Complex issues milling around the nation, especially on the upcoming general elections, attract mixed expressions from civil society activists. Senior Correspondent, ONYEWUCHI OJINNAKA, writes
Shortly after the February 5 National Council of States (NCS) meeting, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, in a press conference on February 7 shifted the polls by six weeks, citing inadequate security arrangements. He further disclosed that soldiers will be deployed to voting centres to complement the efforts of the police and that over 75 per cent of the Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) had been distributed. Soon after, reactions began to trail the pronouncement over some complex issues.
Protest
Penultimate Saturday, protesters under the auspices of Nigerians United for Democracy (NUD) demonstrated in Abuja against the new dates for 2015 elections. The protesters also demanded the immediate sack of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Dasuki Sambo, and the four service chiefs for threatening democracy.
Organisers of the protest were Solomon Dalong, Femi Falana (SAN), Jibrin Ibrahim, Ezenwa Nwagwu, Emman Shehu, Fatima Zanna Gana, Ibrahim Wala and Elvis Iyorngurum, while Tarr Ukoh led a music band at the rally.
The protesters, who were under police watch, marched from the Unity Fountain to the Eagle Square and other places, chanting solidarity songs and slogans. They displayed banners and placards with inscription “Jega Must Stay for Credible Elections”, “No Repeat of June 12”, “On March 28 We Stand”, “Respect Nigeria’s Electoral Laws”, “Our Words Our Integrity Mr. President”, “Service Chiefs Pack And Go” among others.
Speaking at the rally, the Director, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Idayat Hassan, expressed fear that the elections and the nation’s democracy are being threatened, stressing the need for all Nigerians to be on guard and protect the 16-year-old democracy from being truncated.
Expatiating the position of the protesters, Shehu said the unfolding circumstances in the nation’s polity, which are threats to the nation’s hard-earned democracy, necessitated their actions and the rally.
“We find their (NSA and service chiefs) threat not to provide security to INEC for the conduct of the elections as blackmail and indeed a coup against an institution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and, invariably, on the Nigerian people. We therefore demand that there should never be a further postponement of the elections; that the leadership of INEC as presently constituted under the chairmanship of Prof. Attahiru Jega should be maintained, given all due support and allowed to carry out its functions without any further interference,” Shehu stated.
He further noted that the use of PVCs and card-readers are critical to a credible election and, therefore, must not be subverted.
The development made TheNiche to ask some civil society activists to express their position on the issues.
Tunde Aremu of ActionAid International Nigeria said it is obvious that the INEC chairman has no say on the issue of security, adding that security issues is the prerogatives of the Commander-in-Chief and the security chiefs.
“Where such individuals with the responsibilities of ensuring our security have made it clear that they are unable to guarantee the safety of the citizens and electoral officials, it would have been foolhardy on the part of the electoral body to go ahead with the elections,” he said.
But the executive director of Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Adetokunbo Mumuni, differed slightly with the position of Aremu. According to Mumuni, there are more to it than the security issue. He posited that security is not the only concern which led to the postponement. “My sincere opinion is that there were other more detailed and non-altruistic reasons for the postponement of the elections,” he expressed.
Speaking on the cncern of Nigerians over the slow distribution of PVCs, Aremu opined that the production and distribution of the PVC ought to have commenced before the time it started. He, however, noted that there was remarkable improvement recently in the distribution of PVCs. On the readiness of INEC to conduct elections, he said “due to the politics of the postponements and the politicisation of the discourse around logistic issues by the major political parties, it is actually hard to say for certain that INEC was not ready for the elections or that the PVCs were not ready”.
Mumuni agreed that the distribution of PVCs has not been perfect, pointing out that 100 per cent distribution or collection of PVCs cannot be achieved, no matter the effort.
“It should not be forgotten that there are Nigerians who were forced to register in the first place; there are those that are dead since the last registration; there are those who have relocated to other new and far-flung places and there are those who are totally disenchanted with the way politicians run the country and who believe that the political process is not worth pursuing or participating, so that no matter what effort and persuasion is used, these set of Nigerians will not go and collect their PVCs”.
Special court
Speaking on the call for special courts as canvassed by the Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) and National Chairman of National Conscience Party (NCP), Tanko Yunusa, Mumuni has a contrary position.
The SERAP executive director said there is no need to create special courts for electoral offences; rather what is needed is the full empowerment of existing judicial structures for effective handling of all criminal matters. According to him, creating special court for electoral offences would be saddled with its own bureaucratic settings and structures that will add to the costs of running the proposed new courts. He pointed out that in contemporary time, the complaint on insufficient resources to meet expenses.
“Once electoral offences are criminal offences, the present criminal justice system can effectively be used in the prosecution of electoral criminals. What is needed is commitment of the existing system of criminal justice administration,” Mumuni stressed.
However, Aremu said that given the peculiarities and past experiences with the trials of electoral matters, there is the temptation to call for a special tribunal to try electoral offences, but also, there is the need to ask what the existing challenges and factors responsible for the challenges are, saying that there is the need to address the challenges.
He pondered on the issue with the following posers: “If we have issues with our judiciary, can we address them? A special tribunal is just another shortcut. Why don’t we address the challenges at the courts? Why don’t we empower the judiciary to deliver on its duties? That should be our priority, not another special tribunal. Very soon, if care is not taken, we will have special tribunal for sneezing in public place.”
Part-time legislative system
On adoption of part-time legislative system which was re-echoed by Prof. Nkem Onyekpe of the Department of History and Strategic Studies, University of Lagos (UNILAG) at the 9th Beko Memorial Anniversary/Public Lecture, Mumuni said he fully supports the call for part-time legislature as was done in the First Republic, stressing that it will reduce the cost of governance. He argued that legislators would be entitled to sitting allowances. Besides, “it will make the struggle for legislative houses less attractive and competition to get there less cut-throat”.
He, however, cast doubts on the impact of part-time legislature in reducing corruption. Tackling the issue of corruption requires more holistic and not a tokenistic handling, because there are socio-economic factors prevailing in Nigeria which is fuelling corruption that have to be comprehensively addressed, he noted.
Aremu aligned with the position of Onyekpe and Mumuni by saying that with what we have seen of the legislative practice in Nigeria so far, we do not need full-time lawmakers.
He, however, said that legislative system and corruption should not be mixed together, stressing that even with part-time legislature, corruption will still be carried out in utter contempt of the people.
“What stems corruption is a strong disincentive for corrupt practices. If people are severely punished for corruption, the act will reduce. But where people who are known to have stolen from our commonwealth are, for reasons of political expediency, given state pardon, rewarded with special recognition and are conferred with national honours, the message it sends across is that someone can steal, but make sure he or she steals money big enough to buy special recognition and make sure he or she belongs to the right political platform.
“But one thing about the type of legislative system that we run now is that it is too expensive, and the result from the investment on full-time legislative system is not commensurate with the huge investment on it. Let people go and work or do their business and serve as part-time law makers.”
ActionAid also observed that poverty is very much prevalent in Nigeria as a result of widespread corruption and the failure of the security agencies to subdue it.
According to its country director, Hussaini Abdu, a research carried out to find the relationship between corruption and poverty linked growing poverty to the growing spate of corruption which has led to failure of public schools, utilities and infrastructure.
Through the research, it was further discovered that corruption, which has led to failure of public schools, has encouraged citizens to find ways to survive, thus leading to more corruption and poverty.
The group also stated that the failure of the nation’s security agencies to checkmate corrupt practices has led to the proliferation of private security agencies which corporate organisations and individuals have subscribed to.
According to the research carried out by the group, “because of the failure of these agencies, corporate bodies and individuals have to budget for their securities thus leading to cutting of corners and corruption to meet up the costs”.
It discovered that since 1999 when the country returned to civil rule, “corruption has been democratised” as politics has become the most lucrative business in the land. “It is an investment, and when you win, you reap the dividend.”
Deployment of soldiers during elections
The two activists deplored the deployment of soldiers in peacetime, especially for electoral issues, describing it as unnecessary and only serving the purpose of creating fear and tension in the society.
According to Aremu, it is another issue of concern because it is a way of further politicising the military when the country draws them out every time for such things as elections. “Let them focus on the primary duty of safeguarding the territorial integrity of the nation.”
Mumuni added: “I totally do not subscribe to this idea. I consider this to be a misapplication and abuse of the Nigerian military. The electoral process is a civil exercise, the police are the only set of personnel that should partake in civil exercise. The Boko Haram insurgency is already a handful for the military, the military should face essentially military duties.”
