Category: Opinion

Nnedinso Ogaziechi

 

On a daily basis, the world sees but wryly pretends to be blind to the voice and role of women in leadership and socio-economic productive lives that keep the global wheel grinding. The organizational power of women is often ignored by men when core leadership issues are at stake and the world often pays dearly for such negligence.

The new instinctive socio-political mono-genderization of leadership especially in a developing economy like Nigeria has been a burden on the male population even if they refuse to acknowledge that. If a problem shared is a problem half-solved as the popular saying goes, the problem of leadership can be lightened if it is made inclusive and fully representative.

Given the state of the nation today, the protests and advocacies as can be seen are being led in most cases by women, young vibrant women who bring their power, energy and strong strategic plans to the fore in advocating for good governance, equity and justice. In all these, their efforts are applauded, commended and valued. How then is it that when it comes to political and elective positions, these same women are often encouraged not to raise their voices?

The Roundtable Conversation hosted Ndi Kato, the Convener of Abuja Discuss and Executive Director or Dinidari Foundation and one who has been involved in several advocacies for good governance and justice and gender issues in Nigeria. She traces her awareness about  the values of good leadership to the foundational influence of a lecturer/poet and writer mother  whose association with fellow writers  pointed her towards what values one can bring to one’s community and nation.

Being around her mother’s fellow writers and reading her own writings have been invaluable assets in making an Ndi conscious of leadership advocacy and the value of history and the roles we all need to play for our societies from the community to the national levels. To her, she grew up reading and observing how writers like her mother and fellow writers like Niyi Osundare,  late JP Clark, Nnimo Bassey  etc. led their regular lives of service and leadership. These writers documented history and wrote about governments and leaders in prose and poetry and from a young age, Ndi was made to ingest such noble attitudes of care and concern for lives and community from a very early age.

To Ndi, her writer/lecturer mother and all her writer colleagues were the beacons she looked up to as a child. Growing up therefore for an Ndi in Southern Kaduna was a lesson in observation and in leadership and the attitude of the led. To her, the meekness displayed by the writers she saw around was energizing and prepared her for leadership in every way including political participation.

To Kato, she has always known that leadership was not gender-sensitive. Reading her mother’s writings and observing how her fellow writers wrote with patriotic vision was an eye opener to her about being a citizen that can care for others effectively in any form she could including raising her voice about and participating in leadership at all levels possible.

For Nigerian writers to have documented the culture and history of the country in ways that were appealing to the young minds means they have played their roles as citizens. It was at that early years that her young mind was influenced to add her own voice in any way she can and that is exactly why she decided to not sit on the fence. To her, governance is call to service and not the gift as is often perceived by most Nigerians. Accountable leadership is a plus for all citizens.

However, as a woman, the struggle for leadership in a Nigerian setting can be arduous  in the sense that when it comes to all forms of struggle, women are accepted and co-opted, however, contradictorily, the political space even at the rural level seems closed to women because the people often assume, wrongly though, that leadership is a male exclusive. Nigerians do not think women should provide leadership even when they know the capacity of the women to provide nurture and leadership at all levels.

Ironically, as soon as it comes to partisan politics, the people recoil and assume that a woman cannot bring the same competences deployed on other levels to the political space. It’s quite strange to come from a background that was almost gender blind to observe rejection based on gender not only in her locality but across the nation and even somewhat globally.

To Ndi, the task can be quite daunting for women, from fighting for women inclusion, to good governance and so many distractions and push backs, looking at the #EndSARS protest, women were pushing for Fight Against Gender based Violence (FGBV) shortly before the #EndSARS agitation , it was seemingly not taken serious and now the #EndSARS protest is still being pushed by women making the fights hydra-headed.

The problem is that the Nigerian political party system must be corrected. As one who contested for a seat in the Kaduna state House of Assembly, she has experienced what women in politics go through given that the political party structure is almost out of the reach of most women. To Ndi, the men own the political structure and she wants a situation where women can be protected by laws in all spheres so that the country can benefit from their input. It is a task to be achieved.

The women leaders in political parties are encumbered because they do not own the political structures . When we realize that most women are not literate in ways that can power any political awareness and active participation, we must work harder.

To her, the narrative of women not helping fellow women is flawed because the real fact is that men are the highest percentage of voters even though  in terms of disadvantaged voters, persons living with disabilities and illiteracy women are greater in number. Women are the most disadvantaged voting bloc according to the Head of UN Women who is working with data.

So Nigerian women must begin to work towards pushing for laws that can eradicate those issues that put women in disadvantaged position like some women cannot even leave their houses to go and vote, the implication is that their voices cannot be heard in the ballots. Illiteracy for women is a disadvantage.  So education must be availed the girl child.

As one who has gone to contest for a spot at the Kaduna state House of Assembly, Ndi advises younger men and women is to realize that everyone ought to be politically conscious right from the home. To her, everyone can participate in leadership at any level of action. Partisanship is good if you can but if not, just lead from anything you are passionate about as long as it enhances human flourishing.

To an Ndi, every young person must contribute to build a better country as everyone benefits when there is inclusivity in governance. The young women must not be dissuaded from participating in politics by societal stigma and other tactics used by some people  to discourage women.  The idea of chickening out because some people tag women in politics prostitutes should be discarded as the country belongs to everyone and the capacity of women to contribute to development is enormous.

The  Roundtable believes that it is time to re-evaluate the way we run politics in Nigeria. The men and women are almost exhausted on different fronts. The men cannot handle politics and governance alone seeing the problems in the global community . Education for all must be done in ways that are liberating both through home-grooming and nurturing and formal education.

We must as a country retrace our steps for the better. The value of leadership must begin to change in ways that governance is not seen as a favour to the people but a call to service. Women are exhausted fighting too many ways and the lives of men are being negatively affected due to too many burdens of governance that could complimentarily be shared.

It is instructive that the frontiers of advocacies for women is increasing by the minute, women are fighting against domestic and gender-based violence,  illiteracy, maternal and child mortality, child-marriage, rape and all forms of violence that ultimately affect the men that live under the illusion that power is absolute.

The complimentary kind of leadership that Africa had in pristine times must be brought back for the prosperity and development of the continent. If women led the Aba Women Riot of 1929 for the good of all, if women were path of the independence struggle even if due credit is not always given, it is time for better representative democracy and that has to be done with laws protecting the rights of everyone.

Advocacies by women are always the cheapest because they fight for all. When women lead protests and advocacies  and are applauded, it just shows that leadership at that level can as well be transferred to the political arena and other sectors of human life.

According to Ndi Kato, it would be valuable to extend the appreciation for women’s advocacies especially for issues of general interests. Getting involved in leadership must be a right of everyone. The idea of highlighting gender differences only when women come out for elective positions must be stopped if we must make progress.

The labour of Nigerian women must have a holistic appreciation and must not be limited to those periods that they are at the frontlines fighting for rights both for themselves and others. Power is a call to service. We prefer that women fight only a few wars instead of all the pushbacks when it comes to the an inclusive political role.

Women are leading and providing the needed support for #EndSARS movement and getting applauded, would it not be nice to make laws that make political parties in our democracy to have a level playing field instead of monopolizing the structure? All nations with inclusive gender participation seem to be doing better and the life expectancy of both genders longer.

The dialogue continues…

Igboeli Arinze

 

The history of elections in Nigeria has been largely controversial.

Since 1959 each and every  election conducted save for that of 1993  have ended with a mixture of gripes and hollers. Our elections have been draped with the most bizarre methods of rigging as well as a coterie of violence, intimidation and a number of other unwholesome practices that have made our approach to democracy a lot untidy.

We as a nation began on a faulty note in 1964, with the Northern People’s Congress and its counterparts in its Nigerian National Alliance “winning” a total of 198 seats out of 312. It was an election that saw the Western Region’s  bogeyman in Samuel Ladoke Akintola’s NIgerian National Democratic Party, NNDP towering above Awolowo’s Action Group in the Western Region. An election where Akintola was alleged to have gloatingly stated that whether the electorate voted his party or not he would win the elections!

The 1964 elections was an affront to the tenets of democracy that the nation’s president in the person of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe refused to call on Tafawa Balewa to form a government much until an uneasy truce was reached between the duo. However,as bad as the 1964 elections were, it was to appear as a saint’s affair than what was to come in 1965, an election so rigged that future elections which witnessed monumental forms of rigging such as the 1983, 2003 and 2007 elections could not hold a torch to what was said to have transpired in 1965. Results not reflecting the will of the people were churned out to the chargrin of the people. It was indeed obvious that such rigging was in the thinking of the ruling NPC which had sought to strangulate all forms of opposition. The NPC was a senior partner in the NNA Alliance and had Akintola’s NNDP as the junior partner. This triggered ‘Operation Wetie’ which in turn led to the January 15 coup.

The 1979 elections also bore within it a seismic like shaking set of precedents. For the first time the country was to be modeled upon the American system of government with a President elected from the ballot box rather than the Westminster parliamentary model where a leader’s only claim to power is because his party had a majority in parliament and not because the entire country decided directly that he leads them.

Five parties were eventually cleared to slug it out, namely, the NPN, UPN, NPP, GNPP and PRP. The presidential elections led to the 12 2/3 conundrum where it was argued that the NPN candidate, Alhaji Shehu Shagari had not garnered 25% in 13 states as was required by regulations spelt out by the then electoral body, FEDECO.

Shagari had 25% or one-quarter in 12 states but failed to get 25% in Kano State where he had 243,423 votes —  the equivalent of 19.4% of the 1,220,763 votes cast in total in the state. Sadly, FEDECO and Richard Akinjide thought otherwise and in a landmark judgement, which came with a sort of appeal that such a judgement was never to be cited in any court, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Shagari. In doing so, the Supreme Court gifted Shagari a mago-mago victory, denying Obafemi Awolowo  an opportunity to take his aspiration for the office of the President to the electoral college, who were the 449 members elect of the Federal House of Representatives. Perhaps, one never knows which way the pendulum would have swung had the gauntlet gone to the electoral college. Perhaps we may have been fortunate with an Awo Presidency.

The 1983 elections were such a sham. In that election Shagari and his acolytes were hell bent on returning to power that they shamelessly rigged themselves in. The election was wonderfully captured in Fela’s song ‘Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense’, even Awo and Zik refused to approach the courts, calling on higher powers to do justice, lurking around were the military brass who  then did not have the patience to wait on God to do justice, they gave their own version and in three months removed Shagari from office.

The 2003 and 2007 elections were also massively rigged. The former was blatantly rigged that former President Jimmy Carter a good friend of the biggest beneficiary of that stolen election, Olusegun Obasanjo did not congratulate his friend. Carter was in Nigeria to monitor the elections, he was reported to have left in disgust. The 2007 was even worse off, it was that bad that Umaru Yar Adua, it’s version’s beneficiary, on receiving his certificate of return on his electoral heist was to in stoical altruism impute that the process that brought him in was neither free nor fair! Even skeptics could not have done better.

Lastly, the 2015 elections will also count as one of the earth shaking events. For the first time in the history of the nation the candidate of the opposition party was to dislodge an incumbent and end sixteen years of gross misrule since the inception of democracy.

Abiodun Komolafe

 

WITH two off-season governorship elections conducted in Nigeria this year, it is doubtful if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has learnt any lessons. With Anambra (2021); Ekiti (2022); and Osun (2022) still as hurdles to cross, one can only pray that relevant lessons would be learnt and necessary steps taken towards making 2023 General Elections truly free, fair and credible. Otherwise, Edo and Ondo have signposted the shape and size of Nigeria’s democratic fate, come 2023.

Lest we forget, the 1999 Constitution established INEC to, among other things, organize and administer elections into various political offices in Nigeria. However, based on the elections of September 19, 2020 and October 10, 2020 in Edo and Ondo States respectively, can we safely say that INEC is doing what it is supposed to be doing? Why has the Election Management Body become an object of serious criticisms – locally and internationally – as falling below the acceptable benchmark of a credible umpire of our electioneering processes?  Why have controversies become its middle name and why has it become very difficult for the Commission to faithfully implement real reforms in Nigeria’s democratic system? Why are elections here marred by widespread violence, election materials unavailability, ballot box snatching, smart card readers malfunctioning and other irregularities? If, with appearances in only two states, the electoral umpire continues to drown itself in excuses, what should we expect, especially, when we have general elections, which will simultaneously take place in multiple states of the country – all at once?

With the benefit of hindsight, that INEC is ill-prepared for certain exigencies is no longer news. It may have adequate financial resources; yet it lacks the requisite coordination to deliver on its core mandate. Put differently, resource persons can be assured of payment of their Per Diem after any election exercise; but, when it comes to service delivery, it is one excuse or the other, or a rediscovery of both existing and newly-inflicted problems from the body polity. Thus, the envisioned manpower development and the inbuilt institutional capacity of INEC continues to hemorrhage, and unable to function optimally.

To start with, the idea of recruiting university dons as collation and returning officers at elections is beginning to lose its aura of respectability. Indeed, it neither bestows legitimacy on the process nor robes the outcome of the elections with the garb of authentic credibility. Of course, the job is offered to the unoccupied of lecturers, as the studious and brilliant academics are busy thinking about research and the next paper to be published in those reputable International Journals of their respective fields of study. If one may ask: what stops the Commission from training people to acquire requisite skills for electioneering processes?

The issue of over-voting and how to address it was again brought to the fore during the last election in Ondo State. At a particular place, the smart card reader suddenly stopped working and the masses protested, to the point of rioting. The voting public at the scene clamoured for the jettisoning of this institutional inbuilt check, designed to minimize the incidence of fraud and rigging. Unfortunately, the ad hoc staff on duty could not assert their authority. So, they allowed it! At the end of the day, multiple voting became the new normal; and the people over-voted, more than the accredited registered voters. So, this is an issue for INEC! Let Nigerians not start dancing around, thinking that INEC is fine; or, that it is impeccable. No, INEC is not! If it is, how could its card reader be malfunctioning on Election Day without possible replacement? With the jettisoning of the gadget at that stage, of what use are the trillions of naira already sunk into the procurement of the smart card readers?

As if that was not enough, a party agent alleged that she signed the election result sheet under duress. If this is true, it then means that the security of that place was either compromised or inadequate on the day of the election. Otherwise, where were the security operatives deployed to that area when the woman in question was being put under duress? Again, this is a serious issue, capable of compromising the integrity of any election. Isn’t this enough reason our politicians are not being faithful to their election promises? After all, they know how to capture INEC, and how to capture votes; ultimately, get back to power. And nothing will happen! The sadder side of our story is that, often, our clime is allegedly a haven for judgments, not justice.

Well, it needs to be noted that the dynamics of politics in Nigeria is a sacred issue. Also, institution building is like a cultural thing. Basically, people don’t have respect for an institution that is weak and unrepresentational of the intent of its founding fathers; that does not support the raison d’eter of its establishment. If INEC will not give Nigerians the unbiased results of elections, why do we have the Commission at all? If it cannot meet the aspirations of the Nigerian people, why did we go into it in the first place?

To make our democracy work, the people that will work in INEC must be those who buy into the vision of the leadership; and, like Chairman Mao, believe in the manifestos of the country; which makes it difficult for their consciences to be mortgaged. Sadly, however, our government has not learnt from the mistakes of yesteryears. Needless to repeat that our public institutions reflect our level of civilization and development! In other climes, institutional renewal is a constant thing, used by governments to check institutions to see whether they are still relevant, and serving the purposes for which they were created, ab initio. After all, it is nothing but sheer folly if a public institution established in 1940 is left in use, but remains unaltered, or modified to reflect the dynamics of today. For example, the journey from the Electoral Commission of Nigeria (ECN) in 1958, to the Federal Electoral Commission, FEC (1960); through the Federal Electoral Commission, FEDECO (1978), to the National Electoral Commission, NEC (1991); and, from the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria, NECON (1995), to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC (1998): how has it fared? This is the issue with Nigeria! Unfortunately, those who are supposed to midwife the needed change are the ones now popping champagne, clinking glasses and dancing kpanlogo, simply because Rotimi Akeredolu has won.

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria.

 

By Matthew Ayibakuro

 

SINCE the #ENDSARS protests began, I have had a tab open on my computer to put down my reflections on the movement. Like many young people in Nigeria, I have had several regrettable experiences with SARS and the Nigeria Police Force generally. The memory of each experience only brought me deep sighs. I tried writing about the time officers of SARS stopped me on the road a couple of days after burying my mother last year. They claimed a paper issued to me by the Nigeria Police Force was fake and demanded N50,000 to let me go.

I could not call the command of the force that issued the paper because they had put up the roadblock at the one point on the East-West Road where there was no cellular network. Being in a state of mourning, I could not muster the strength to fight, so I begged and explained. It was all to no avail though. The intermittent tears in my eyes meant nothing either. After over two hours, I got some bars on my phone and made a call to a senior – and reasonable senior police officer – before I was allowed to continue my trip. Deep sighs.

I tried to write about the time they stopped me on the road and asked for the receipt for my laptop. This was not SARS officers though. There were just another group of ineffective mobile police officers. They wanted a hard copy of the receipt. They would not let me look for a soft copy on the laptop. They claimed I was a criminal and said my ID card stating that I was a lecturer was fake. The beard on my face excluding me from the academic class, apparently, and my explanations nugatory. This time I had the strength to fight, so I did. We shouted and argued for over an hour. It was to no avail though, and after exhausting my legal vocabulary, I had to make another call.

In Nigeria, you have to always have disposable cash or a number to call, or in some cases, both. Those are the only valuable currencies to engage with the Nigeria Police Force; not your human rights or your complaints or the crime you have to report. Deep sighs. As the memories haunted me and I read about the experiences of others and the protests on the streets, all I had were deep sighs.

This morning, as I sit at my table to put down these words after reading the news about the dissolution of SARS by the Inspector-General of Police, I can feel my sighs getting even deeper. I feel no elation whatsoever. No sigh of relief either, just a bitter sense of accomplishment. Yes, the main demand of the protests has been accomplished and for that the youths of Nigeria, and all those around the world who demonstrated solidarity, should be proud, but now what?

It feels as if, by disbanding the outfit, the Inspector-General of Police has forcefully put out a fire before it had reached its crescendo and consumed the many inequities that bedevil the Nigerian youth. On the surface, this protest might have been about ending SARS, but the degree of frustration seen on the streets of Nigerian cities over the last week or so tells a deeper story. It is a story of perennial police brutality; of insensitive governance; of corrupt and ineffective leadership; of poor infrastructure; of unemployment and a lack of opportunity; of a broken educational system; of endless deep sighs.

Even as the youths return to the depressing realities of their Nigerian-hood, those in public universities would be reminded of the grim fact that they have no idea when they would return to school as a result of yet another strike by university lecturers demanding for better funding for the broken tertiary education system in the country. There are deep sighs everywhere you look in Nigeria.

That is why many young people across the country would be waking up to the “is that it?” feeling this morning after the disbandment of SARS. Is this really it? Do we now all just take this crumb of victory and go home or is this an opportunity to demand for responsible governance in Nigeria?

As for the dissolution of SARS, I am certain we have not heard the last of it. The public statement released by the IGP’s office leaves many questions unanswered: Will the guilty officers of SARS be prosecuted and held accountable for their actions? How far back would the enquiry into the actions of the guilty officers go and would there be a formal enquiry at all? Would the disbanded members of SARS and all other officers of the Nigeria Police Force be made to undergo compulsory training on respect for human rights? Are Nigerians finally going to see its police force reformed? How strategic and inclusive would the reform process be?

Knowing Nigeria, it would be foolhardy to expect optimistic answers to these questions. Our only optimism is that the youths of Nigeria took a stand through peaceful protests and won, albeit a pyrrhic victory, considering the lives lost to SARS operatives and during the protests. It is a victory that leaves a deep sigh, for the disbandment of SARS and the many battles ahead.

• Dr Matthews teaches law at the Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State.