The Nation Newspaper

Tag: democracy

  • A vote against hooded democracy

    The picture of a hooded gunman shown on the front page of this paper strutting in the street of Osogbo, prior to the last governorship election on August 9, in the State of Osun, is a metaphor of sorts for our nation. This image hung in the air for me last Friday, as I listened to the Indian Head of Chancery, Mr. Chouhdry, read his country’s president’s address on the occasion of the 68th Independence Day anniversary celebration of the world’s largest democracy. That unknown gunman dressed in a military camouflage, different from that worn by our national armies, could have been anybody, as his identity was hidden. This unidentifiable armed man, perversely protecting our democracy, is actually a denigration of the very foundation of our democracy, particularly safeguarded by section 6(6)(b) of the 1999 constitution, which is the fulcrum of the rule of law.

    That constitutional provision contemplates clearly that there will be disputes in the affairs of men and in the conduct of governance. To avoid resort to self help, which is man in a state of nature, the constitution provides for the resolution of disputes through the courts as arbiters. By wearing a mask, and hiding his identity, the gun man by that act unconstitutionally denies any person or authority he may act detrimental to his/her or their rights, the opportunity to seek redress as contemplated by the constitution. This is because the offended is denied the basic opportunity to indentify the culprit. Thus it is ironical that those behind this aberration did not realize the inherent tragedy of using an unlawful means in their beleaguered attempt to protect our democratic process.

    So as I sat in the audience with the President of the Indian Universities Alumni in Nigeria, Collins Onyenze, who invited me to the ceremony, I listened to the instructive words in the President’s address, that: “Good governance is critically dependent on rule of law, participatory decision-making, transparency, responsiveness, accountability, equity and inclusiveness.”  Again the Indian President said: “A country our size, heterogeneity and complexity calls for culture-specific governance models. It calls for cooperation in the exercise of power and assumption of responsibility, by all stakeholders. It calls for constructive partnership between the state and the citizen. It calls for taking a responsive administration to the door step of every hut and habitation in the land.”

    As I joined others to wish India well on her anniversary celebrations, it occurred to me that the country represents a fair democratic trajectory, as our country struggle to enthrone an enduring democracy. India, made up of diverse peoples, has held on tenaciously to democratic government since her Independence from Britain, 68 years ago. While her economy was nearly at par with ours in the 1960’s; it has been able to lift her economy to one of the biggest economies in the world. Borrowing again from the President’s speech, it said: “Economy is the material part of development. Education is the essential part of it. A sound education system is the bedrock of an enlightened society. It is the bounden duty of our educational institutions to provide quality education and inculcate the core civilizational values (sic) of love for motherland; compassion for all, tolerance for pluralism; respect for women; performance of duty; honesty in life; self-restraint in conduct; responsibility in action and discipline in young minds”.

    The fear for every discerning Nigerian should be that our love for opacity in other spheres of our national life seems to be descending into our national security plans during elections. This is very dangerous. To my knowledge I am not aware that any security agency has owned up as the source of that frightful depiction of official security during an election, in the form of a hooded gun man. While the Osun episode went by without any incident, it is better imagined what will be the reaction of the local people if lives were lost in the hands of these unidentifiable armed men. As far as I know, the only circumstance where security operatives wear mask on official duty is when they are fighting terrorists. And the reason is simply to avoid a backlash, from the terrorists. So the only plausible reason for using similar outfit, during an election, would be to officially harass and intimidate the electorate; which is an aberration in a democracy.

    Obviously those at the helm of affairs are borrowing from the way they operate in other spheres of our national security. As I pen this column, those who surreptitiously bought off our electricity distribution companies through ‘man know man’ instead of technical competence, are still selling darkness to us. While they were able to organize mock sales in their friends favour, they forget that it requires financial muscles, technical savvy and management ingenuity to turn the acquisition into success. Now because the people who sold and the people who bought are one and the same, they are planning to further infuse public funds into private enterprises to make up their inadequacies.

    Reminiscent of the hooded gun man, Nigerians are kept in the dark, while the federal government is seeking for bank loans to buy prepaid meters when some people are the owners of the distribution companies. Again just like in the days of the old National Electricity Power Company of Nigeria, (NEPA) the new owners are also shamelessly sending out crazy bills for electricity not supplied, and like armed robbers, they threaten consumers, if they make representations that the bills are unreasonable; and they will not pay. No doubt, the only road to progress is transparency and accountability whether as a government or a private person.

    Correction: Against my claim last week, the Medical Doctors are still on strike, despite the Ebola threat.

  • Labour: nothing to show for 15 years of democracy

    •NLC calls for credible polls in 2015

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said despite the nation’s unbroken democracy in the last 15 years, there are very few dividends of democracy to show for the period.

    The umbrella union body noted that serial acts of impunity, abuse of human rights, harassment of the media, the disruption of peaceful protests, diminishing jobs, among others, had been the hallmark of successive governments at the centre.

    It urged the Federal Government to make democracy more benevolent and beneficial to Nigerians.

    In a communiqué issue after its National Executive Meeting (NEC) in Enugu by its President, Comrade Abdulwahed Omar, the NLC said: “The NEC-in-session observed that although the nation has had 15 years of unbroken democracy, there is little to show as dividends of democracy. NEC noted serial acts of impunity, abuse of human rights, harassment of the media, the disruption of peaceful protests, diminishing jobs, etc, and urged the government to make democracy more benevolent and beneficial.

    “The NEC-in-session noted with concern the deteriorating security situation in the country, especially in the Northeast, where insurgents continue to pillage the land, and in the Southsouth, where unabated crude oil theft has all but left the economy prostrate. It, accordingly, urged the government not to relent in its effort at securing the nation.”

    The union said it had resolved to get employers of labour to maintain a group life assurance policy for their employees with a minimum benefit of three times the total emolument, in line with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2014, Section 4 (5).

    It decried the government’s delay in implementing the 33.3 per cent increase in pension payment approved by stakeholders and vowed to ensure its implementation.

    The NLC frowned at attempts by some officials of the Ministry of Labour to fragment industrial unions by creating false and illegal dichotomies.

    The umbrella union urged the government not to cause controversy in Labour circle.

    It hailed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for improving in the conduct of the elections.

    NLC said: “The NEC-in-session commended the INEC for its improved performance in the conduct of elections, but cautioned against the over-militarisation of election zones as it could be counter-productive and, accordingly, urged the government to take note.

    “The NEC-in-session called on the government to ensure that the 2015 general elections are free, fair, credible and acceptable.”

  • Jonathan’s hooded democracy

    Jonathan’s hooded democracy

    •Nigerians should be asking questions about this dangerous dimension in the country

    ALTHOUGH the August 9 governorship election in Osun State  has come and gone, we note with consternation how the election was crudely militarised. Shockingly, an elevated record of impunity, far above the awful Ekiti State election example, was set when a hooded cast of men in military uniform, Department of State Services (DSS) and policemen manned checkpoints and raided designated homes of politicians, to illegally harass, intimidate and psychologically traumatise opposition politicians. This does not speak well of the country in the comity of civilised democratic nations, especially coming from an administration that touts itself as out to promote credible elections.

    The Gestapo-like hooded security style is alien to our democracy even as it clearly underscores a low in the savage and abysmal practice of the rule of law under President Goodluck Jonathan. Notable politicians of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and their supporters were harassed by military, police and DSS men, while a flabbergasted nation watched. Suspicious men in military and DSS uniforms; their faces shielded behind black cloths and well fortified with assorted rifles such as AK-47 assault rifles, pistols and other weapons terrorised the people before and during that election.

    Democracy cannot be celebrated under an avoidable atmosphere of ferocious siege and criminal infliction of state’s instrument of coercion on tax payers that are out to discharge their civic duty during an election. However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government exhibited a lack of finesse as only its party members and supporters were deemed to be above the law. Others in the opposition could be arrested, even for doing nothing, or  on the lame excuse of ‘loitering.’ Consequently, Lai Mohammed, national spokesman of the APC, Senator Isiaka Adeleke and Afolabi Salisu, Deputy Chief of Staff to Ogun State governor and countless others tasted the harassment of these  unknown security personnel.

    The resort to these mystery security personnel signifies a perilous moment for democratic governance in Nigeria. The people, the world over, are the hallmark of the electoral process if credible elections are indeed to be guaranteed. But this cannot be assured in the midst of state support of inhuman/criminal persecution and terrorisation of some Nigerians by doubtful security personnel that President Jonathan is gradually turning into the enforcement arm of his ruling PDP, without any modicum of decency. We arrived at this position, without being immodest, because no single PDP chieftain was arrested by these goons despite the presence of PDP chieftains such as Chris Uba, Musiliu Obanikoro, Minister of State for Defence, among others, who were rather protected by these shadowy security men.

    We recollect that former President Olusegun Obasanjo sometime ago alerted the nation through his letter to the president that he (president) was, among other things, training not less than 1,000 snipers. The presidency publicly denied this but recent events, especially the deployment of the hooded security persons, in obvious desecration of military and security institutions’ integrity in Osun State, seemed to affirm this long forgotten admonition. Were these hooded military and DSS men the snipers that Obasanjo was talking about?

    The wearing of unconventional outfits and hoods during election creates a philosophical contradiction in the presidency’s battle against terrorism. This is well amplified in view of the fact that Boko Haram terrorists, also from reports and pictures, dress in army uniforms and are sometimes hooded. Proceeding from this, we ask, what justification does Dr. Jonathan have in combating Boko Haram terrorists in hoods and army uniforms? His administration’s imprimatur in this sartorial outfit rids him of any high moral purpose.

    What Jonathan and his service chiefs did during that election was fit only for terrorist zones and season and not areas/states inhabited by decent and law-abiding people. From this point of view, it is hard for this government to condemn the terrorists for impersonation when a group of men unknown to law are parading themselves in army uniform.

    More condemnable is that, the PDP governorship candidate, Iyiola Omisore, proudly pranced about with a hooded man as his security guard. This is not only an endorsement by the upper notches of the military but also from the political high brass of the PDP of which President Jonathan is head.Yet, his APC counterpart, Rauf Aregbesola, never had such concession of security.

    One of the most sanctified, inalienable human rights is the right to vote and be  voted for in an atmosphere of tranquillity which is now baselessly being denied in the country. We ask: What has happened to the rule of law as enshrined in our constitution? Under what constitutional cover did the hooded security and the unknown soldiers taken to Osun operate? Under what division did they operate and who authorised such absurd operation? Could the president justify such affront to the integrity of the military of which he is the Commander-in-Chief? Who was to be held responsible for the criminal breaches that occurred before and during that election?

    That untenable impunity is an indictment of the president, his National Security Adviser, the Chiefs of Army and Defence Staff, Director-General of SSS and the Inspector-General of Police under whose aagis the integrity of the military, police and intelligence services were greatly eroded. It is still incomprehensible that in the face of routine barbarities of Boko Haram onslaughts in the north-east and a largely de-motivated military, the president still had the effrontery to deploy the military to illegally prosecute elections in the nation for his selfish 2015 presidential ambition.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) cannot exonerate itself from blame in the entire notorious illegality. We deprecate the commission’s cold silence over the entire matter. The commission needs to state whether it raised security concerns that necessitated the militarisation of the Osun election process. In future elections, we expect INEC to live up to its autonomous status by preventing glaring subversion of its role of conducting election in an atmosphere that is devoid of intimidation. It is indefensible that not less than 73,000 ‘security agents’, including the military, police, DSS, Civil Defence and alleged ex-militants were deployed for that election. We believe that INEC ought not  have tolerated the militarisation of that election, assuming it never told the authorities that there were security concerns in the state. On the DSS, we have not seen any provision in the constitution that backs that service. The DSS is therefore an illegality.

    We hope that the Osun State impunity will not be repeated in the approaching 2015 general elections. In defiance, the President has declared that he would deploy the troops. This is wrong and wrong-headed. We call on the opposition and other stakeholders in the current democratic dispensation to quickly approach the court to seek clarifications over whether the president has the power to deploy the military, whether hooded or not, for elections when there is no imminent threat of an insurrection. This is as important as it is urgent so as to prevent the president and his ruling PDP from returning the country to an era of the savage rule.

    The process leading to an election is as important as its result.

  • I stand tall, says Omisore

    Osun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Senator Iyiola Omisore, who was defeated by Governor Rauf Aregbesola in last Saturday’s election, has finally spoken.

    He said: “I stand tall to assure my supporters that their efforts will not be in vain, as I have resolved to continue to provide leadership until the Osun State of our dream is realised.”

    In a statement yesterday, Omisore thanked his supporters for their votes.

    He said: “Despite the outcome of the poll, Osun people will not accept anything short of good governance and would no longer be taken for granted, as we have opened the floodgate of democratic challenge, which no force on earth can stop.

    “I shall be at the forefront as our people continue to press for the real dividends of democracy and the expansion of the democratic space in our dear state.”

    He said the PDP’s situation office was analysing the result of the election, adding that the party would make its findings public.

    Urging his supporters to remain calm, law-abiding and peace loving, he said: “I am a democrat to the core and the whole essence of our involvement in politics is the love for our people and a personal commitment to the peace, progress and development of our fatherland.

    “Our guiding principle is that Osun must not be governed in the old ways anymore and August 9 has given the demography of the change-seeking people. I appeal to my people to keep hope alive as we stand shoulder to shoulder to continue what we have started, with the objective of raising the bar of leadership in our state.”

    Quoting Theodore Roosevelt, the PDP candidate said: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.

    “But who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement. And who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

    Some of Omisore’s associates, including President Goodluck Jonathan, Ekiti State Governor-elect Ayodele Fayose, former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode, have congratulated Aregbesola.

  • Osun poll: Democracy in danger, says Aregbesola

    Osun poll: Democracy in danger, says Aregbesola

    Jubilation in Osogbo

    Jonathan, governors hail election 

    Victory parties continued yesterday in major towns of Osun State.

    Osogbo, the state capital, was throbbing with crowds of revellers as Governor Rauf Aregbesola led a victory parade.

    He was declared re-elected by the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday morning with 394,684 votes to his opponent Iyiola Omisore’s 292,747 votes.

    Aregbesola said in spite of his victory, the process was faulty and “gravely endangered democracy.”

    The governor took a hard look at what he and his party – the All Progressives Congress (APC) – faced in the run-down to the election and declared that had it not been because of the People’s commitment, something untoward could have happened.

    President Goodluck Jonathan, governors and other eminent Nigerians congratulated Aregbesola.

    National leader of the APC Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu said Aregbesola “bruised the head of tyranny with his victory.

    Tinubu, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola and other APC leader kept vigil at the Aswiwaju residence in Lagos monitoring the situation. There was anxiety as the results were not announced by INEC Returning Officer Prof. Bamitale Oluwole, Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife until 7:30am yesterday.

    Addressing a huge crowd of supporters at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park in Osogbo, the governor noted the traumatic challenges he faced before he winning the poll.

    “It was so sad and unfortunate that the contest that should be a normal, routine process was allowed to snowball into a needless virtual war by the Federal Government and the Peoples’ Democratic Party.

    “Ordinarily, this should be a moment of joy and celebration consequent upon the hard-earned triumph of the people’s will. However, this election shows that democracy is still gravely endangered in Nigeria. We witnessed gross abuse of power and of due process before, during, and even after the actual voting process.”

    Aregbesola lamented the unduly militarisation of the election saying the people’s courage had triumphed over an unprecedented criminal intimidation and psychological assault on the state.

    He said that the election witnessed an abuse of security agencies which he described as corruption of their professional ethics and integrity.

    Aregbesola added that the security agencies were unprofessionally utilised to harass, intimidate and oppress the people whose taxes were used to pay their salaries.

    He said: “Hundreds of leaders, supporters, sympathisers and agents of our party were arrested and detained. Also, hundreds of other innocent citizens, including women and the aged were harassed, brutalised and traumatised. In spite of this condemnable repression and abuse of human rights, the unflagging spirit of our people triumphed.

    “Our victory is due to the steadfastness and resolute determination of our people to assert and defend their rights. The PDP obviously did all it could in a most desperate manner to steal the people’s mandate.

    “Despite our victory, it is pertinent to condemn and also point out the fact that the number of accredited voters in most local governments was less than half of registered voters. Against this trend, it is curious that the bulk of the PDP candidate’s votes came from only four Local governments –  Ife Central, Ife East, Ife North and Ife South.”

    Aregbesola said the outcome of the election reflected the unwavering determination of Osun people to ensure that democracy triumphs in Nigeria.

    “With this election, the people of Osun have sent a strong signal to all and sundry that no might is powerful enough to thwart the will of the people. This should always strengthen our resolve to ensure that as from now on, every vote must not only count in Osun but must count in this country as a whole.

    “Nobody or party must ever exercise power unreasonably at any level except in accordance with the will of the people to whom sovereignty belong.”

    He added: Let me assure the good people of Osun state that I appreciate that this victory is a reward for our hard work and commitment to the welfare of our people.

    “I promise that we shall not rest on our oars but shall be spurred to work even harder with all well meaning people of the State of Osun and the generality of Nigerians to continue to enjoy your trust and support. You can be assured that we will leave no stone unturned in our continued effort to transform Osun into a land of progress, prosperity and peace for all with renewed fervour.

    “I realize that this victory and the challenges we went through is a call to greater service and sustained commitment to our people.

    “I pledge a rededication of myself to the service of our people and the strengthening of democratic values in Osun and Nigeria generally. Our country remains in political bondage and we must set her free.”

  • JACKBOOT DEMOCRACY

    JACKBOOT DEMOCRACY

    Nigerians groan under undue influence of soldiers in Jonathan’s civilian administration

    A DECADE and a half after Nigeria returned to democratic rule, the people are still reeling under the jackboot of soldiers across the country. From Lagos to Kaduna, Odi to Badagry and Jos to Enugu, the people have one or two sad tales to tell about their unpleasant experience with the men in uniform.

    And for most Nigerians, the fear of the military has suddenly become the beginning of wisdom. Those who refused to imbibe this all-important ‘law’ either did not live to tell the story or are currently carrying the scars of their defiance.

    Perhaps, it was in reverence of this ‘law’ that the people of Okrika in Rivers State are currently protesting against the plan by the Jonathan administration to draft soldiers to provide security for oil pipelines in their community. They are asking that policemen be drafted instead of soldiers whose excesses they had witnessed in different parts of the country in recent times.

    Nigerians who thought that they had seen the worst the military could do in a civilian setting after the invasion of Odi and Zaki Biam, two communities in Bayelsa and Benue states, during the Obasanjo administration are beginning to have a rethink after the excesses that soldiers have exhibited under the Jonathan administration.

    Not even children are spared of the terror that soldiers have been unleashing on the civilian population. A parent, who asked not to be named, told the story of Thelma, her five-year old daughter and Nursery One pupil of a popular private primary school in Lagos.

    Thelma’s mother said: “I noticed that my five-year-old girl had suddenly developed a serious phobia for uniformed men, particularly if they were carrying a weapon. She would cry and cringe at the sight of a soldier or a policeman.

    “On one occasion, she started crying when she noticed that a military vehicle was coming behind ours. She asked me to park the car and allow the soldiers to overtake us and go away. As I continued to wonder what the matter was with my girl, I suddenly remembered an encounter she had had with soldiers a few weeks earlier.

    “It was a beautiful afternoon and I was taking her home when we came across a pick-up van occupied by some soldiers. We were already close to the gates of our house when some gun trotting soldiers jumped down from the siren-blowing vehicle and descended on a commercial bus driver whose offence was that he hesitated in making way for them.

    “In our presence, the soldiers beat the hapless commercial bus driver black and blue. My poor daughter clung to me and wailed as the beating continued. I think it was also because she saw that there was confusion and everybody was trying to run away. Since that day, she frets and cries each time she sees a policeman or a soldier.”

    After 15 years of civil rule many men and officers of the Nigerian Army appear yet to come to terms with their primary role of defending the nation’s territorial integrity. Hence, rather than halt Boko Haram’s steady annexation of the North East, they would rather dissipate their energy on hounding the political opponents of President Goodluck Jonathan, impounding the circulation vans of influential newspapers, setting government-owned buses ablaze and generally harassing and assaulting innocent civilians.

     

    Terror in Lagos

    About three weeks ago, some soldiers unleashed terror on defenseless civilians at the Onipanu section of Ikorodu Road, Lagos, after a soldier who was riding a motorcycle on the BRT lane exclusively reserved for Lagos State Government-owned public buses, was allegedly knocked down by one of the buses.

    For several hours, motorists who happened to be on the road at the time found themselves at the mercy of rampaging soldiers who immediately launched a destructive protest against the death of their colleague. They set scores of the expensive buses ablaze and harassed poor civilians who were going about their normal business. The crisis also caused a snarl of traffic on the Ikorodu Expressway and left thousands of commuters stranded.

    The incident, described by the governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, as unfortunate, would later be denied by the army authorities who blamed the mayhem on ‘area boys’. However, the claims made by the military were not helped eyewitnesses accounts of the incident as well as media pictures of soldiers in the heat of action.

    Before the Onipanu incident, residents of Badagry, also in Lagos State, had had a bloody encounter with soldiers. In a trend that is fast becoming the norm, soldiers who claimed to be avenging the death of their colleague who was allegedly killed by the police at a checkpoint descended on the community, killing two senior police officers and six other innocent civilians.

    According to eyewitnesses, the crisis started when a soldier who was riding on a motorcycle was accused by the police of contravening traffic rules. Unfortunately, the soldier was allegedly killed in the struggle that ensued as the police tried to arrest him. Realising that the victim, who was said to be in mufti, was a soldier, and fearing that his colleagues could come on reprisal attack, the policemen hurriedly removed their uniforms and abandoned all the checkpoints in the area as well as the police stations in the town.

    The fears of the policemen were soon confirmed as soldiers stormed some police stations in the area after barricading the roads in search of policemen. While answering a call for a meeting to resolve the crisis, a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and his Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) were allegedly ambushed by some soldiers who opened fire on them.

    For three consecutive days recently, newspaper houses were the butt of assault by soldiers who claimed to be acting on orders from above. In a Gestapo-like operation, soldiers swooped on circulation vehicles of major national newspapers, particularlyThe Nation, and confiscated the newspapers. Authorities of the Nigerian Army would later claim that the soldiers were searching for weapons; a claim most Nigerians took with a pinch of salt.

    Last week, soldiers allegedly killed some members of the group of fiery preacher, El-Zakzaky, including three of his biological children after a procession in Zaria, Kaduna State.

    According to sources, the sect were in procession to mark the annual Quds day when they clashed with soldiers at the popular PZ roundabout in the ancient city, resulting in the death of the sons of the Shiites leader and four others.

    The crisis was said to have started when the soldiers tried to disperse a procession where members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria denounced Israel’s aggression against the people of Gaza.

    But an even more dangerous trend is the misuse of soldiers by the authorities to intimidate perceived enemies. Many observers considered the use of soldiers in the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State as particularly troubling, especially considering the fact that the soldiers were drafted to do a job that was primarily preserved for the police.

    According to reports, days before the election, the soldiers took over major streets and towns in the state. To announce their presence, they drove round the state in commando-like fashion; a sure sign to the defenceless civilians to give way for whatever was to come. And while representatives of the Federal Government, including the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Ayodele Fayose, were accompanied by soldiers everywhere they went, members of the opposition were hunted and hounded by the same soldiers.

    Not even opposition governors have been spared the punishing acts of soldiers. Edo State governor, Adams Oshiohole, was told by soldiers that his chopper was not allowed to fly because of orders from above. After a few exchanges with soldiers at the airport, the governor, who was billed to attend an APC governorship rally in Ekiti State, had to return to his office in Benin.

    Also, soldiers stationed between Akure, the capital of Ondo State, and Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State, prevented Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State from reaching the political rally of his Ekiti State counterpart, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. In fact, soldiers stationed at the boundary between Ekiti and Ondo states reportedly threatened to shoot Amaechi dead if he did not heed their warning not to step into Ekiti State for the rally.

    Another aircraft that was bringing Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso from Kano was denied landing rights at the Akure airport. The soldiers reportedly told both governors that they had no clearance to attend the Fayemi’s rallies.

    The President,Women Arise & Campaign for Democracy (CD), Dr. Joe OkeiOdumakin believes that recent activities of soldiers in the polity, particularly the harassment of civilians in a supposed democratic government is a clear reflection of our inability as a nation to get over the jackboot mentality which necessitates such behaviours.

    She said: “These actions are quite condemnable. It is a dangerous signal, especially to the younger generation of Nigerians who are being made to believe that we have transited from the era of military to a civilian regime.

    “It is therefore a clarion call on the authorities to ensure that nobody is allowed to behave as if they are above the law of the land and ensure necessary punishment whenever our laws are violated irrespective of who is involved.”

    Constitutional lawyer and former Head of Law Department, University of Benin, Prof. Itse Sagay, says he is worried about the activities of soldiers in a democratic setting like ours.

    Sagay said: “Two things have struck me recently about the activities of the military, even though I am not an expert in military or armed forces issues. One is the weakness of the military in fighting Boko Haram, which is not formally trained. I don’t understand why Boko Haram go to the villages in the North East every day and kill people while we have a standing army.

    “What happened in Lagos recently when the military went wild shows gross indiscipline. People who should be in Sambisa Forests were seen in urban area unleashing terror on the people. It creates a negative picture and I am anxious.

    “The military should be redirected to face their real duty. They have really abandoned their real duty. I blame the government for using them for elections. Their presence in Ekiti was uncalled for. It was an opportunity to promote the fortunes of the government in power.”

    Condemning soldiers’  repeated attacks on hapless civilians in a democratic setting, another respected lawyer, Chief Ladi Williams, SAN, said: “The armed forces have a commander-in-chief in the President. He is to use them to protect lives and property of Nigerians. They should not be used for anything contrary. The moment anybody uses them for anything contrary, we would be having a serious problem to deal with.

    “When an order is given and it is manifestly wrong, the military should ignore it and always remember what their role in the society is. They are not meant to be used for election purposes and all that.

    “I believe the military still has its integrity intact, but they should not allow anybody to use them for anything contrary to what they have pledged their loyalty to do for the country.”

    Another constitutional lawyer, Fred Agbaje, said: “The military, traditionally and constitutionally, is supposed to defend the territorial integrity of the country against external aggression.

    “In a democracy, the role of the military is conspicuously silent because the police take the centre stage anywhere in the world. It is in rare cases that the President will go through the National Assembly to call out the military, particularly when a part of the nation is having challenges as we currently have it in the North East.

    “Other than this, to me as a constitutional lawyer, it is the

    height of intellectual aridity. It is wrong and totally condemnable

    for the military to invade media houses, used as election monitors or to quell riots. It is an aberration constitutionally and a thorough

    violation of the principle of rule of law and a big misunderstanding of democracy which is about the protection of the rights of the people.”

  • JACKBOOT DEMOCRACY

    JACKBOOT DEMOCRACY

    A DECADE and a half after Nigeria returned to democratic rule, the people are still reeling under the jackboot of soldiers across the country. From Lagos to Kaduna, Odi to Badagry and Jos to Enugu, the people have one or two sad tales to tell about their unpleasant experience with the men in uniform.

    And for most Nigerians, the fear of the military has suddenly become the beginning of wisdom. Those who refused to imbibe this all-important ‘law’ either did not live to tell the story or are currently carrying the scars of their defiance.

    Perhaps, it was in reverence of this ‘law’ that the people of Okrika in Rivers State are currently protesting against the plan by the Jonathan administration to draft soldiers to provide security for oil pipelines in their community. They are asking that policemen be drafted instead of soldiers whose excesses they had witnessed in different parts of the country in recent times.

    Nigerians who thought that they had seen the worst the military could do in a civilian setting after the invasion of Odi and Zaki Biam, two communities in Bayelsa and Benue states, during the Obasanjo administration are beginning to have a rethink after the excesses that soldiers have exhibited under the Jonathan administration.

    Not even children are spared of the terror that soldiers have been unleashing on the civilian population. A parent, who asked not to be named, told the story of Thelma, her five-year old daughter and Nursery One pupil of a popular private primary school in Lagos.

    Thelma’s mother said: “I noticed that my five-year-old girl had suddenly developed a serious phobia for uniformed men, particularly if they were carrying a weapon. She would cry and cringe at the sight of a soldier or a policeman.

    “On one occasion, she started crying when she noticed that a military vehicle was coming behind ours. She asked me to park the car and allow the soldiers to overtake us and go away. As I continued to wonder what the matter was with my girl, I suddenly remembered an encounter she had had with soldiers a few weeks earlier.

    “It was a beautiful afternoon and I was taking her home when we came across a pick-up van occupied by some soldiers. We were already close to the gates of our house when some gun trotting soldiers jumped down from the siren-blowing vehicle and descended on a commercial bus driver whose offence was that he hesitated in making way for them.

    “In our presence, the soldiers beat the hapless commercial bus driver black and blue. My poor daughter clung to me and wailed as the beating continued. I think it was also because she saw that there was confusion and everybody was trying to run away. Since that day, she frets and cries each time she sees a policeman or a soldier.”

    After 15 years of civil rule many men and officers of the Nigerian Army appear yet to come to terms with their primary role of defending the nation’s territorial integrity. Hence, rather than halt Boko Haram’s steady annexation of the North East, they would rather dissipate their energy on hounding the political opponents of President Goodluck Jonathan, impounding the circulation vans of influential newspapers, setting government-owned buses ablaze and generally harassing and assaulting innocent civilians.

     

    Terror in Lagos

    About three weeks ago, some soldiers unleashed terror on defenseless civilians at the Onipanu section of Ikorodu Road, Lagos, after a soldier who was riding a motorcycle on the BRT lane exclusively reserved for Lagos State Government-owned public buses, was allegedly knocked down by one of the buses.

    For several hours, motorists who happened to be on the road at the time found themselves at the mercy of rampaging soldiers who immediately launched a destructive protest against the death of their colleague. They set scores of the expensive buses ablaze and harassed poor civilians who were going about their normal business. The crisis also caused a snarl of traffic on the Ikorodu Expressway and left thousands of commuters stranded.

    The incident, described by the governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, as unfortunate, would later be denied by the army authorities who blamed the mayhem on ‘area boys’. However, the claims made by the military were not helped eyewitnesses accounts of the incident as well as media pictures of soldiers in the heat of action.

    Before the Onipanu incident, residents of Badagry, also in Lagos State, had had a bloody encounter with soldiers. In a trend that is fast becoming the norm, soldiers who claimed to be avenging the death of their colleague who was allegedly killed by the police at a checkpoint descended on the community, killing two senior police officers and six other innocent civilians.

    According to eyewitnesses, the crisis started when a soldier who was riding on a motorcycle was accused by the police of contravening traffic rules. Unfortunately, the soldier was allegedly killed in the struggle that ensued as the police tried to arrest him. Realising that the victim, who was said to be in mufti, was a soldier, and fearing that his colleagues could come on reprisal attack, the policemen hurriedly removed their uniforms and abandoned all the checkpoints in the area as well as the police stations in the town.

    The fears of the policemen were soon confirmed as soldiers stormed some police stations in the area after barricading the roads in search of policemen. While answering a call for a meeting to resolve the crisis, a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and his Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) were allegedly ambushed by some soldiers who opened fire on them.

    For three consecutive days recently, newspaper houses were the butt of assault by soldiers who claimed to be acting on orders from above. In a Gestapo-like operation, soldiers swooped on circulation vehicles of major national newspapers, particularlyThe Nation, and confiscated the newspapers. Authorities of the Nigerian Army would later claim that the soldiers were searching for weapons; a claim most Nigerians took with a pinch of salt.

    Last week, soldiers allegedly killed some members of the group of fiery preacher, El-Zakzaky, including three of his biological children after a procession in Zaria, Kaduna State.

    According to sources, the sect were in procession to mark the annual Quds day when they clashed with soldiers at the popular PZ roundabout in the ancient city, resulting in the death of the sons of the Shiites leader and four others.

    The crisis was said to have started when the soldiers tried to disperse a procession where members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria denounced Israel’s aggression against the people of Gaza.

    But an even more dangerous trend is the misuse of soldiers by the authorities to intimidate perceived enemies. Many observers considered the use of soldiers in the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State as particularly troubling, especially considering the fact that the soldiers were drafted to do a job that was primarily preserved for the police.

    According to reports, days before the election, the soldiers took over major streets and towns in the state. To announce their presence, they drove round the state in commando-like fashion; a sure sign to the defenceless civilians to give way for whatever was to come. And while representatives of the Federal Government, including the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Ayodele Fayose, were accompanied by soldiers everywhere they went, members of the opposition were hunted and hounded by the same soldiers.

    Not even opposition governors have been spared the punishing acts of soldiers. Edo State governor, Adams Oshiohole, was told by soldiers that his chopper was not allowed to fly because of orders from above. After a few exchanges with soldiers at the airport, the governor, who was billed to attend an APC governorship rally in Ekiti State, had to return to his office in Benin.

    Also, soldiers stationed between Akure, the capital of Ondo State, and Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State, prevented Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State from reaching the political rally of his Ekiti State counterpart, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. In fact, soldiers stationed at the boundary between Ekiti and Ondo states reportedly threatened to shoot Amaechi dead if he did not heed their warning not to step into Ekiti State for the rally.

    Another aircraft that was bringing Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso from Kano was denied landing rights at the Akure airport. The soldiers reportedly told both governors that they had no clearance to attend the Fayemi’s rallies.

    The President,Women Arise & Campaign for Democracy (CD), Dr. Joe OkeiOdumakin believes that recent activities of soldiers in the polity, particularly the harassment of civilians in a supposed democratic government is a clear reflection of our inability as a nation to get over the jackboot mentality which necessitates such behaviours.

    She said: “These actions are quite condemnable. It is a dangerous signal, especially to the younger generation of Nigerians who are being made to believe that we have transited from the era of military to a civilian regime.

    “It is therefore a clarion call on the authorities to ensure that nobody is allowed to behave as if they are above the law of the land and ensure necessary punishment whenever our laws are violated irrespective of who is involved.”

    Constitutional lawyer and former Head of Law Department, University of Benin, Prof. Itse Sagay, says he is worried about the activities of soldiers in a democratic setting like ours.

    Sagay said: “Two things have struck me recently about the activities of the military, even though I am not an expert in military or armed forces issues. One is the weakness of the military in fighting Boko Haram, which is not formally trained. I don’t understand why Boko Haram go to the villages in the North East every day and kill people while we have a standing army.

    “What happened in Lagos recently when the military went wild shows gross indiscipline. People who should be in Sambisa Forests were seen in urban area unleashing terror on the people. It creates a negative picture and I am anxious.

    “The military should be redirected to face their real duty. They have really abandoned their real duty. I blame the government for using them for elections. Their presence in Ekiti was uncalled for. It was an opportunity to promote the fortunes of the government in power.”

    Condemning soldiers’  repeated attacks on hapless civilians in a democratic setting, another respected lawyer, Chief Ladi Williams, SAN, said: “The armed forces have a commander-in-chief in the President. He is to use them to protect lives and property of Nigerians. They should not be used for anything contrary. The moment anybody uses them for anything contrary, we would be having a serious problem to deal with.

    “When an order is given and it is manifestly wrong, the military should ignore it and always remember what their role in the society is. They are not meant to be used for election purposes and all that.

    “I believe the military still has its integrity intact, but they should not allow anybody to use them for anything contrary to what they have pledged their loyalty to do for the country.”

    Another constitutional lawyer, Fred Agbaje, said: “The military, traditionally and constitutionally, is supposed to defend the territorial integrity of the country against external aggression.

    “In a democracy, the role of the military is conspicuously silent because the police take the centre stage anywhere in the world. It is in rare cases that the President will go through the National Assembly to call out the military, particularly when a part of the nation is having challenges as we currently have it in the North East.

    “Other than this, to me as a constitutional lawyer, it is the

    height of intellectual aridity. It is wrong and totally condemnable

    for the military to invade media houses, used as election monitors or to quell riots. It is an aberration constitutionally and a thorough

    violation of the principle of rule of law and a big misunderstanding of democracy which is about the protection of the rights of the people.”

  • Loan meant to buy casket for democracy, says Tinubu

    Loan meant to buy casket for democracy, says Tinubu

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has said President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for $1 billion (about N165 billion) is not for fighting terrorism, as the government wants everyone to believe.

    The frontline politician said the loan would be spent to wage war against opposition and scuttle democracy.

    He noted that the administration would not be transparent in expending the loan, adding that its records showed a deep-rooted mismanagement of the nation’s resources and abuses.

    In a statement yesterday in Lagos, Tinubu said: “The news that President Jonathan has requested the National Assembly to approve his request to seek a loan of one billion dollars, purportedly to battle Boko Haram terrorism, should lead any person with sober conscience to fall out of their chair.

    “If only our spendthrift President attacked terrorism with the daring by which he assaults democracy and our common sense, there would be no need for any expenditure. Boko Haram would have been vanquished many yesterdays ago.

    “Yet, Boko Haram continues stalking us because the President would rather play tricks than govern as a statesman. The bottom line is that the only thing remotely military about this massive request is that it serves to camouflage a sinister aim. The man seeks to bolster the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) electoral war chest on the backs of the victims of terror and on the heaviness of our collective fear of the terrorist’s threat. In cloaking the request as part of the battle against terror, he believes no one will have the courage to object and this will enable him to get away with what should not be gotten away.

    “He is not asking for help in tackling terror.  He is asking us to turn a blind eye and empty mind to an abject heist. This is as cynical a measure as a national leader has ever undertaken during the time of national calamity.  He demeans his office and the nation in this time of crisis. Of all things, he now subordinates the gravest national threat we have faced in four decades to his desire to hold on to office.

    “Yet, do we know precisely what the loan is for? No. What will they purchase that has already not been set to purchase? No one knows. Again, by saying this is to fight terror, we are supposed to act blind, deaf and dumb or rush to congratulate him for his new found vigour. At best, he appears as a Johnny-come-lately to the fight against Boko Haram. This man has been commander-in-chief for over three years. Where has he been? He has been ensconced in the cosy, safe confines of Aso Villa, giving less than a care about the ravaging of northern Nigeria.

    “It was only upon hiring a foreign Public Relations (PR) firm did he begin to act as if Boko Haram and the Chibok crisis exist. Before that, he was sleepwalking in the midst of the storm around us.

    “I fear hired handlers may have told him to do this thing because it will help him get elected and will make it appear to the outside world that he is doing something. Johnny-come-lately is also now on stage, dancing and performing in dual capacity, as Johnny do-the-wrong-thing and Johnny-wrong-step.

    “Hasn’t he presented the National Assembly defence bills and budgets totalling over three trillion naira in the past three years? Boko Haram has been terrorising throughout this period. Tell me, what has changed, what is so different now that he must stack another $1 billion atop the funds already given him to defend and protect the nation? The answer is nothing, except that elections are approaching.

    “Thus, we are left with two alternatives. In the past three years, he has been so bereft of conscience and derelict in duty that he presented defence budgets, which are woefully inadequate to face the challenge we all could plainly see before us. Alternatively, he has been so bereft of conscience and derelict in duty that he has squandered the money given him in the worst of ways, giving contracts to cronies and leaving our frontline soldiers without boots or bullets.

    “Now, he asks us to applaud his request for $1 billion loan. He and his claque have siphoned money from the states to deposit in the illegal Excess Crude Account/Sovereign Wealth Fund. The government said it did this unconstitutional confiscation of state and local funds to save for a ‘rainy day’. Well, terror is reigning over and down on us from all sides. The blood of the innocent rains on our national conscience.

    “If those who control this money do not think we are not now in the hands of calamity, then there will be no other earthly occurrence that may ply their hands into releasing the people’s money for the people’s security and well-being. In short, there is no need for the loan. If the funds are truly needed for our collective safety, Nigeria has the money.

    “But Jonathan seeks to borrow money because of his foreign handlers. They have told him, if he borrows from abroad and spends that same money aboard, he will win the favour of foreign lenders, arms contractors and assorted business ventures. These people will, in turn, pressure their governments to love Jonathan where they now loathe him and his incompetent handling of high matters of state. As such, he can then ramrod his way through the 2105 elections and not risk international reaction. This is the plan. This loan is not intended to defend Nigeria any more than a pig is built for aerial flight. It is intended to launder his image and buy foreign favour that he may conduct his coming electoral misdeed in international silence.

    “In reality, this loan will be used to buy the election and pay for the intimidation of the opposition and the electorate. Most of it will go into the PDP coffers. The portion which finds its way to the Armed Forces and security agencies will be to purchase their services in suppressing all who are not PDP. The loan will not be to fight terrorism. It will be to fight the legitimate dissent.

    “Thus, the President’s request should be rejected categorically, for he seeks not to use the money to construct a safe haven for the people. He seeks the money to build a casket for democracy.

    “I want to rid this nation of Boko Haram but I also am not prepared to be fooled by a trickster and his tricks on this important point. Given his track record of corrupt expenditure, the burden of proof lies with Jonathan. If more money is truly needed to tackle Boko Haram, I have no qualms with it. Before we get there, the President must give the nation a full accounting of what happened with the vast funds already allocated. If we need more funds, let it come from the illegal funds the government now controls.

    “Moreover, if money is needed, the National Assembly must institute a special fund and exercise special control and monitoring over the sum. All expenditure must be audited by impartial experts so that the funds are used solely for the battle against Boko Haram and not for partisan objectives.”

  • Democracy vs. our cherished values

    Democracy, the new god worshipped by most nations of the world has many variants. It ranges from its original 5th century Athenian mob rule of all free born male adult  to 1949 George Orwell’s 1984 imaginary world where citizens have only obligations without rights  as the state controls the citizens’ thoughts, the number of children they have, the type of education the children received, their daily movement and  when to die and where to be buried to today’s participatory democracy  which in spite of its celebrated attributes, is nothing but a rule of privileged group to protect the disproportionate privileges extracted from society.

    A nation’s variant of democracy is defined by actions of the leaders and the apathy of the led. Our 15 years democratic experiment has produced leaders such as Obasanjo and Jonathan, who are intolerant of opposition, the press and who instead of recourse to compromise would employ the awesome power of state to achieve their objectives which range between desperate bid to hold on to power through ‘do or die election’ to the protection of their group who have confiscated our common patrimony. The two leaders, along with other PDP elected leaders since 1999, have defined our own variant of democracy. Of the 23 PDP governors that emerged at the onset of the 4th republic in 1999. 17 were either in jail for corruption, on the run from justice or facing proceedings in court over abuse of office. Those who have served their terms and a few who still have criminal charges hanging on their necks have been accommodated  through presidential amnesty that has integrated them back into the system as elected senators, appointed ministers or members of the on-going Confab. Of course prominent in this list is Ayo Fayose whose recent victory in Ekiti governorship election in Ekiti came  through highly  induced  200,000 voters, out of a population of 1.7 million people, a development which  Femi Falana says has returned his Ekiti compatriots to  Egypt for the next four years.

    Tragically, all the nation has to show as dividends of our own variant of democracy is arrested development, infrastructural decay and massive corruption.  Those who had called attention to this in the past were dismissed as ‘an army of sponsored and self-appointed anarchists who criticize the president out of ignorance and abuse him out of mischief’. And now with 2015, in mind, the president has gone ahead to hire the best image makers money can buy to change reality through subliminal psychological warfare.  We have been told to accept the presidency’s war against his perceived enemies in the Yoruba land, in Adamawa, Nasarawa and Rivers as ‘driven by love of God and nation’; that the president has solved our energy crisis  despite the fact that many of the the 120 million Nigerians the minister of power said could not be supplied with electricity run their cheep Chinese-made generating sets on N95 per litre fuel. And that as the war by insurgents which has led to the abduction of helpless women, school girls and mindless killing of ordinary Nigerians become more vicious, we are told the president has fought the criminals to a ‘stand still’. Billions of naira that would have gone into developmental efforts has been deployed by the president’s unidentified promoters on prime-time television slots and other forms of media to change reality.

    Perhaps more threatening to our survival as a nation is the on-going desecration of the culture and values of our federating nationalities noticeable in recent times mostly in the South-west where those suspected to have criminal records have been imposed on the people as leaders without giving a damn about how the people feel. Cultural values are the pillars of society. This perhaps explains why the colonial masters that conquered us as different nations were sincere enough to have advocated the building of our own variant of democracy around the value systems that had sustained our different nationalities for centuries before the advent of the European fortune-seekers. For instance, Clifford in 1921pointedly told Nigerians that “real national self-government must be obtained through local tribal institutions and the indigenous forms of government…the natural experiences of their innate political genius”.

    Oliver Stanley in 1945 reiterated this when he said the objective of Nigeria federal arrangement was “to see the various territories develop themselves along the lines of their own national aptitude their own culture and their own tradition”.

    Their advocacy stemmed from their discovery that social organizations in many African societies were highly developed before the European fortune-seekers came to Africa in search of gold and glory. For instance among the Yoruba nation, the people didn’t need Robert Michels’ ‘sociological study of oligarchical tendencies of modern democracies’ to realize centuries ago that to prevent the king from becoming an oligarch because of the apathy of the people, the ‘Ogbonis’ secret society must serve as a counter-force to the power of the king. They did not need a resort to Machiavelli’s advise to the Prince to know that the king maker is the first victim of the new king if he wants a peaceful and uninterrupted reign. Centuries before “central values systems’  of Parson’s ‘structural functionalism’ or David Easton’s  input, output and feedback functions in his  ‘systems analysis’, Yoruba tells you  that enito jale lekan, to  daran bori, aso ole da bora {a once convicted thief attracted only contempt in Yoruba society}. And as a way of feedback, the sins of the fathers must be visited on the sons. It is this cultural, practice that aided Yoruba social organization which P.C Lloyd admitted was superior to that of Europe as at the time of their coming.

    This has come under serious erosion in recent years. It is today facing additional threat as President Goodluck Jonathan employs all forms of strategies including desecration of our values in his battle to capture the Yoruba nation in 2015. Even ex-President Obasanjo who has always prided himself as a Nigerian leader recently said he felt diminished as an indigene of Ogun State to have Buruji Kashamu, a man he claimed has criminal cases to face in the US, imposed by the president as PDP leader in the South-west. Kashamu and Fayose might have not been indicted by any court, but it is a fact recently confirmed by a senior US official that Kashamu still has a case to answer in the US courts, just as it is a fact that EFCC has dragged Fayose to court over billions allegedly spent on a non-existent poultry projects before his impeachment as governor of Ekiti State. That they have these cases are enough to disqualify both for position of leadership in Yorubaland. The same argument holds for the Minister of Police Affairs and Iyiola Omisore, current PDP governorship candidate in the coming Osun State governorship election. The former allegedly fled Nigeria following the brutal assassination of Chief Bola Ige in his house as Minister of Justice and Attorney General while the latter was in fact in police detention from where he was awarded a senate seat. Their celebration by the president and PDP as leaders along with offspring of those who for pot of gold betrayed the cause of the Yoruba in the past demonstrates the president’s disdain for the Yoruba and their cultural values.

  • The Governance Predicament: Poverty, Terrorism and Democracy

    The Governance Predicament: Poverty, Terrorism and Democracy

    Conclusion of a lecture delivered at Freedom House, Lagos, Nigeria by Larry Diamond June, on 30, 2014

    •Continued from Friday

    I think there is something to  be learned from the experience of India in institutionalising the extraordinary power, independence, and administrative capacity of the Election Commission of India.  The position of the Chief Election Commissioner is one of the most crucial and respected in India, equivalent in stature to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and it has been held by some of India’s most highly accomplished and talented career civil servants.  Why not call one of them in to advise on elections here, or even to sit as an advisory member of the INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission)?

    It is vitally important that the INEC vigorously advance its work, with the broad assistance of civil society and the Nigerian media, to educate Nigerians about the coming elections and strongly encourage them to register to vote.  An election can only be as good as the electoral register, and it takes many months to ensure that the register of voters is as accurate, up to date, and inclusive as possible.  It helps that we are in a new era now technologically, where biometric tools of voter identification can help to root out fraudulent inflation of the electoral register.  But those tools, as well, must be applied in a rigorously neutral and transparent way.  Every step in preparing the election must be open to scrutiny.

    Second, there is a clear and unimpeachable gold standard for monitoring the fairness of elections. Neutral monitors in civil society must have the freedom and resources to conduct a parallel vote tabulation (PVT).  The technology for this is well established, and Nigerian civil society organizations are well experienced in this task.  In previous recent elections, their parallel counts have not (to my knowledge) dramatically diverged from the official percentage tally of the vote.  Nigeria must have neutral and credible judicial processes available should the parallel vote tabulation in2015 clearly indicate a different electoral outcome than the officially declared one.

    Third, there is a need to advance internal democracy within Nigerian political parties.  There is a growing recognition internationally that you cannot have a quality democracy unless there are adequate procedures for transparency, accountability, constitutionalism, and democratic procedures within political parties.  This must include democratic means for the selection of candidates so that they become accountable to the voters more than to party leaders and “godfathers.”

    Fourth is the need to reform and modernise the state security apparatus.  The military, police, and intelligence must be trained and equipped to wage the security response with the proper tools and strategy, and to target the use of force carefully and effectively.  They must also be instructed and monitored to avoid needless civilian casualties, and they must be held accountable for violations of law and procedure.  But reports of recent confrontations between Nigerian security forces and Boko Haram suggest that the former have often been significantly outgunned and outmaneuvered.  It is the responsibility of civilian political leadership in the executive and legislative branches to work with the military and oversee the military to ensure it has the necessary weapons and other tools.  International security cooperation is also needed to track and confront the shadowy movements of arms and money across borders.

    Fifth, the laws on paper against bribery, corruption, and conflict of interest are reasonably good in principle, but they have huge weaknesses in enforcement that must be repaired.  Corruption is like water seeping into the ground; it will find any crack or crevice and make use of it.  The only way to fight it is with a system of horizontal accountability that is vigorous, comprehensive, independent, and interlocking.

    A critical, indispensable condition for successful enforcement is transparency.  What good is it for public officials to declare their assets if those declarations are not made publicly available?  The Code of Conduct Bureau has never had the staffing, the manpower, the energy, and probably the will to vigorously investigate the veracity of all of these declarations.  It needs the public’s help.  And it needs the help of the international community.  By law, all assets declarations should be made available online for public scrutiny.  And since Nigerian law forbids the President, Vice-President, Governors, and federal and state legislators from operating foreign bank accounts, why not require them to sign, along with the Code of Conduct, a legal declaration foregoing any right of privacy or any claim to ownership of any foreign bank accounts that may bear their name.  This still leaves open the question of accounts owned by their spouses and children, another loophole that would need to be addressed.  They should also be asked to forswear ownership and invite surrender of any real property or other assets, foreign or domestic, that are discovered to be in their names, which they have not listed on their assets declaration.

    In the early 1990s, when I was researching the problem of corruption in Nigeria and the total inefficacy of the Code of Conduct Bureau at that time, it became clear to me that little sustainable progress in controlling corruption would be made unless politicians knew that the public, and the international financial system, would be mobilized against them if they accumulated vast wealth in office and then tried to hide it.  It took me a long time to get a Nigerian politician to engage me in an honest conversation on the subject, but finally I found one.  When I explained why I thought it was essential to make the assets declarations public, he agreed with the logic of my argument, but said it would be impossible, because:  “If the people ever found out how much wealth the politicians have, there would be a revolution in this country.”

    Maybe it is time to declare a financial amnesty:  Account for what you have, bring your money back home, hand over the bulk of it, and you will not be prosecuted.  Maybe the only way to begin is by following the maxim of the leading anti-corruption scholar, Robert Klitgaard, that you must “fry big fish” if you are serious about controlling corruption.  But that requires a serious and independent anti-corruption apparatus. And that in turn means hard thinking about how to insulate these bodies from partisan political control and other forms of subversion.  Nigeria needs to do some creative, hard thinking about how to appoint the members of crucial agencies of horizontal accountability—such as the Code of Conduct Bureau, the INEC, the Federal Judicial Service Commission and possibly some of the other bodies enumerated in article 153 of the Constitution.  If the country gets a president seriously committed to good governance and political reform, then it works fine to have the president appoint and the Senate confirm the chairmen and members of these bodies.  But constitutions should be designed to protect against the worst leaders, not to empower the best. Is there a way to involve civil society in the selection of these crucial positions to ensure that they are independent and vigorous personalities, dedicated to the role envisioned in the Constitution?  Would the power of appointment to these bodies be better vested with the Supreme Court or some other body?

    If you want to think radically, here is a sixth possible policy reform.  Give some of the oil money directly back to the people.  There is growing international interest in the idea of “oil to cash,” essentially the “Alaska model,” wherein the state directly gives some of the oil revenue back to each individual citizen.  With the growth of mobile phone access and mobile banking, this is a much more feasible approach in Africa than it would have been even a few years ago.  And technology will make it increasingly feasible.  Nigeria may be too populous a country to distribute revenue to everyone, but cash payments could at least be targeted on the poorest of the poor, as India is doing with income supplements. Some allege that the poor would waste the money on impulsive spending. But, can the poor really do a worse job than Nigerian politicians have done over the last several decades? If, as was reported in the recent Ekiti elections, Nigeria’s voters are going to demand that candidates for office pay attention to the “infrastructure of the stomach,”[13] maybe the state should do that directly and then let the voters decide who can best deliver development.

    Iwould like to conclude with one final appeal.  And it is addressed to my own country and to Europe, as much as to Nigeria.  Whatever the total amount of money that successive generations of Nigerian politicians have embezzled and looted, some significant portion of it—probably well over $100 billion—sits outside Nigeria today in identifiable liquid and fixed assets:  bank accounts, stocks, property, and other investments and luxury wealth.  We cannot bring back to life the millions of Nigerian children who have died needlessly because their government leaders were more concerned about accumulating personal wealth than ensuring that their country’s children had clean water, decent roads, adequate food, comprehensive vaccinations, and effective education.  But when the time is right, when Nigeria has a government that is serious about controlling corruption, we can help bring back as much of this stolen wealth as possible.  And we can work with Nigerian government officials and civil society to help build the systems of accountability to minimize this hemorrhage of public resources in the future.

    Like many people around the world, I have been deeply moved by the international campaign with the hashtag “#bringbackourgirls”.  But let us use this opportunity to mobilize not only for these more than 200 abducted girls, but for the more than 2 million Nigerian girls who have died before their fifth birthday just in the last decade.  I would hope in the years to come that a similar level of international outrage and commitment can be mobilized behind a broader and more transformative campaign, led by Nigerians but eliciting unprecedented international partnership:

     

    Thank you.