  orphan  whilst  success  has many  fathers. The  defeated candidate  has  promised to  go to court  to contest  the election results  and the Secretary  to the Government  of the Federation –SGF –  has  said    at  a victory  party  of the,  that the  victorious and re-elected  government  is  not  afraid  of  any litigation  on its  victory  because Nigeria  is a democracy.  Which  again  is  a positive development  for  our  democracy, as  in any  meaningful democracy  the majority  must  have its  way  whilst  the minority must  have  its  say.

    It  follows  therefore  that Abubakar  Atiku who  lost  the  election by  4 million  votes must  be allowed  to have his day in court  and air  his grievances in open court for the courts  to pronounce  judgement  one way or the other. Even  all  the way  to the Supreme  Court for  a final  and incontestable  decision of the highest  court  of the land.  That  is the way  and manner  our presidential system  of  government works,  according to our constitution  and  under  the rule  of  law. It  follows  that although  victory  has  been  lost  and won, it is not over until  it is over for  the Nigerian  presidential  elections  as the battle  has shifted  from  the  polling  booths  to  our temples  of  justice. There  they    will  proclaim on the legality, acceptance, or otherwise  on the way  and manner  the elections were  conducted  on February  23,  2019,  nation  wide.

    It  is therefore necessary  and pertinent  to  consider  the nature of victory, the manner of    retribution  or indignation    on  it and  the  reasons  for  rejection of  the presidential  election by the loser. In  pursuit  of this  we draw on the actions and utterances of the  political  actors  who  participated  in the postponed  election  which  had  Nigerians  very  apprehensive and anxious on  a peaceful  outcome  which  has however  materialized even  though  some  30  Nigerians  lost their lives  to  election

    violence.

    Let  me state clearly  that  I am  happy  that  I predicted  that the deterrence order on election  riggers by  the president    would  work positively  for his  re election. It  surely  has worked  for  him and his party  as it  showed they  had a stake  in the integrity of the Nigerian  electoral  process  as well  as  a peaceful  and fair election  which    the  president  has successfully supervised.  It is necessary  to remind  the reelected  president that he promised  to take  up  INEC  on  the unexpected  postponement after  the elections.  It  is necessary  to do  this  and not allow  it  to be forgotten  in the euphoria  of  victory,  no matter  how  sweet.

    Undoubtedly, the president’s  victory  was due  to massive turn out in Kano, Kaduna  and Katsina  his  home  state. These  three  K states-  3K –  have shown  that they  are  the crown jewels of  the Nigeria’s  participatory  democracy  as they  showed  that  even  as voter  turn out  was minimal  nation  wide  the turn out in the 3K states  was  stupendous  and  was the reason  for  the victory  and reelection of  the winner.  In  effect  then  the energetic, nation  wide  campaign  of  the winner was  not  in vain.

    Similarly his campaign  strategists  seem  to know  their  onions well  and can enjoy  their  victory  which  they have earned. There  is  no denying that they know Nigeria like the palm of their hands  and know  where voter  registration and  turn  out  matter  and they  zeroed in on that  and the result  has  been  productive  in the scale of  victory of their  presidential  candidate and their  party.  Surely  they can  afford to beat their chest  and  pat themselves on the back  for a job well  done.

    Nevertheless  it is necessary  to look at  the other  side of the coin, which  is the losing side in this election. In  a published speech, the loser  Atiku  Abubakar  lamented that  in his three decades long involvement  in Nigeria’s  politics he has ‘  never  seen our democracy  so  debased ‘ as it was  in the February  23  presidential  election. According to him  – democracy  will  not be emasculated in Nigeria ‘as  he insisted that  there  were predetermined  malpractices in several  states.  He  reportedly wondered  why  states  that were  ravaged  by  terrorism  had  more voter turn  out  than  those  that  were  not. He  said that  would seem  to endorse  the view  that insecurity  guaranteed  larger  voter turn  than  security.

    On  that score  the loser  seems  to  have  missed  the point especially  as a  Nigerian leader  from  the  North.  Repeated census  figures in Nigeria, on which  parliamentary  seats, local governments  and states  have been  created, have  always  favored the  North  and  census  is  a sore  point  for the  Nigerian  state and  its  politics. For  someone who  was a Vice  President  and has benefitted  from this  arrangement politically, it  is like crying  wolf  when  there  is  none  on  the 3K  states  large voter  turn out, or  terrorism  and  immense  voter  turn  out this  time  around.  The  census  figures  are  there  for  all to  see. Whether  they    correspond    with  North  –  South migration,    climate  change,  ecological  or  demographic  reality in our  large  and diverse nation, is another  matter. For  now the election results  reflect  our  legal  demographic  realities and the loser  should  go  to court  as he has promised. Nevertheless  in  my  view,  he has shown  more guts  and    sincerity  in airing  his dissent,  far  better  than  the peace  of the grave yard  that  was secured after  the  2015  elections.  Once  again, long live the Federal Republic  of  Nigeria.

  • Sporting Life: Ade Ojeikere discusses latest on Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Pochettino

    The Nation Online Editor, Sunday Oguntola is joined by The Nation Newspaper Sports Editor, Ade Ojeikere to discuss:

    Ole Gunnar Solskjær
    Mauricio Pochettino
    Real Madrid
    Manchester United
    Philippe Coutinho

    UEFA Champions League

    Chinese Super League

    EPL

  • Rigging, deterrence and stability

    Nigerians  go to the polls today in a determined  manner that  finally they will  vote  today  and not be told  the  polls  have been postponed  by  INEC, as it happened  last  Saturday, February 16. Today Nigerians  head  to the polls  not because the INEC  boss  said  only an act  of God  can stop  the polls today  but  because  of  the threat  of  death for  riggers  and vote snatchers  issued by no less a person  than the man in charge  of the security of the Nigerian nation, President  Muhammadu  Buhari, also  a candidate  for re-election  in today’s  presidential  election.  To  Nigerian, his call to arms on riggers  and democracy  saboteurs  is more credible

    than any  assurances  from INEC,  which  has acquired very  quickly, a reputation for  bungling  and postponing  much  awaited elections at  the dying ,  last  minutes  of commencement  of  voting.

    To  non Nigerians  or even  the foreign  election  observers  it  may  seem perfect  that  a presidential  assurance of security  to be provided by a sitting government should  be taken  for granted  but  such assumption is  a simple demonstration of  ignorance  of  the political  culture  of Nigeria.

    The  fact  of  the Nigerian political  way  of life is that  rigging is so  common  in our politics, such  that  even  in safe areas, overzealous  politicians still mobilise  their  supporters  to illegally  thumbprint several  ballot  papers  to  make  assurances  of victory  doubly sure. Which  often  times lead to counted votes being more  at times  than registered voters in various  voting localities.

    So  Nigerians go to the polls today  under a cloud  of  deterrence that  those who  rig must  pay  with their lives  for  their fraudulent  political  crime.  Again  the lame duck  INEC  has said election laws  must  be followed. But  did  the president ask  that riggers  be shot  at  sight? Definitely not. Did the electoral laws  deter riggers before the presidential  threat?  Definitely  not.

    Which  then  means that  the  strength  of  this threat has  sunk in with  those who make an ass  of  the law by rigging during elections.  So  if  indeed  some people think  a  dark    cloud or threat    is  hanging over  today’s  election, I say  every  cloud has its  silver  lining.  The  silver  lining is the deterrence of elimination  for  riggers  and unless  for  those who  have suicidal tendencies, I  see  rigging  at its  minimal in this election  as I do  not think  that  even  the threat  on  life  will  eradicate rigging  completely  from  our  political  culture.  This  is because  rigging  like corruption  is very  much  an  established way  of life in Nigeria.

    Now  let  us look  at today’s  elections and the chances  of the two presidential  candidates  and the two  leading  parties APC  and  PDP. We  must  also  take a position  on INEC’s  credibility  and capacity  to  conduct  a free  and fair  election. We  assume  that at  the end of  the day  the parameters for  a level  playing  ground have    been laid in spite  of all  the odds showing,  and pray  that no  act of  God  will  truncate  the polls  today  as again unnecessarily  observed  by the INEC boss.

    I  think  the postponement  has created  new  challenges  for  both candidates. For  President  Buhari  it  has exposed  him  to charges of trusting everything  to  INEC and  he must  accept  responsibility for  INEC’s  shoddy  performance  which  the postponement  of  the presidential  elections  represents. If  anything  the INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood  Yakubu  has  not shown  requisite competence and maturity  for  the job. Without  any prompting  he said  the polls  will  never be postponed  and he postponed it. Now for  today  he said only an act of God  will make that possible. Why is he obsessed with postponement?. It  shows  an inherent lack  of confidence  and capacity to execute  his mandate.

    This  has  riled the president who  appointed  and trusted him  hence the threat  to riggers  which  goes beyond INEC but  is really  the saving grace for the president’s reputation  for toughness  and integrity. That threat  is similar  to US  President Trump’s  obsession  to build  his wall  against  drug smugglers and  illegal  immigrants  and ensure the safety  and security  of  all Americans.  It  is similar  to that of  the Phillipines  President order  to  shoot  drug smugglers.

    Human  rights  champions  may  condemn  such  aggressive  leadership styles  but  they  deter potential  fraudsters  who  violate  state laws  and security  and enrich  themselves  at  the expense of innocent  citizens.  The  threat  has strengthened the hand of the Nigerian  president  and will greatly  affect  his  chances  for re-election  quite  favorably.

    Similarly  the postponement  has thrown  the ball  into  the court of the PDP with  regard  to charges  of  rigging.  How  can  the PDP deny  it has no plan to rig when it is condemning a leader who  has sworn that those who rig will pay with their lives? The  PDP  should have  publicly accepted the challenge and offer  to play  ball so that we can, if possible  have a  free and  fair  election  which was the objective of the voter deterrence issued  by the president.

    I  know  this threat  will  not deter Igbo  solidarity  and support for  Atiku  presidential  ticket  because  of his running  mate  Peter Obi. But  the postponement has stretched  the resources  and anxiety of PDP  as a party  and it  is as if the party had prepared  for  a 100  meter  race  which  the postponement  has now turned into a marathon,  with  attendant  negative consequences  to maintain the momentum of  support  for its  ticket  made,  make or break,  for last  Saturday.

    One  can  only  pray  for  a peaceful  election  and  no further bungling of postponement  by  INEC on  today’s  election.  It  is nice  to know that  the army and the military  through  their leadership  have pledged  loyalty  to the Nigerian state in securing these  2019  elections.  Some  how  I  think  Nigerians  believe them.  This  is because what  is uppermost  on the minds of most Nigerians  is  to  have  the opportunity  to  show  what  they want by  voting the leader of their choice as well  as  the party of  their choice into  power. That  really  is the essence of  democracy, regardless  of  unwanted postponements  and planned  or  cultural rigging.  Once  again long live  the Federal  Republic  of  Nigeria.

  • Poll postponement and its many aggravations

    FOURS before polling booths opened last Saturday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the rescheduling of the 2019 elections to new dates.

    The presidential and National Assembly polls are probably taking place right now as you read this piece, while the governorship and state legislative polls have been rescheduled for March 9, 2019. There was nothing, not even a suspicion, as this piece was being written on Thursday to indicate that the polls could once again be aborted. The electoral body spoke confidently and convincingly on Wednesday and Thursday that the polls would hold as rescheduled. Nigerians, however, remember that a few days before the polls were originally scheduled to hold, INEC also spoke confidently and soothingly about their readiness for the polls.

    The electoral body is committed to conducting the polls, starting from today. The country wishes them well. But until the polls open and close, no one can pass any judgement on how well they were organised. When they failed the first time on February 16, 2019, not only was harsh judgement passed on them, their failure released a lot of pent-up feelings about politics, power and leadership in the country, with some of those feelings reverberating on tangential issues like due process, rule of law, the role of the military in elections, and policing of elections. The electoral body did its best early this week to dispel as many bad and false notions about their readiness and impartiality, but there is nothing to suggest that the parties and voters repose as much confidence in them as they did before the postponement. Certainly, and surprisingly, the presidency has been the most vociferous against INEC in ways that are far more unprecedented than has ever been witnessed in these parts.

    At a stakeholders’ meeting convened by INEC immediately after the postponement, agents of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), including their chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, were unsparing of the electoral body, which they described as incompetent and compromised. The APC representatives sensed that the public would refuse to believe their claims that the government knew nothing about the postponement, especially going by the example of the previous government of Goodluck Jonathan which seemed to have schemed for a postponement of the 2015 polls in order to secure an advantage over the then opposition APC. The APC agents even briefly called for the resignation of the INEC chairman.

    But when the ruling party convened an urgent national caucus meeting in Abuja on Monday, party leaders seemed to have done more than enough to convince a sceptical electorate and the rest of the country that they knew nothing about the postponement. Indeed, going by their body language and what they thought they sensed from the opposition, APC leaders gave the impression that they were the last to know of the impending postponement. President Muhammadu Buhari was particularly incensed, even allowing himself some incendiary remarks and innuendoes about the electoral body, and making very provocative and unconstitutional remarks about voters and the voting process. Taking a cue from the president’s injured pride, the Department of State Service (DSS) briefly but unwisely and tempestuously waded into the fray by inviting some principal officers of INEC for investigation and interrogation, not minding the disruptive effects of such invitations.

    While the DSS has mollified its irritation, at least for now, there is nothing to suggest that the president has calmed down, his feathers probably ruffled by the fact that he was among the last to know of the decision to postpone the polls. He was very hurt, it seems, but he probably glossed over the fact that INEC might be trying to protect him from allegations of collusion or, at best, connivance. INEC was wrong to have left till very late on Friday the decision to postpone the election, but whether by design or by coincidence, they were right to have insulated the president, indeed the presidency and particularly the APC, from dangerous and unfair barbs. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), either individually or collectively, might have got hint of the postponement of the polls ahead of the APC, but it is hard to see how that confers any advantage on them beyond perhaps the conservation of financial resources.

    The electoral body should have handled the setback far better than they did, and should never have allowed themselves to panic or be overwhelmed by the logistical nightmare that rushed upon them in the dying hours before the opening of the polls; but they were smart and quick enough to have shifted the polls by nothing more than a week. They must now hope that they can deliver on a credible and smooth poll that would confound their detractors and pleasantly surprise their friends and confidants. There are indications that officials of the electoral body have not worked together with the seamlessness expected of them, their ranks having been bifurcated by politics and politicians, and by ethnic and other petty considerations, however, Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman and a professor of political history and international studies, has the gargantuan task of dispelling whatever misgivings still exist about the capacity and cohesiveness of INEC to deliver on a fair election.

    The president may be justified in his rage against INEC — who would not, given the reassurances INEC gave shortly before the polls opened? — but he has not altogether handled his anger with the gravitas and presidential panache expected of him and his office. He was undoubtedly under pressure to convince Nigerians that he did not know anything about the postponement, but he ought to be circumspect about his reaction and careful in weighing his words. In the circumstance, he has unleashed a firestorm of protest among the political class and leader writers of the republic over the measures he announced his government was prepared to take to safeguard a free and fair poll. It is not clear what worried him the more: the postponement of the polls by a week, which is tolerable despite the cost to investors and voters, or achieving peaceful polling, which was not really and overwhelmingly an issue at the time of the postponement.

    By insinuating that poll riggers and disturbers of peaceful polling be shot, the president was both overdramatising the problem and deliberately subverting the laws of the country. No anger and no provocation must ever justify impunity or self-help. The president’s order to the military and the police to deal ruthlessly with electoral offenders virtually gives the security agents licence to use disproportionate force in excess of what the law recommends. No one, not least the president, must ever be allowed to take liberty with interpreting the law far beyond its intendments, simply because they have conjured the threat to the republic in such a manner as to alarm the public and give justifications for extralegal measures.

    The president’s aides have of course doubled down on the president’s order, and consequently there will be no walking back the extraordinary and defeatist measures enunciated at the APC caucus meeting. It is a tragedy for any society to distrust and undermine its own capacity and wisdom to deal with malfeasance by constantly embracing excesses unknown to its own laws. Happily, the electoral body has contradistinctively sworn not to go outside the ambits of the law in policing the elections or interdicting poll offenders. That is how it should be, and the presidency is encouraged to follow this example rather than needlessly dispute the semantics of the controversial order given to the security forces. It is time the country matured and wised up in handling unusual and prickly situations.

    Indeed, rather than vent its spleen so publicly and a little recklessly, the APC should be thankful for the postponement of the polls in the light of reports about the subterranean efforts allegedly made by their chief opponent in the poll to probably subvert popular will. In any case it hardly matters now whether the APC knew about the postponement or not. The elections will hopefully hold, starting from today, and a winner will emerge. If the APC is to win, it should hope that its victory will not be anchored on strong-arming the electorate and alarming the public, but on convincing them that it had done enough in about four years to earn their respect and confidence.

  • INEC and conspiracy theories

    Nothing could be more inexplicable. Listen to the words of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Kwara State, Mallam Garba Mamdami, reportedly speaking in Ilorin on Wednesday before the commencement of the distribution of critical election materials from the office of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Local Government Areas in the state. According to the REC, “The result sheets for Kwara were found in our FCT office in Abuja and they are going to be sent today. I will be here (CBN) till they bring it. Also the results sheet of Lagos was found here. I have sent it back, that of Lagos was also found in Nasarawa. You can see the reason the election was postponed”. It is of course reassuring that Mamdami said that the noted lapses had been corrected in the state and that the sensitive polls items were already being moved from Ilorin to the far flung Local Government Areas such as Baruten, Kaiama and Pategi as at Wednesday.

    However, against the background of these kinds of revelations across the country,  it is not surprising that assorted conspiracy theories have been espoused attributing the last ditch postponement of last Saturday’s presidential and national assembly elections till today to insider collusion by elements within INEC with external partisan interests to compromise the polls. In its immediate reaction to the postponement, for instance, the PDP and its candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, alleged that INEC acted under pressure from the APC and the presidency whichallegedly envisaged the ruling party’s imminent defeat had the elections gone ahead.

    Another variant of this allegation was that the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu, preferred to postpone the election rather than cave in to alleged pressure from some quarters to hold the exercise in a staggered manner purportedly designed to favour the ruling party. The forceful condemnation of the polls postponement by the APC National Chairman, comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the party’s National Caucus as well as the presidency, however, seriously weakens the plausibility of this thesis. For, they have remorselessly put down INEC as an epitome of organizational inefficiency and incompetence stressing that the electoral umpire had been provided with all the resources it required to deliver effectively on its mandate.

    Oshiomhole has vehemently interrogated the rationale for INEC to have waited till after 2am early on February 16, when most normal people would presumably be asleep, to announce its inability to conduct the elections despite assuring Nigerians virtually every day till then of its readiness for the exercise. And the Minister of State for Aviation, Mr. Sirika Hadi, has debunked the INEC Chairman’s claim that weather challenges were partly responsible for the logistical glitches experienced by the commission in delivering electoral materials to critical destinations on schedule by air.

    Given the colossal socio-economic and psychological costs attendant on the postponement as well as the grave damage once again done to the country’s international image, it is not surprising that President Muhammdu Buhari has stated unequivocally that the incident will still have to be thoroughly investigated after the polls. Indeed, the APC has gone on to allege not only that the main opposition party had penetrated and compromised critical operatives within INEC to help skew the election in its favour but also that the PDP had prior information about the impending postponement, a development which the ruling party insists caught it unawares.

    The onus is certainly on the ruling party to offer credible proof for its allegations. But then, since Atiku had alleged that INEC was pressurized by a jittery presidency to abort the polls from holding last Saturday, what explains the rather tame and seemingly kid glove treatment by the PDP of an electoral umpire it claimed worked in cahoots with the ruling party to truncate its envisaged electoral triumph through polls postponement? The PDP has inexplicably left the APC to vehemently take on INEC on this lapse as if the ruling party was the one in opposition!

    If the allegations by the APC are true, the ruling party must have naively discounted its own oft-repeated mantra as regards the capacity and desperation of corruption to fight back in the face of President Muhammadu Buhari’s unprecedented onslaught against the monster, a war that has claimed the scalp of many a top PDP big shot.

    Of course, one must sympathize with the INEC and its leadership who are operating in a perennially charged political atmosphere of intense competition for the economically beneficial control of state power, a struggle that is all too often difficult to differentiate from war. In such a context, critical state institutions such as electoral, judicial and electoral agencies tend to be inexorably drawn from their supposedly non-partisan heights into the political fray with unsavoury consequences for their credibility and integrity as well as the efficacy and stability of the political system as a whole.

    In the run up to this year’s election, it has hardly surprising that heavy weather has been made by the opposition of the presence of one of the 12 INEC national commissioners, Mrs Amina Zakari, within the top echelon of the commission. This is because of her purported familial relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari. It has not mattered to the critics that her membership of INEC predated Buhari’s ascension to power or that one electoral commissioner in a complex organization like INEC is unlikely to be able to do much to skew electoral outcomes without extensive internal collusion.

    Yes, there should be cause for worry if there is credible suspicion of external partisan interests having access to sensitive insider information through unscrupulous INEC functionaries who violate their oaths of office. But it would appear that the critics have been most unfair to Mrs Zakari after all. It is now obvious that officials from some other parts of the country play roles even more critical than that of this woman in the elections administration process.

    It is noteworthy in this regard that in the cause of investigating the logistical failures allegedly responsible for the postponement of the February 16 elections, the Directorate of State Services (DSS), controversially invited a number of top INEC Staff to interact with its functionaries, an invitation that was later stepped down obviously for political reasons. Those earlier invited include the Director of INEC’s operations and logistics department, Professor Okechukwu Ibeano, Director of Information and Communication Technology, Chidi Nwafor, Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Osaze Uzzi and the Assistant Director of ICT, Bimbo Oladunjoye.

    The allegation that an individual was specifically planted in INEC to manipulate election for some partisan interests certainly did not take into account the organizational complexities of INEC and the details of functional allocation of responsibilities down the line. Unfortunately, the critics are unlikely to apologize to Mrs Zakari. Sure, the commissioners and staff of INEC cannot be recruited from outer space. It is also impracticable to import expatriate functionaries from purportedly neutral international agencies to conduct elections in a country of the size and complexity of Nigeria.

    Functionaries of INEC will necessarily belong to specific ethnic communities, states, regions, religious faiths and cultural entities within Nigeria. They will as human beings and necessarily political animals also have their individual political views and inclinations. How do we then ensure that officials of this critical electoral umpire adhere to their oaths of office and perform their functions devoid of ethno-regional considerations, religious bias or political partisanship?

    First, the terms and conditions of service of such staff must be attractive and generous enough to reduce vulnerability to financial inducement to sabotage elections. Secondly, the cost of violating their oath of office and succumbing to primordial or financial considerations to manipulate elections must be raised to become exceedingly high. Proven cases of election rigging and manipulation at any stage of the electoral process must attract very severe consequence.

    Election rigging enables governments to come to power in utter violation of the genuine will of the people. It is an act of violence that is the equivalent of military coup. Those who indulge in the atrocity must do so fully aware of the dire consequences if they are caught. Only the most draconian measures can help to force our errant Nigerian political elite to embrace attitudes and values conducive to any true transition to modernity. This is why this column is not unduly perturbed at the thought of ballot box snatchers being shot on sight.

     

    Buhari, Atiku and election rigging

    PMB’s directive to the armed forces and security agencies to deal ruthlessly with ballot box snatchers during today’s elections has elicited outrage in some quarters. He has been accused of exhibiting disregard for the rule law and disdain for due process. His critics insist that the Electoral Act provides sufficient penalties for ballot snatching and other forms of election rigging, which is at least two years imprisonment. But if widespread ballot box snatching provokes large scale breakdown of law and order it may be impossible even for courts to sit to enforce the Electoral Act. Draconian measures are needed to bring about some sanity in this regard.

    In siding with critics of PMB on this matter, Atiku gives the impression that he will be soft on election rigging if he is elected President. This brings to mind Atiku’s recent stunning revelation in Lagos that as Vice President, he was the mastermind behind the massive rigging by the PDP of the governorship elections in the South-west in 2003, an onslaught which only Tinubu’s Lagos was able to understand.Unapologetic, Atiku had asked his audience to give him another opportunity to repeat history perhaps on a scale of grander atrociousness. Ballot snatchers will certainly not be unhappy with an Atiku presidency.