The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ELECTION

  • IBB, Abdulsalami, Bello call for peace

    …….‎Card Reader is Unnecessary – Aliyu

    Three former military leaders have urged Nigerians to embrace peace and accept the results of the election.
    .
    Former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida after accreditation at his Uphill polling unit in Minna, Niger State capital said that the people should be peaceful as violence is not worth it.

    He hoped the election would be peaceful urging the people to accept whatever result the electoral body announces.

    Former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar also called on the people to go about electioneering peacefully . “Without peace, development cannot be achieved. D people should be peaceful. For democracy to strive, they should embrace peace.”

    Former military governor of old Kano State, Colonel Sani Bello also expressed optimism that the country will experience a  post-election violence.

    He told newsmen after he was accredited at Alkali Mustapha unit in Kontagora that the peace accord signed by the two leading Presidential candidates and other political party leaders will work.

    According to him, “With the peaceful conduct of the exercise, the cordial conduct of the electoral officers and orderliness of the people are all indication that we all have agreed to ensure that the peace accord works. I strongly believe the post-election will be peaceful”.

    Niger state Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu while commending the electoral process said the use of the Smart Card Reader machine was an unnecessary issue adding that he did not see the value of the card reader for the election.

    ‎According to him, “Out of my 10 fingers, only one was caught but I had to go through all the ten fingers. I don’t know the value this might have added to this election.

    “I have my PVC, there is a picture of me in the papers and I believe with all the agents of all the parties here, this might just be an unnecessary issue.”

  • The long wait

    The long wait

    At last, the election, despite attempts to scuttle it

    By the time you are reading this piece, the first set of the 2015 elections would have been over, other things being equal. But we have the second leg in less than two weeks, precisely on April 11. Ordinarily, the elections ought to have come and gone on February 14 (Presidential and National Assembly) and February 28 (governorship and state houses of assembly), but were postponed to March 28 and April 11, respectively, essentially by the military chiefs who said they could not guarantee security if the elections were held as earlier scheduled. The thinking in government then was that, among others, the Chibok girls abducted in April last year would have been found within the six weeks and the Boko Haram war would have been contained. Then, most importantly, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would have had enough time to perfect rigging plans, splash dollars on willing and unwilling Nigerians, to boost its chances at the polls.

    While the government has been celebrating the defeat of the insurgents with the assistance of troops from Chad, Cameroon and Niger Republic, mum has been the word on the Chibok girls. Apparently, there does not seem to be any hope in sight about their whereabouts yet, and, in their stead, the government decided to renovate their school as if that is of any meaning to the girls’ parents. Anyway, the Goodluck Jonathan administration is a master when it comes to ‘promise and fail’. It would again promise that the search for the girls continues when indeed nobody is talking about them again, if we know this administration as we should by now. Then, his government would go to sleep again only to wake up two months to the 2019 elections (if it finds itself in the saddle once again) to start frantic attempts to right the wrongs it could not address in the last nine or 10 years.

    But one thing that had been agitating the minds of many Nigerians is the issue of the card readers that the ruling party does not want used for the elections. As it were, it seemed the last joker the ruling party wanted to use in its bid to have a field day in the election. Mercifully, last week, the courts, including the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court said INEC should go ahead with the card readers.  Indeed, the Federal High Court which ruled on the matter on Friday asked both the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, to appear before it on April 24, to look at the illegality or otherwise of the use of the card readers for a general election. Even baby lawyers know the meaning of that. So, those who might have been hinging their hope on the court stopping INEC from using the card readers have to return to the drawing board for the next item in their inexhaustible bag of mischief. By the time they begin to perfect that, the election would have been over.  But it is gratifying that our courts have not allowed themselves to be used by politicians who are ready to bribe God if He would be available for bribing, or bring the roof down on everybody where that fails, just to satisfy their selfish urge for political power which, unfortunately, they do not know how to use.  One must especially commend the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, who had earlier warned judges against any hanky-panky, especially in political cases. This is by far different from some of the previous general elections which produced billionaire judges but which messed up our judiciary and the electoral process.

    One terrible thing about the PDP is its futile attempts to hide behind one finger in its opposition to some of the processes and procedures guiding the 2015 general elections. Take the postponement of the elections for example. The ruling party had tried surreptitiously and severally to make it look as if the decision was that of INEC. But when it was clear the electoral commission was not going to play that kind of ball that would have meant an indictment of itself, thereby strengthening the hands of those who had been fishing for excuses to remove the commission’s boss, the National Security Adviser took the responsibility of announcing the government’s position that the country was not safe enough for the election.

    There is also the case of the Young Democratic Party (YDP) that was threatening to hold its party primaries on March 26 and 27, a day to the general elections, on the strength of a court judgment that ordered INEC to register it. Again, even a baby lawyer knows that the judge never issued any order to the effect that it should participate in this year’s elections because the courts are aware that issuing such an order was futile, given that ballot papers for the elections had been printed and it is late in the day to disrupt the process simply because of an unknown party that is probably serving some masters in power who have suddenly developed a phobia for elections. Even if YDP was right, what is to be done is to weigh its interest against that of the nation. Obviously, national interest would prevail. And that was what the court did by clarifying that it never said the party should be included in the ballot papers for this year’s elections. Imagine, a party that probably cannot muster 250,000 votes now wanting to be an issue in a general election? Who does not know that something beneath the river is beating the drums for the whirligigs that are ‘dancing’ on it? But that is how they had been using inconsequential matters to cheat Nigerians.

    When we take a trip down memory lane, we would see how the PDP Governors Forum itself came into being. When you have people who cannot do a simple arithmetic in an election involving only 35 people because they wanted to be fraudulent, then you can understand their frustration with card readers. As a matter of fact, not a few people felt part of the reasons they fought for postponement of the elections was to see if they could make INEC adopt both the Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) and Temporary Voter’s Cards (TVCs) simultaneously for the elections so they could reenact their usual rigging at the polls. When that campaign failed, they also sponsored some people to raise questions with card readers. But the meeting of the PDP governors in Lagos a few weeks back clearly exposed the party as the brain behind the scathing opposition to the use of the card readers. That is their style. The government even toyed with the idea of Interim Government, can you imagine!

    The primitive manner the Jonathan government has been running Nigeria is even reflected in the way and manner some of its officials are stealing from the country’s coffers. Indeed, to refer to what is happening under this administration as stealing is putting it mildly; it is also primitive as in primitive accumulation. Unfortunately, the president still believes the rate of corruption is exaggerated in the country. He is asking for four years to address the corruption in the oil sector! A leader who calls the gargantuan corruption in this country mere stealing is not fit to continue in office because by the time he wakes up to the reality, it would have been too late. Just as the country is now sweating to bring back the Chibok girls when it should have done so with ease had the president believed early enough that the girls were truly kidnapped.

    The world must have been shocked about how Nigeria degenerated to the extent that some of these developments have come to be our lot in the twenty-first century. But a country cannot rise beyond the level of those governing it. Even some of the people that we thought were coming from places where best practices reign supreme, where transparency and accountability are their creed suddenly sink the moment they join the Jonathan presidency. They see their critics as irritants and pollutants that are only out to discredit them. Take Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for example, how can she see anyone who says she has not managed the economy well in bad light when all the indices point to that, from the exchange rate to unemployment, etc? All she offers are statistics that do not have any bearing with reality. The good thing though is that many Nigerians are now prepared to take their destiny in their hands, in spite of the rural and primitive devices of the Jonathan government to keep the country in perpetual bondage and darkness.  Whether all their satanic plots added to or subtracted from their once upon the biggest party in Africa would be known in a few hours from now.

  • Omoni Oboli speaks against election Violence

    Omoni Oboli speaks against election Violence

    As the nation begins the much-anticipated general elections, a lot has been said about the need to curb violence during the period.

    While concerned senior citizens, NGOs, political bodies and even international organisations have all lent their voices in the call for a violence-free election, palpable anxiety still rent the air.

    Adding her voice to the campaign, Nollywood actress, Omoni Oboli, is calling on all Nigerians to let peace reign and love their neighbour.

    “I love you! Yes you!!! It doesn’t matter who your choice is, I believe you have a good reason, just as I have for my choice. So, I respect and love you because you are my brother and my sister! I beg you, come out and vote! Your vote is your voice! It doesn’t matter how much noise you make on social media, if you don’t vote, you don’t count! But as you vote, shun election violence! Don’t let anyone push you to fight your brothers and sisters. We are one,” she posted on her Instagram page.

  • Broadcast: Let’s accept outcome of the election, says Jonathan

    Broadcast: Let’s accept outcome of the election, says Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to politicians that elections must not be mistaken for war despite differences and disagreement among political parties.

    He made the call on Friday in a national broadcast on the 2015 general elections.

    According to him, those planning to unleash violence during and after the elections would be dealt with according to the laws.

    “Democracy allows dissent. It encourages differences and even fervent disagreements. But elections must never be mistaken for war or an opportunity to set fellow citizens against each other and tear our beloved nation apart,” Jonathan stated.

    “Those who may harbor any intentions of testing our will by unleashing violence during the elections in order to advance their political ambitions should think again as all necessary measures have been put in place to ensure that any persons who breach the peace or cause public disorder during or after the elections are speedily apprehended and summarily dealt with according to our laws.

    “The nation’s security agencies are also fully prepared and ready to deal decisively with any group or persons who attempt to disrupt the peaceful conduct of the elections or cause any form of public disorder.

    “Our dear country, Nigeria is the largest democracy amongst black nations of the world. We are a nation of great accomplishments, with a proud history of evolving affinities.

    “Let us go out tomorrow to vote peacefully and set a fitting example of political maturity for other emerging democracies to follow,” he said

    Despite the challenges that have faced the nation since 1999, President Jonathan said that the present democratic dispensation has continued to endure and grow stronger in keeping with the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.

    Stressing that the democracy in Nigeria in past 16 years is about to be put to the test again, he said that he believed without fear of contradiction that all Nigerians will never willingly give it up for any other form of governance.

    He expressed appreciation for the opportunity and the support given to him to lead the nation in the past four years.

  • Jonathan’s broadcast on elections

    Jonathan’s broadcast on elections

    NATIONAL BROADCAST BY PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR ON THE 2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS,FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015

    Dear Compatriots,
    1. As we prepare to go to the polls tomorrow, I have come before you this morning to express my immense appreciation for the opportunity you gave me to lead this great nation of ours in the past four years.
    2. I also wish to place on record, once again, my sincere gratitude for the support you have given my administration without which the significant progress we have made in recent years would not have been possible.
    3. In spite of the many challenges we have had to contend with since 1999, our present democratic dispensation continues to endure and grow stronger in keeping with the yearnings and aspirations of our people.
    4. We have all worked very hard to nurture and strengthen our democratic institutions and promote the good governance practices which they were designed to deliver for the better well-being of our people.
    5. I believe I can say without fear of contradiction that we all clearly cherish the democracy we now have and will never willingly give it up for any other form of governance.
    6. This much-cherished democracy of ours is about to be put to the test once again.
    7. I urge you all to troop out en-masse to peacefully perform your civic duty of voting for leaders of your choice tomorrow.
    8. As we do so, let us all – political party leaders, contestants, party members, party agents, supporters and ordinary voters alike, be very conscious of the fact that the eyes of the entire world are on us.
    9. We must therefore comport ourselves in a manner that will further strengthen our democracy and consolidate our place in the comity of truly democratic nations.
    10. I made a commitment on assumption of office to progressively deliver freer, fairer and more credible elections in our country. In keeping with that commitment, the Federal Government has given the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) all necessary support to ensure that it conducts very successful elections tomorrow and on April 11.
    11. We have all been assured that INEC is fully ready for the elections. I believe that we can all trust that they are certainly more ready now than they may have been before security issues and other concerns necessitated a re-scheduling of the dates for the 2015 general elections.
    12. As an administration, we welcome the fact that millions of Nigerians who were yet to receive their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) as at February 14, and would therefore have been unfairly disenfranchised if the polls had gone ahead on that date, have seized the opportunity of the re-scheduling to collect their cards and can now exercise their right to vote tomorrow.
    13. We are also glad that our gallant Armed Forces have successfully stemmed the seizure of Nigerian territories in the North-East by the terrorist group, Boko Haram.
    14. They have recaptured most of the communities and territories formerly occupied by the insurgents, making it possible for thousands of internally-displaced Nigerians to begin returning to their homes and communities.
    15. I heartily commend the very courageous men and women of our Armed Forces for the immense sacrifices which they continue to make in defending the nation and protecting its citizens.
    16. I also thank all Nigerians for keeping faith with us over the past six weeks.
    17. I call on all political parties and politicians in the country to allow the free, unfettered will of our people to be expressed without any hindrance in the coming elections in keeping with the hallowed principles and tenets of democratic governance which we all profess.
    18. The will of the people freely expressed through the ballot is the bedrock of all democracies and ours cannot be an exception
    19. Let us all therefore be prepared, as true democrats, to graciously accept the outcome of the elections as the rightful choice of our people from whom all political powers in our democracy must emanate
    20. My administration has done its utmost best in the past four years to deliver on our promise to positively transform our country
    21. Tomorrow’s election is another very important milestone as we continue our march towards the fulfillment of our God-given potential for greatness.
    22. The election offers us another opportunity to empower leaders of our choice once again, and to show the world that genuine democracy is alive and well in our beloved nation.
    23. I will like to restate my belief that no political ambition can justify violence or the shedding of the blood of our people.
    24. I reaffirm once again, my personal preparedness to ensure fair play during the elections and to deploy the resources and institutions of state only in the manner prescribed by our laws.
    25. Let me warn, however, that as President, Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, I am under oath to protect the lives of all Nigerians and the security of our country at all times. I will never abdicate my responsibilities in that regard.
    26.26. Democracy allows dissent. It encourages differences and even fervent disagreements. But elections must never be mistaken for war or an opportunity to set fellow citizens against each other and tear our beloved nation apart.
    27. Those who may harbor any intentions of testing our will by unleashing violence during the elections in order to advance their political ambitions should think again as all necessary measures have been put in place to ensure that any persons who breach the peace or cause public disorder during or after the elections are speedily apprehended and summarily dealt with according to our laws.
    28. The nation’s security agencies are also fully prepared and ready to deal decisively with any group or persons who attempt to disrupt the peaceful conduct of the elections or cause any form of public disorder
    29. Our dear country, Nigeria is the largest democracy amongst black nations of the world. We are a nation of great accomplishments, with a proud history of evolving affinities
    30. Let us go out tomorrow to vote peacefully and set a fitting example of political maturity for other emerging democracies to follow.
    31. I wish you all and our dear nation, very peaceful and successful elections.
    32. May God Almighty continue to bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
    33. I thank you all.

  • Presidential election: pdp’s last cards

    From popular outcry, President Jonathan had promised Nigerians and the International Community that the elections on March 28 and April 11, 2015 would hold. And that Prof. Jega would not be removed or sent on terminal leave when the elections are just around the corner.  I had told Nigerians and the International Community that President Jonathan could not be trusted in his promises, as he would always go behind his promises to initiate or instigate moves that would undermine his own promises.  How can we explain the Pro-Jonathan’s protest by OPC for the removal of Jega as the nation witnessed in Lagos on Monday, 16 March, 2015, which was meant to scuttle the March 28 and April 11 elections he has promised would hold?

    When it dawned on the President and the PDP that the use of PVCs and Smart Card Readers-obviously meant to bring about free, fair and credible elections, devoid of rigging-was a foregone conclusion, protests and court cases were instigated by the Presidency and the PDP to stop the use of theses technological devices which ought to have been supported by the president who himself once promised to tackle corruption with the same technology he is now afraid of. This is  simply because the use of Card Readers would not allow those who had cloned and bought PVCs to use them without being detected at the elections.  Just because the INEC, the people of Nigeria and the International Community have insisted on the use of these technological devices for the election of March 28 and April 11, and that under no circumstance should these elections be subjected to another postponement, the PDP’s last important card is its attempt to create confusion of monumental proportion on the day of election.

    The plan is to ensure that Card Readers don’t work on the days of elections, in because of the ruling party’s morbid fears about the use of Card Readers that would definitely expose their rigging plans on D-day.  Now, the APC has accused President Jonathan’s administration and the PDP of planning to jam the Card Reader machines on voting days for which an Israeli has been hired.  The Israeli “had developed three prototype Card Reader Jammers to be carried in the pockets of trusted PDP chiefs on election day to disable the Card Readers so as to justify the PDP’s fears about the Card Readers.  Besides disabling the Card Readers, “the jammers will also disable all telephones, ipads etc, within the state’s radius of those carrying them on their persons”.  The plan is to deploy the Card Jammers to the strongholds of the APC like North West, South West, North East, Rivers State and other suspected areas in the North, South East and the South -South.

    The Israeli is already seen as a traitor to the International Community interested in free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria, and “an enemy of Nigeria and Nigerians who do not mind if the nation burns, as long as he has collected his pay”.

    For the production of 75,000 jammers, the nation would cough out S15m at S200 per jamming machine for the PDP!  On this serious matter, Nigerians, the International Community and the leadership of the INEC must see to it that none of the telephone service providers like MTN, GLO and ETISALAT cooperate or compromise with the Federal Government in this jamming game while the (NCC) must steer clear of this shameful scenario.  The leadership of INEC< with the cooperation of the International Community, must provide counter jammer to the PDP jamming machine.  Already, the International Community and especially the US have made it clear through the Vice-President of the US, Joe Biden, that INEC must use the PVCs and Smart Card Readers for the March 28 and April 11 elections in Nigeria (Punch, Friday, March 19, 2015, p.7)

    The questions that President Jonathan and PDP must answer at this eleventh hour are these: what plans do they have for successful elections that are free, fair and credible on March 28 and April 11?  What plans do they have for creating crisis by using technology (jammers) to prevent the Card Readers from working on March 28 and April 11?  How actually prepared are they for these elections?  And, finally, are they prepared to take responsibility for scuttling the March 28 and April 11 elections and the attendant consequences, should anything go wrong in accordance to their plan, wish or prayer?

    Or, by creating crisis at the coming election, do they hope that the Army would take over in order to prevent any elections and General Buhari from being sworn-in as the next president?  It should be pointed out that any attempt to take over the government by the military would lead to a situation worse than those of the Arab Springs where the Military and the Police had no choice but to surrender to the superior force of the masses of the people who drove out president Mubarak and got him tried for crime against the Egyptian people by the International Criminal Court.

    The Inspector General of Police has said: “no waiting at polling booths after voting” (Punch, March 20, p.2).  Traditionally, an electorate is expected to wait after casting his or her vote to ensure that the vote counts and is counted.  That is what INEC, the legally constituted authority to conduct and monitor elections in Nigeria, says.  Voters are well protected by electoral, and not police, laws.  The IGP should not usurp the powers of INEC and should be careful about his illegal directive, which is not tenable, because what he is saying is that voters should not wait to monitor what happens to their votes and collect the results on the spot.  This is yet another rigging device that must be thrown into the dustbin.

    On a final note, Nigerians must insist that election materials are delivered to the polling stations on time, as not doing so would affect those who are eager to cast their votes, especially if delays of election materials occur in the strongholds of the opposition party.  The Federal Government must also be careful about the way it manipulates the NTA for carrying news and advertisements about PDP to the exclusion of the APC, because the NTA is for all Nigerians and not for President Jonathan and PDP alone.  Surely this policy of exclusion would backfire, as it would further draw the wrath of Nigerians against the ruling party.  A word, we say, is enough for the wise!

    • Makinde, FINAL, Professor of Philosophy,

    DG/CEO, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology & Good Governance, Osogbo, The State of Osun.

  • APC accuses Aliyu of plotting to rig election

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State has alleged that it has uncovered a plot by Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu to use the Army to rig the Niger East senatorial election.

    It said the governor, who  is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, had  not been campaigning in any village, thereby taking the people for granted.

    In a statement in Minna yesterday by the APC Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, the opposition party alleged that Aliyu did not campaign because he planned to use the Army to rig the election in his favour.

    But the governor refuted the allegation, describing it as baseless and the rumblings of a defeated party.

    Aliyu, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Israel Ebije, said it was not true that he had not met his people, stressing that the opposition could not determine how PDP should conduct its campaign.

    The opposition alleged in the statement that “it is a common knowledge that the governor has not visited any village in Niger East, yet he is seeking to represent the same people at the Senate. He has no courtesy to even tell the people what he has done for the last eight years.

    “He has collected revenue more than any governor in the history of the state. He has collected bonds from the capital market. We think if he believes he has developed the state, this is the time to give the people his result, what he has done with the money collected.

    “Instead, he is depending on security agents to use force for him to win election. He must be told that the people’s rights must be respected. The people must exercise their franchise without intimidation and fear.

    “They have planned not only to use the security agents, who are well briefed, to intimidate voters to vote for the PDP, but also to use them to disallow the agents of other parties from escorting the results to the collation centres, to give room for rigging.”

    Vatsa advised APC supporters not to be intimidated, adding that security agents should be neutral and fair to all.

    He said: “We urge our supporters not to be intimidated, but be steadfast in prayers against those plotting to suppress the people’s wish. Change has come for Niger State and the people must resist any attempt to subvert it.”

    “Our advice to the security agents is that they should know that as patriots, they owe Nigeria neutrality and commitment to duty during the elections.”

     

  • Use of military for election, illegal – Edo APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State Chapter, said it is illegal for the military to be used for elections in Nigeria.

    Edo APC which spoke through the state Treasurer, Alhaji Saliu Momoh told newsmen in Benin City that even when some people are yearning for the use of military, “one should look at the rule of law on the issue”.

    He said that one cannot dispute the fact that some people would like to take advantage of the absence of the military, but that the issue of the constitution concerning the use of military cannot be put away.

    “What we are after is the role of the military in the constitution, because we are operating a constitutional system of government. “We must always ask: what is the position of the law concerning the use of the military in elections in Nigeria?” he said.

    The former National Vice-Chairman of the All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) said that those who are saying military must be involved in the elections have ulterior motive.

    He said such people continue to yearn for the military even when they knew it is not the responsibility and duty of the military to come out on election day.

    Alhaji Momoh said even the police that are given responsibilities on elections days are given 300 metres gap.

    “Only the Inspector General of Police can invite the military when he feels the situation is beyond the police.

    “Calling the military from the onset means there is an ulterior motive.

    “We are not in a war situation, we have never fought war in Nigeria elections; Nigerians say change; don’t bring gun to terrorise them,” the APC state Treasurer posited.

    On PDP parading a candidate for the state House of Assembly who was arrested on the day of PDP’s primaries at Egor, for using guns to terrorise party faithful present the Edo APC chieftain said it was an indictment on PDP.

    He said the action tells the quality of people that are contesting in the platform of the PDP.

    “It goes ahead to tell you why Nigerians are yearning for change.

    “A man cannot be caught at this period of Nigeria’s situation for such offence and be granted bail to go and contest for such public office,” adding that public office is a very serious business”,

    He reiterated that those who defected from the PDP to APC and are accepted must be certified that they are not in the EFCC list, saying that APC does not accept persons whose names are on the EFCC list.

    He said the PDP is full of people whose names are on the EFCC list due to corruption thinking the PDP can cover them.

    According to him, Femi Fani Kayode left APC for the PDP because the APC refused to shield him of his corruption allegation.

  • Legal and ethical issues in election reporting

    Legal and ethical issues in election reporting

    Being the paper presented by Femi Falana (SAN) at the First Annual Public Lecture Series of the Mass Communication Department, Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu. 

    Those who are convinced that the nomination form submitted by any candidate sponsored by a political party should take advantage of section 34 of the Electoral Act by filing a suit in court for the disqualification of the candidate. Since section 318 of the Constitution prescribes education up to junior secondary level as the minimum qualification for contesting elections in Nigeria the whole debate over General Muhammadu Buhari’s school certificate is totally diversionary. Unfortunately, the army allowed itself to be discredited on the basis of its partisan role in the whole saga. A few weeks ago,  Brigadier-General Olatunji Laleye had said that the army was in possession of General Buhari’s academic documents and that he could apply if he needed them. The same officer later turned round to claim that the documents could not  be found in the retired General’s personal file!

    It is jejune to suggest that an army officer who attended post secondary school military institutions in Nigeria, United Kingdom, India and the United States is constitutionally disabled from contesting elections in Nigeria. It is particularly embarrassing that some senior lawyers who joined the fray pretended not to know that the minimum academic prerequisite for contesting any of the national elections includes the possession of a primary six certificate with 10 years’ working experience or the competence to speak English to the satisfaction of the INEC. 

     

    Reclaiming the

    welfare state

     

    To reclaim the welfare state from its obstinate opponents in government the Nigerian people have to be mobilized to ensure compliance with the various welfare laws. The press is obligated to promote the campaign for the full justiciability of socio-economic rights such as rights to education, health, employment, housing etc. These rights are enshrined in Chapter 2 of the Constitution. Although the government is required to  defend the security and promote the welfare of the people it has always complained of lack of resources. However, the resources are available but the country is run by a ruling class that is not prepared to wage a battle for the democratic control of the economy. The crisis is compounded by the fact that the country is currently  administered by an army of neo-liberal ideologues who are leading  the two dominant political parties.

    At a recent public lecture at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN was reported to have said that the government could not guarantee access to education for Nigerians. According to him,  ”the quality of education that we can impart if children pay N50,000 to get professional training and their colleagues in private schools pay N200,000 upwards abroad to get the same training. Will they be of the same quality in a capitalist world, where quality is often determined by price?’’. The governor said that the free education policy which Chief Obafemi Awolowo  implemented in western Nigeria is no longer feasible because Nigeria has recorded an average literacy level of about 55 percent! It is curious that a progressive governor is campaigning for lack of access to mass education because we have a “literacy rate of 55 per cent” .

    Since the governor is one of the  leading ideologues of the APC  the views attributed to him on access to education should not go unchallenged. With respect,  the educational system in the capitalist world is organised in a manner that the children of the poor can access education at the expense of the State  while the rich can are at liberty to educate their children and wards in expensive private schools. Through the universal health care insurance scheme funded by the State the poor can access health in the public hospitals while the rich can afford to go to well equipped private medical centres in any part of the world. It may interest Governor Fashola to know that the tiny island of Cuba which is far less endowed than Nigeria has attained 100 percent literacy rate and has the highest number of doctors per capital in the world.

    Under Sections 17 and 18 of the Constitution the State is mandatorily required to provide free health and education including tertiary education based on the availability of resources. If the abundant natural resources of our country  have been harnessed and distributed equitably as envisaged by section 16 of the Constitution the government would have guaranteed the security and welfare of all citizens. In any case, through popular struggles, the neo-colonial state has been compelled to enact laws to provide for the welfare of the Nigerian people. One of such legislations is the Universal, Free and Compulsory Basic Education Act, 2004 which has guaranteed free and compulsory education for every child from primary to junior secondary school.

    Towards the funding of the UBE scheme, not less than two per cent of the consolidated revenue fund of the federal government shall be contributed annually. In 2012, the UNICEF disclosed that there were 10.5 million Nigerian children who were out of primary school. Regrettably, the implementation of the UBE scheme has been frustrated by the majority of state governments. Right now, the sum of N56.9 billion, which is the matching grant due to 31 states and the federal capital territory has not been accessed due to refusal  to contribute counterpart  funding. From the information at my disposal, only five states namely Gombe, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto and Taraba states have accessed their matching grants up to date!

    Under the newly enacted National Health Act, at least one per cent from the consolidated revenue fund of the federal government shall be contributed to the Health Provision Fund. Although the fund will not be adequate to provide basic health care services to every indigent citizen the contribution of state and local governments to the fund ought be made compulsory.  At the federal level the National Health Insurance Act has established the National  Health Insurance Scheme with the basic objective of  protecting Nigerian families from financial hardship of huge medical bills. The scheme is funded by contributions from employers and employees based on income. For the formal sector the contributions are premiums which make up 15 per cent of a member’s basic salary. The employer contributes 10 per cent while the employee pays five per cent. The scheme covers a member, the spouse and four children. Participants from the informal sector are required to make a monthly contribution. No state government has a similar scheme in place.

     

    Political reporting and

    electoral  offences 

     

    The fundamental right to freedom of expression including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference has been guaranteed by the Constitution. (Section 39 of the Constitution). Apart from professional ethics the law of defamation protects the reputation of individuals and corporate bodies including politicians and political parties.  Since freedom of expression is not absolute any media house or reporter who engages in libellous publications during electioneering campaigns may be sued and if found liable, ordered by the courts to pay  damages running to million of naira.    In addition to the penal codes the Electoral Act 2010 as amended has prohibited  political campaigns which are based on hate or incitement. In order to  ensure equal coverage of the activities of political parties and candidates  the  Act has criminalised certain publications with respect to political reporting. Sections 99-101 of the Electoral Act 2010 which deal with media reporting of political activities are briefly examined hereunder. 

     

    Campaign Period

     

    By virtue of Section 99 (1) of the Act, the period of campaign in public by political parties shall not commence 90 days before polling day. Although the media cannot be prosecuted under the section it is morally wrong to collude with political parties to breach the provisions of the law.

     

     

     

  • Between ourselves and our institutions and between Marx and Rousseau: election eve reflections (1)

    Between ourselves and our institutions and between Marx and Rousseau: election eve reflections (1)

    Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances but under existing circumstances
    Karl Marx

    Man is born free but he is everywhere in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but he remains more of a slave than they are.
    Jean Jacques Rousseau

    The thing caught in Nte’s trap is much bigger than Nte.
    Chinua Achebe

    It is of course pure guesswork whether or not we are actually on the eve of the 2015 election cycle in our country. On December 24 every year – and after year – we know we are at the eve of Christmas. But there is no such natural certainty with the current election cycle in Nigeria. We were on the eve of the institutionally fixed presidential election on February 13, 2015. But ten days before that date, the elections were postponed for six weeks. Now as we move closer to the postponed dates of March 28 and April 11 for the presidential and governorship elections, the only certainty we know is that institutionally, the elections can be further postponed only at the risk of moving too dangerously close to open and blatant flouting of the Nigerian Constitution. This is because constitutionally, elections in our country MUST be held no less than 30 days before May 29 that is the date for the reinstatement of the incumbent government if it is returned to power or the inauguration of a new administration if the opposition candidate wins.

    In a country in which the institutional foundations of governance and accountability are so weak as to be virtually non-existent and so dysfunctional as to be close to what we see in the failed states of the world, we cannot be certain that we are now finally on the eve of the 2015 elections. The question that arises from this tragic dilemma on which the future, indeed the very survival of our country depends is the classic one of whether the problem is with our institutions or with us as Nigerians and, more fundamentally, as human beings. Put differently, the question we might ask is this: Is it in ourselves as Nigerians in particular and human beings in general, or is it in our institutions that must look for the reason why, with all our wealth in human and natural resources, there is so much violence, insecurity and suffering in our country, especially for the majority of our peoples? If we improve our institutions, will Nigerians behave differently and be on the whole a happier people, or do we first have to change who and what we are before we can expect to see meaningful and beneficial changes in the functioning of our institutions?

    It is very important to raise the discussion of this question to the level of the phenomenon of humanity itself because Nigerians are, for perfectly understandable reasons, quite often too predisposed to see all the things that are wrong with us as a people and with the functioning of our institutions in isolation from what has happened and is happening in the rest of the world. We may not be used to hearing this said or written about us, but we are part and parcel of some of the worst things in human beings all over the world and in the functioning of the institutions of society in modern history. Let me explain what I mean by this observation.

    Although for a completely different set of reasons and with also very different ends in mind, I am for instance struck by just how similar Republican politicians in the United States are to Nigerian politicians in general in how far they were willing to go beyond and against their country’s political institutions when they recently brought the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to address the U.S. Congress in order to both embarrass Obama and weaken or even cripple the Presidency. As I write these words, I have in mind the last ditch battles that the Presidents of both Brazil and Argentina are waging to save their careers from the gargantuan political and moral corruption that has totally engulfed their administrations. It is true that that neither of these two ladies – yes, the incumbent Presidents of Brazil and Argentina are both female – has gone as far as Goodluck Jonathan in corruption, waste and squandermania, but the similarities in the weaknesses of both human and institutional foundations of governance and accountability are quite striking. And if it is the Nigerian military on which you wish to focus for the brazenness with which it has allowed itself to be used by thugs, charlatans and moral cretins in power, there are many countries around the world in which you will find fellow travelers with our corrupt generals, Pakistan, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan being examples that come readily to mind. And on perhaps the most important issue of all, this being the terrible and often unspeakable suffering that the great majority of the citizens of a country experience from the combination of human and institutional failings of a cynical and criminal nature, Nigeria is in an unholy league with other countries of Africa and the world as the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Libya, South Africa, Haiti, Syria, Pakistan and Iraq to name just a few countries which might be deemed to logically belong in this particular morally and institutionally maladjusted league of nations.

    I make these comparisons for both pragmatic and philosophical reasons that actually happen to be closely linked. On the level of pragmatics, it is very important, I believe, to trim the likes of Ayo Fayose, Musiliu Obanikoro, Doyin Okupe and Chris Ubah to size. These are among the most arrant of the self-identified, maniacal kingpins of the nefarious PDP struggle to make our country’s 2015 election cycle either a non-event or a total failure. It is important, I believe, to let Nigerians know that such power-crazed people have surfaced in other countries of the past and the present throughout the world and have often been soundly defeated. When you tear off their masks of invincibility and reveal the mere human faces and failings of such unconscionable brokers of unjust, corrupt and brutish power, you raise the bar of their success far above their capabilities. Philosophically, it is important, I think, to realize that much has been said throughout modern history about the question that drives these reflections, the question of which do we change first, ourselves or our institutions. For this reason, we do not have to start from scratch; we do not have to reinvent the wheel. All we have to do is add to the inherited discourses. Permit me, then, to approach this topic through the three epigraphs of this essay from Marx, Rousseau and Achebe respectively. Since charity, as the saying goes, begins at home, let us begin with our own writer and thinker, Chinua Achebe, and his fascinating parable of Nte and the thing caught in his trap.

    The symbolic brilliance of Achebe’s parable of Nte and the thing caught by his trap that is far bigger than himself is revealed by the fact that in the novelistic setting of this parable, the character in the tale sees things only or primarily through his or her own perspectives and interests – as we all do in life. This is why what starts as a potential good fortune – catching a very big quarry in his trap – turns into a nightmare for Nte because the trap is his and his alone. However, if Nte is willing to share the meat of the ensnared quarry with his neighbors, he can call them to his aid and the quarry is no longer frightening. Before the collective will, guile and wisdom of the entire community, the thing that is caught in Nte’s trap loses its terror. Projecting to a wider frame of reference from this particular reading of the parable, we can say that like Nte, nations and the human community as a whole will always catch something in our trap that is bigger than anyone among us. In the crises of the 2015 election cycle in Nigeria we seem to be deeply afflicted by this Nte conundrum in which the collective unity that could avert a potential catastrophe eludes us. This where Marx and Rousseau come into the discussion.

    It used to be thought that Marx and Rousseau stand at two extreme polar opposites in the debates over which is more primary, human nature or the institutions of society, in how happy or unhappy we are. Marx, as may be seen from the quote from his famous monograph, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, placed the emphasis on objective circumstances: we do not make history, we do not achieve our happiness as political and historical subjects on the basis of our individual wills or desires. On the other hand, Rousseau in the famous opening sentences of The Social Contract emphasized an original freedom in our natural condition which, having been ensnared by social institutions, must be won back by a new social contract that places maximum value on this original freedom. We know now that things are far more complicated than the dichotomy between these two views indicates. We know now that we are both objects and subjects of history and politics. Furthermore, we know that being object and subject each entails both positive and negative things. For this reason, our opening or driving question turns out not to be a matter of “either or”. In other words, it is not a matter of you have to change from within before you can change social institutions or vice versa.

    I hope I am wrong, but in my opinion, far many more Nigerians think that the change has to come first from within before we can get our rulers and our compatriots in their tens of millions to obey laws and act justly, decently and in the public good. I see the present moment as a uniquely auspicious moment in which to begin to change this unspoken but iron-clad predisposition of Nigerians. Thus, concretely, I pose the question of who among genuine, independent-minded patriots in our country today think that we first have to change a Fayose, a Chris Ubah or a Musiliu Obanikoro from within before we can make the constitutional and institutional arrangements that we have give us fair, clean and credible elections? This will be our starting point in next week’s concluding essay in the series.

     

    Biodun Jeyifo

    bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu