The Nation Newspaper

Tag: voting

  • Okowa’s, PDP’s witnesses admit excess voting

    The Secretary to the Delta State Government (SSG), Mr. Festus Ovie Agas, yesterday admitted that excess votes were credited to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the April 11 governorship election, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Okowa winner of the poll.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the election, Olorogun O’tega Enerhor, challenged Okowa’s victory, alleging electoral malpractice.

    The defence, which opened yesterday, summoned two witnesses – Ikechukwu Akazor and the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Festus Ovie Agas.

    The SSG admitted that excess votes were credited to Okowa.

    The witnesses, during cross-examination, said the card readers were to be used to verify genuine Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), adding that only voters with genuine PVCs were to be allowed to vote in the election.

    But this is contrary to their lawyers’ pleas that it was proper for INEC to resort to manual accreditation.

    Agas said the 724,680 votes credited to Okowa by INEC were more than the original 715,393.

    Akazor submitted that INEC’s instruction was that card readers be used for the conduct of the election, adding that where they failed, the election was to be conducted the following day.

    APC and Emerhor are challenging the results of the election at the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Asaba, the state capital.

  • Anambra PDP: we don’t regret voting for Jonathan

    •Chieftains support Metuh, Ekweremadu

    The Peoples Democratic Party in Anambra State has said it does not regret voting for former President Goodluck Jonathan in the last elections and would do so again, if given another chance.

    The party warned those fuelling crisis against Metuh and others to desist from such.

    A statement signed by Uche Ekwunife, Stella Oduah, Andy Uba, and other party chieftains said PDP would not allow anybody, group or political party drag its Igbo leaders into the mud.

    Vice Chairman Central Ken Enenmuo said it was wrong to accuse Metuh of masterminding rigging in Anambra, Abia, Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi States. He described the allegations as false.

    The statement reads: “One of the sins of Chief Olisah Metuh, as enumerated by former workers at the PDP National Secretariat, was that he had been at Wadata Plaza in the last 16 years as a party officer.

    “We wish to remind the workers that Olisa Metuh is not, and was never appointed at the zonal or national level, rather, he was elected to serve in all the capacities he has served.

    “We are not unaware of the plans by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to employ every means to distract and to discredit Chief Olisa Metuh and Senator Ike Ekweremadu to deny the PDP a credible voice in its new opposition role.

    “We pass a vote of confidence on our leader, Chief Olisa Metuh, and urge him to ignore the antics of the APC and continue with his works, alongside other members of the National Working Committee”.

  • Voting ends as counting starts in Imo

    Voting ends as counting starts in Imo

    Voting has closed in most places in the Imo governorship re-run election while counting was ongoing, correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report.

    At Ossemotor in Oguta local government, voting ended around 3.40 p.m while counting commenced immediately while it ended in most other places around 5 p.m.

    The election has been characterised by violence and other electoral malpractice, especially in Oru East local government.

    The election was held in some polling units in 23 local government areas which were cancelled or inconclusive in the April 11 election.

    Meanwhile, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Marshall Anyanwu, complained that there were too many unaccredited observers at the election, especially in Omuma, Oru East local government.

    Anyanwu, a former chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), in the state, told newsmen at the Omuma Central School that state government officials, posing as observers, were all over the place in contravention of the electoral law.

  • 10 NYSC members, soldier caught voting in General’s house

    10 NYSC members, soldier caught voting in General’s house

    TEN corps members and a soldier were yesterday reportedly arrested at the home of a retired General and former NYSC Director, Gen. Edet Akpan, by men of the Department of Security Service for electoral offences in Akwa Ibom State.

    The state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barr Austin Okojie, gave this report while taking a break from the election to brief the press in Uyo, the state capital.

    Okojie who reacted to general complaints about late arrival of result sheets and compromise by some INEC officials said INEC received sensitive materials on Tuesday, dispatched to local government areas on Thursday for early dispatch to polling units.

    Okojie who reported cases of violence in Uyo, Ibesikpo, Nsit Ubium and Mkpat Enin, Nsit Ibom and Etinan local government areas said these are basically security issues and commended security agencies for being alive to their responsibilities.

  • ‘Why accreditation, voting should be simultaneous’

    ‘Why accreditation, voting should be simultaneous’

    As chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Election Working Group, Dafe Akpedeye (SAN) carries a huge burden. The group is a 13-man committee set up to monitor elections, collate NBA branches’reports on polls, train lawyers for elections and liaise with other stakeholders, among others. Akpedeye tells JOSEPH JIBUEZE the group’s observations during the presidential and National Assembly elections, why there is need for electoral reforms and areas the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should improve on.

    What is your assessment of the presidential election which you monitored?

    Prior to the election, there were fears of violence erupting during and after the polls. This was not the case. The elections were generally acclaimed to be peaceful, despite the initial glitches arising from the late arrival of INEC officials and materials and card reader malfunction. Nigerians turned out in their numbers and waited patiently to cast their votes.  Even in places where elections were postponed to Sunday, March 29, Nigerians still came out to cast their votes. I sincerely hope that the peaceful conduct exhibited by Nigerians will continue well into the post- election period.

     

    Were you impressed with INEC’s performance?

    INEC must be commended for a largely successful outing during the Presidential and National Assembly elections, despite the glitches with the card readers and the logistics arrangement. However, the Commission still needs to correct the challenges encountered with the card reader to ensure it does not recur in the gubernatorial and State Assembly elections of April 11, 2015.

     

    What were your observations on the arrival and handling of electoral materials?

    In a number of polling units visited in Abuja, INEC officials and materials arrived late. NBA observers in a number of states also reported that material and INEC officials arrived late at the polling units. Despite the late arrival of INEC officials and materials, voters could be seen in their numbers waiting patiently for the arrival of INEC officials. Whatever the reason for the lateness, the commission needs to ensure that arrangements are in place to prevent a reoccurrence during the gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections.

     

    Did the ad hoc staff meet your efficiency expectations?

    The INEC ad-hoc staff did not appear to be adequately trained for election. Some of them did not appear to have a working knowledge on the use of the card readers. In a number of places where the card readers were said to be faulty this was as a result of the adhoc staff not knowing how to use them. In some places the INEC ad-hoc staff failed to remove the protective film on the lens of the equipment making it difficult for the card readers to read the biometric data in the permanent voter cards presented by voters for scanning

     

    How do you compare this election with the previous ones you monitored?

    In spite of the challenges encountered with the introduction of the card readers which is to be expected with the introduction of new technology, the 2015 Presidential and National Assembly elections was a huge improvement when compared to the 2007 and 2011 elections. The elections was largely peaceful, there was reduced incidents of snatching of ballot boxes, unlike the 2011 election which saw widespread violence take place in the northern parts of the country following the elections.

     

    Do you think the card readers should have been tested in earlier elections?

    INEC introduced the use of the card readers for the 2015 General Elections.There were mixed reports on the performance of the card readers. In some areas the card readers performed well but in majority of the country they had various glitches and failed to perform. The card reader problems included flat batteries, wrong date program, biometric failure and inability of Electoral Officers (EOs) to properly operate them. INEC officials were responsive to complains when contacted and were able to rectify some of the problems. The events of last election prove that the card readers should have been tested in the earlier elections. This would have given the commission insight into the possible challenges that would arise from the use of the card readers.

     

    Some say it was a big risk to deploy card readers for the first time in this general election. Do you agree?

    Yes.Things could have gone horribly wrong. We received reports of polling units running out of incidence forms. While the card readers functioned smoothly at various voting centres, there were complaints from many others about slow or completely dysfunctional machines. The overwhelming nature of the problems associated with the card reader compelled INEC to issue a directive to all EOs to resort to manual accreditation when there was card reader malfunction. The issue of card reader failure amongst other things also resulted in the decision of INEC to postpone elections in some polling units to Sunday, March 29, 2015. Having said this, I do not think INEC should forego the use of the card readers to enhance elections, rather more efforts should be put into developing appropriate and dependable solutions to glitches that may arise

     

    What areas would you want improvements?

    INEC needs to work to improve on the deployment of materials. Also, adequate training should be given to the ad-hoc staff on the use of the card readers to avoid a reoccurrence.

     

    Were you impressed with the security agents?

    Reports we received attest to the fact that the security agents were well behaved. Security personnel arrived and were visible at the various polling units as early as 7.30am. Security was generally commendable. In most of the polling units, our team of observers recorded a minimum of five security agents comprising the police and civil defense in each polling units. The security personnel conducted themselves in a civil, unobtrusive and orderly manner.

     

    Do you think the presidential and National Assembly elections were credible, free and fair?

    Yes, I believe the elections were, to a great extent, free and fair. The 2015 Presidential Election was one of the most keenly contested elections in the history of Nigeria. In spite of the reports of pockets of violence and snatching of ballot boxes, Nigerians voted in their choice of candidates for the various elective positions.

     

    Do you think accreditation and voting should be done simultaneously to prevent having to queue twice?

    Accrediting and voting simultaneously will greatly shorten the time voters spend waiting after the accreditation before they can vote. If the logistics of how this will be done can be worked out, I think this will be good for our democracy. Nigerians will not have to spend the whole day on the queue to vote. After accreditation some voters go home to return at about 1pm when the voting will commence. More often than not, some voters do not return as they are too tired, having stood for hours under the sun to get accredited.

     

    Do you subscribe to the establishment of an electoral offences commission to deal with violations of the Electoral Act?

    The calls for the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission are borne out of the need to see electoral offenders punished. Nigeria must begin to hold people accountable for crimes committed and punish those who commit electoral violence. In past elections, there were reports of electoral offences. In most cases, after the announcement of the arrest of suspected electoral offenders, there was hardly any information on what became of them. It is evident that none of the accused was ever prosecuted for the electoral offences let alone being convicted. In effect, these offenders soon find their way back to the polling centres each time elections are billed to take place in the country or in any state of the federation.

     

    Is Nigeria maturing as a democracy, or is there still a long way to go?

    The 2015 election could have become another nightmare for Nigeria, given the worsening security situation in the country. It was a truly remarkable thing to see an incumbent President gracefully concede defeat in an election. This act will ensure a smooth and successful transition of power. The success of the election proves that Nigeria is growing as a democracy and can do well in events of vital importance. It will also help improve the image of Nigeria in the eyes of the international community. President Goodluck Jonathan has shown himself to be a true statesman. Hopefully this will set an example for other African countries to emulate.

     

    Are there electoral reforms you would want the incoming government to implement?

    The need for electoral reform in the country has become absolutely necessary against the backdrop of election rigging, widespread rejection of declared results, as well as loss of lives and property.  More importantly, our electoral laws appear to be ill-equipped to adequately address these concerns.  We needs to put in place a democratic process that maintains accurate list of citizens who are eligible to vote and encourages every eligible voter to participate effectively in the process.  There is a need to improve the voting system and enhance ballot security. Most importantly, the political class must have respect for the rule of law while we must, as people reject the pervasive culture of corruption in our body polity and be prepared to hold our elected officers accountable for their actions.

     

    The electoral tribunals will soon get to work. What are your expectations of judges?

    The judges who will serve as chairmen and members of election petition tribunals for the 36 states and Abuja for the 2015 general elections have been chosen and sworn in. Nigerians expect them to live up to their oath of office. Adjudication on election petitions is regulated by statutory rules on time and since the panels do not have the luxury of time in the discharge of their duties, I advise that they consider all the evidence before them carefully and adjudicate swiftly and justly. Members of the tribunals have had the riot act read to them by the Chief Justice of Nigeria during their swearing in where he also sounded a note of warning to them to never again allow themselves to be used as tools to truncate democracy. He enjoined them to be dispensers of justice regardless of fear or favour, position or standing. This is what is expected of them.

     

    What reports did the NBA Voters Registration Complaint Centers receive?

    The NBA set up a Situation Room at the NBA National Secretariat for our observers and members of the pubic to call in and give on the spot account of happenings in their polling units. Reports received included the late arrival of INEC officials and materials, inadequate number of incidence forms, lack of result sheets and card reader malfunction.

     

    Are you impressed with the contribution of lawyers in the monitoring of the presidential election?

    The NBA observer group comprising the INEC accredited observers was on ground in the 36 states and the FCT.  Several NBA members, not necessarily the INEC accredited observers, also participated by reporting happenings in their respective polling units. I must commend lawyers for their support and cooperation. The reports we received from them formed the basis of the NBA interim and final post-election statements.

     

    From your meetings with traditional and religious leaders and other leaders of thought, do you think there is enough voter education?

    Reports from our observers in the field showed that there was not enough voter education carried out. Voters were largely ignorant about the voting procedure particularly with regards to the card readers. More work needs to be done by all concerned to ensure that voters are truly acquainted with the nuances of electioneering procedures.

     

    How does NBA intend to ensure that cases of electoral offences are prosecuted?

    The NBA is ready and willing to partner with INEC or the police in the prosecution of electoral offenders. We have offered to INEC pro-bono services to actualise this extra-ordinary gesture. We await their response and expect INEC to work out the modalities for the prosecution.

  • Voting amid ruins

    Voting amid ruins

    The cost of inter-tribal war is huge in Taraba State: over 200,000 persons killed, 600,000 forced from their destroyed homes in Jukun and Hausa-Fulani conflicts. Yet, when the crisis abated, the people turned out to exercise their franchise even in their devastated environments. FANEN IHYONGO writes

    The enthusiasm to cast their ballots clearly outstripped the agony and gloom of bloodshed. The Jukun and Hausa-Fulani in Taraba State have hacked at one another, killing about 600,000 and displacing over 200,000 in addition to wrecking a staggering number of homes. Clearly, war has exacted its toll on the people. But during the elections, survivors found their way to polling units, some of which located right inside war-ravaged settlements.

    Some of the voters were internally displaced persons taking refuge in stuffy relief camps. Some had fled from their destroyed homes but returned to participate in the general election. Their narrative is heart-rending.

    Greater parts of southern and central Taraba have been turned into killing fields since two years ago. The most affected councils are Gassol, Bali and Gashaka in the central zone and Wukari and Ibi in the southern part of the state. The worst hit settlements include Tella, Sabongida, Borno-Kurukur, Mai Hulla, Gidin Dorowa, and Wukari which is now a ghost town. The clashes are between Jukun Christians and Hausa-Fulani Muslims, and also between Fulani herdsmen and Tiv farmers.

    At least 600,000 residents have been forced to flee their destroyed homes amid continuous violence that has claimed over 200,000 lives, with many residents still missing. But because of the significance of election –the only means through which people can choose their leader by merely casting a vote, survivors of the crisis who fled, savoured the courage to go back and exercise their franchise.

    One thing was glaring. They were not happy voting in the rubble that used to be beautiful edifices made from their toil. Anyone could look around and still identify from the charred frames of television and radio sets, burnt books or documents, refrigerators, chairs, stoves and some utensils that were once key valuables in homes. The war experience cannot easily leave their memory. Besides, the atmosphere of the blown-up environment is that of uneasy calm that could scare every mortal stiff.

    One victim told The Nation that while he was voting, his heart was visualising the crisis. He said he could still picture how their assailants and killers, wielding guns, long cutlasses and axes, invaded and dislodged them.

    “It is something I can’t forget until I’ll die,” he said, adding that he lost three persons to the crisis while his house was destroyed.

    At the Ebenezer Primary School Wukari, the presidential and parliamentary elections were held where displaced people were still taking refuge. One of the blocks in the school was used as a polling unit, the other block a relief camp. As the noise that usually accompanies such activities as elections persisted, the displaced persons, largely women and children, stood on the corridors watching the process. What could be their thoughts?

    A close look at the displaced persons revealed a pitiable people having the worst of times in their life; they sleep on the floor where mosquitoes bite them at night; they do not have enough food and water to eat and drink; they are always hungry and weak; some are said to be taking illness and dying gradually. They cannot make jokes and merriments because they are resourcefully and emotionally drained. Above all, they are a defenceless and endangered species who are terrified that they could even be killed in the stifling relief camp someday. Yet they have nowhere to go. “If I get another place, I no go deh here,” one victim in the camp who lost her husband to the crisis told The Nation.

    Another victim, Mama Aishatu, 67, had difficulties locating her polling unit because of the level of destruction. She desperately approached this reporter for assistance. After referring her to officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), he asked her what it was like voting in a war-torn environment.

    “Fear,” she responded hurriedly, in what seemed to be an already-made answer.

    The Kofar Gadu polling unit in Auyi area of Wukari is located in a completely razed estate. The houses are so crushed that you would think bulldozers demolished them. No, it was done by hand with blunt implements. The terror was  lamented as the people cast their votes.

    So why would a people fight and destroy their own land?

    Our investigations revealed that the crisis is not unconnected to land scuffles and religious differences, with a long historical genesis. The crisis assumed its fiercest scale when sacked Acting Governor Garba Umar held sway at the helms. He allegedly stoked the embers of war in the area in a manner his opponents believed was for political reasons. The crisis however began to die down gradually when the new Acting Governor Abubakar Sani Danladi was reinstated in November last year.

    Other illustrious sons of Wukari have taken upon them the duty to preach peace for the warring groups to embrace truce and co-habit in harmony. One of such peace ambassadors is Agbu Kefas, a cleric, NIMASA chairman and retired colonel of the Nigerian Army.

    Col Kefas who voted at his alma mater, Ebenezer Primary School, which he renovated, said he was home, not only to vote but to educate the people on the significance of the election and why they should embrace peace.

    Former Minister of Power, Environment and Niger Delta Affairs Darius Dickson Ishaku is also preaching peace in the state. Ishaku, an architect and flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Takum, has promised the people “a torrential pour of peace” if he is elected governor on April 11. “We don’t want wars in Taraba; we want peace, because we want development,” the candidate says.

  • INEC extends voting in Yobe, Borno

    INEC extends voting in Yobe, Borno

    Voting has been extended in both Yobe and Borno states by the Independent National Electoral Commission due to logistic, technical and security reasons.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner for Borno, Samuel Madaki, disclosed that voting will affect nine polling units in three local government areas – Maiduguri metropolitan Council (MMC), Jere, and Hawul Local government councils.

    Madaki attributed the extension to logistic problems the late arrival of election materials and some technical issues with the card reader in those affected areas.

    In Yobe State, voting is to continue in four local governments areas of Fika, Yunusari, Geidam; Postiskum,

    The  REC, Habu Zarma, said four security concerns, late arrival of materials and technical problems were responsible.

    The extension will affect 18 polling units; 10 in Fika, each in Potiskum and Yunusari.

    He said that voting has commenced in Fika, Potiskum and Yunusari but the fate of Geidam is still hanging as security issues in the area are yet to be addressed.

  • NGO educates pupils about voting

    The Civil Society Partnership for Democracy and Governance in Oyo State has organised a sensitisation programme on voter’s education for public secondary school pupils in Ibadan, the state capital.

    The lecture titled: “Election devoid of violence”, held at Expoyo Center. It was attended by pupils of Bashorun High School, Islamic High School, Bishop Onabanjo High School, Community Secondary School and Cheshire High School.

    The facilitator, Mr Ebika Anthony, said the lecture is coming at a time when Nigerians need to be enlightened.

    “We organised this programme for students in senior secondary school, who may not be of voting age, but can transfer it to their various homes. We want the students to educate their parents who are not educated to know their rights and not sell their conscience,” he said.

    Anthony also revealed that even though the pupils may not vote, knowing their rights is key to prevent violence.

    The keynote speaker, Mr Ayo Arowosafe, a lawyer, lectured the pupils on “The development of democracy, civil rights and election participation in Nigeria”.

    “We can have an election devoid of violence and the only way we can do that is to know our civil rights as citizens,” he said.

    He advised the pupils against election thuggery and violence.

    “I want to advise this up and coming generation, even though they may not vote this time around to shun all kinds of violence. We have discovered that it is mainly the youth that are used as perpetrators of violence in this country by politicians,” he said.

    He also urged the pupils to participate in the election by encouraging their parents and other family members to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) to exercise their rights. “We want these students to be peer educators, to enlighten their parents to get their PVC and vote accordingly.”

    Speaking on the benefits of the programme, Ogunsanya Anu, from Cheshire High School, said she learnt about enlightening people to vote.

    Edet Blessing from Bishop Onabanjo High School said she now knows her rights and responsibilities.

    The representative from Islamic High School, Azeez Sodiq said he will never be a part of election thuggery.

    “I have learnt that election thuggery is not good and it does not make a good nation,” he said.

     

  • NCS insists electronic voting is practicable

    NCS insists electronic voting is practicable

    With  few days to the general elections and the possibility of most voters getting disenfanchised as a result of inability to collect the permanent voter card (PVC), the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) has urged the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Federal Government to look in the direction of electronic voting.

    NCS said if e-Voting is adopted, it will not only be cost efficient, but also  erase whatever doubt the electorate might have concerning  the electoral umpire in terms of its being  biased.

    Its President, Prof. David Adewumi who spoke with The Nation said there is no basis why the country should not adopt e-voting which the  Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) have used a couple of time with great success.

    He said: “Our position in the NCS remains the same. We are ripe for e-voting. When you look at e-voting, it is no longer rocket  science. The major requirement is the infrastructure, I mean  the information technology (IT) equipment, capacity  building. Then INEC must provide the purposeful leadership  that is required to deploy the technology and consequently, e-voting. I think that is all that is needed. There no space  science to that.”

    On the low level of computer literacy and personal computers (PC) ownership in  the country, the NCS chief said it is not true that the level of computer literacy in the country is  alarming.

    According to him, the old people in the villages use mobile phones, adding that keyboard of the mobile phone is even smaller than the  ones on the PC. “Yes, the old people in the village now use mobile phones. So, what is it about low level of computer  literacy you are talking about? The key board for the mobile phone is smaller than that of the PC. I think what is required is determination to ensure it succeeds,” Prof Adewumi said.

    Namibia became the first African country to adopt the e-voting technology with the Southern African country using it during its election last year. The e-Voting Machines, or EVMs, were acquired at a cost of 24 million Namibia dollars from an Indian company and according to the company, they are equipped with technology that is designed to eliminate flaws and address the scepticism of some political parties questioning the transparency of that country’s electoral umpire.

    The machines have features such as candidates’ photos, political parties together with other information next to the casting button. Voters will just have to click on their preferred candidate or party during elections to vote.

    It would also berecalled that India successfully used half-a-million EVMs of the same type during its 2009 general elections. The EVM was used to choose 96 members of Namibia’s National Assembly and one of nine presidential candidates, ranging from the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters to the white minority Republican Party. About 1.2 million Namibians reportedly cast their  ballots at nearly 4,000 electronic voting stations across  the country.

  • Voting against one’s interests: identity politics and the 70% in dire poverty (1)

    Voting against one’s interests: identity politics and the 70% in dire poverty (1)

    Be se tiwa, bee si se tiwa, Demo a wole! [Whether you’re with us or you’re not with us, Demo will win!] Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, on the eve of the 1965 Western Regional elections

    The epigraph for this week’s column comes from perhaps the darkest hour in the turbulent history of electoral politics in Nigeria. Concerning that perilous moment, two events connected with two larger-than-life personalities stand out. The personalities were Chief Remi Fani-Kayode; he was the Deputy Premier in the Western Regional government of the then Premier, Chief S.L. Akintola. The other personality was Wole Soyinka. Since Wole Soyinka was and is Wole Soyinka, he needs no further introduction here. In the Western Regional elections of 1965, both men were indirectly locked in an epic battle whose ramifications and resonances go to the heart of the subject of this week’s column, this being identity politics as either a salvation and/or a graveyard for the interests of the poor and the disenfranchised that constitute the human and demographic majority in our country. What does this mean and how did Fani-Kayode and Wole Soyinka come to be the respective embodiments of the contradictions of identity politics in the Western Regional elections of 1965? And moreover, what does all this have to do with the forthcoming general elections of 2015? Let me explain.

    For the benefit of the young readers of this piece who were either not yet born in 1965 or were below the age of 10, it is important to recall who Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, aka “Fani Power” was. A brilliant and professionally very successful lawyer, he achieved his highest prominence in politics when he became Deputy Premier of the Western Region and second-in-command to Chief S.L. Akintola as Party Leader of the Nigerian National Democratic Party that was universally known as “Demo”. “Demo” was a breakaway rump of the erstwhile Western Regional governing party, the Awolowo-led Action Group. “Demo” was also a widely feared and hated political party that played politics at the basest level of primordial, cynical and opportunistic sentiments. Its political calculations began and ended with what, in its view, were ostensibly in the best interests of Yorubas but were in actuality meant to maintain Demo’s fascist grip on power. Thus, in the light of such murky calculations, Akintola, “Fani Power” and the other bosses of “Demo” felt that, in essence, they had to do two things. What were these tow things?

    One: The NNDP or “Demo” had to go into alliance as very junior partners with the most powerful conservative political forces in the country as institutionalized in the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) and its two legendary leaders, the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and the Nigerian Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. Beside these two towering figures, Akintola and Fani-Kayode were and acted like political minions. Two: “Demo” had to disparage and tear down everything that Awolowo and the Action Group had achieved. Since the free education, free health services and other social-democratic policies of the Action Group were immensely popular in the Western Region, the only way that “Demo” could discredit them was to pass these programmes and policies off as evidence of Awolowo’s incipient, creeping “socialism” and “communism”. Thus, everything, “Demo” warned the people of the Western Region, would be shared by Awolowo: property and personal possessions; wives and concubines; the debts that citizens owed through reckless and irresponsible financial practices and activities; even the clothes in one’s wardrobe and one’s back. These ideological views, “Demo” asserted, were against the traditional culture and morality of the Yoruba people. Indeed, Akintola and “Fani Power” took their opportunistic politics of identity to the extent of forming a Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization that they named “Egbe Omo Olofin” as a counterforce to the much older “Egbe Omo Yoruba” that had historically had very close links to Awolowo and the Action Group. But all its tactics, all its oratory failed to win “Demo” popularity and legitimacy in the Western Region and it was against the background of this total failure that, on the eve of the 1965 regional elections and in an address that was broadcast on radio and television to the electorate that “Fani Power” uttered his infamous pronouncement: “whether you are with us or you’re not with us, Demo will win”. This was worse than rigging, worse than any heinous electoral fraud that Maurice Iwu and Olusegun Obasanjo ever perpetrated on Nigeria and Nigerians for in “Fani Power’s” declaration, victory had been declared before the elections took place.

    The role of Wole Soyinka in that fateful electoral conjuncture can be summarily stated and is best summed up in the well known Radio Station holdup event. It is the very height of collective insult to declare to any people in the world that whatever they felt about any government or political party, that government, that party will achieve electoral victory in total and complete indifference to the wishes, the interests of the given people. Thus, it was this collective insult to the people of the Western Region that paved the way for Soyinka’s radical intervention. His heroism achieved legendary status in the Western Region precisely to the extent that it articulated a need, a will to tell “Fani Power” and “Demo” that the people of the Western Region are a people whose collective will and interests could not be so easily set aside.

    This is identity politics at its most radical and uncompromising. Thus, it is very surprising that most accounts of Soyinka’s Radio Station holdup act have left out that prior pronouncement of “Fani Power” – whether you vote for us or you don’t vote for us, we will win. And please note that it was in the voice of a “free Nigeria” and not only a free Western Nigeria that the gunman at the Radio holdup spoke. This was contained in the pre-recorded message that the gunman substituted for the broadcast of the fake electoral victory of “Demo”. In effect, Soyinka moved, in the same act, the same event, from an insult to the people of the Western Region to the implications of “Demo’s” electoral superlative act of rigging for fascist, violent suppression of rights throughout the whole country. In other words, he moved from identity politics to the politics of popular, radical democracy for and in the whole country.

    The great supposition of identity politics is that when one acts in the domain of politics one ought to act, first and foremost, in the interest of oneself and one’s own group of belonging, be that group racial, ethnic, regional or religious. On this account, only a Black man or woman can best speak for and represent Black people in the United States of America. In Nigeria only the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), only Ohaneze Ndigbo  and only the Odua People’s Congress (OPC) can speak for and represent the interests of Northerners, Igbos and Yorubas respectively. Indeed, the often unspoken but unshakeable faith of proponents and practitioners of  identity politics rests on the premise that only members of one’s own natal group can act best in the interest of the group. But this is a questionable assumption. As we have seen in the two cases embodied by “Fani Power” and Wole Soyinka in Western Regional elections of 1965, one protagonist whose party claimed to be acting for and in the interests of the Yorubas was actually confronting them with fascism and political enslavement while the other agent extended the sphere of his identity politics far beyond the Western Region to the whole country. This raises the fundamental question of how exactly identity politics combines the personal interests of, on the one hand, the professional politician and, on the other hand, the interests of the totality of members of the racial, ethnic or religious group to which the politician belongs. In coming to the conclusion of this piece, let us carefully examine the ramifications of this question.

    The basic presupposition of identity politics is that the circles of interests between the politician and his “tribe”, region or religious community converge. But this is hardly ever the case. This question becomes even more complex and more fraught when, as in a country like Nigeria at the present time, virtually in all the communities in the given nation, the vast majority of the people are very, very poor. Poverty always makes nonsense of the presuppositions of identity politics and the more extreme and widespread the poverty, the more deeply problematic the play of identity politics. Let me put this observation in the form of some concrete questions. Are the Northern poor, the Southern poor, the Niger Delta poor, the Christian poor, the Moslem poor, the Ekiti State poor and the Akwa Ibom poor, the Kanuri poor and the Tiv poor each be best represented and spoken for by the big men and women, the professional politicians of each group? If not, who speaks for all the poor of the land, for the 7 out of every 10 Nigerians who live in abject poverty? What do each of the two main ruling class parties, the PDP and the APC, have in their composition and in their ideologies to give us an indication of the differences between them in the practice of identity politics? Are there in fact any significant differences between them on this particular point? What does the inherent identity politics in the alliance of the “core” North and the Southwest as the dominant formation within the APC portend for the interest of the poor of the land, if at all it portends anything by way of social, redistributive justice in our time? Finally the most basic question of all: Why do the poor, in our country, as in many other countries of the world, often vote and act against their own economic and political interests in the name of and under the sign of identity politics? These and other related questions and issues will provide our starting point in next week’s conclusion to the series.

    [To be continued]

    Biodun Jeyifo

    bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu