We are living in interesting times. It has become very obvious that a section of the political class does not want the elections to hold for reasons best known to it. But whatever those reasons are, they are not altruistic. They are narcissistic. The reasons for such political malfeasance are immoral.
Whoever does not want these elections to hold on March 28 and April 11 does not wish this country well.
The six-week postponement should have provided the political parties the opportunity to cover the ground left fallow before the vote was rescheduled from February 14 and 28. They should have been on the home stretch by now, hustling for votes in door-to-door campaigns and town hall meetings – different from the jamborees called rallies.
But they are doing none of these. Instead, the extension seems to provide them the opportunity for greater mischief. What is becoming evident is that most of the parties and their leaders are not prepared for the polls and want to do anything possible to ensure they do not hold without caring a hoot about the consequences.
A well-choreographed plot. The Biblical “hand of Esau and voice of Jacob.”
The question that continues to concentrate my mind is what these parties will gain if the elections are not held.
On February 26, 23 political parties under the auspices of the Borno State chapter of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) called for the postponement of elections in the state by five months, to September, citing insecurity.
IPAC, which comprises all registered political parties, said an interim government should be formed in the state when the tenure of the current administation elapses on May 29. Two of the 23 party representatives who signed the statement were governorship candidates. The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), however, did not sign.
This call came a few days after President Goodluck Jonathan publicly declared that any call for an interim government was treasonable.
Then on February 24, the kinsmen of Jonathan’s wife, Patience, in Okirika Local Government of Rivers State – including the vicious creek warlord, Ateke Tom, who has suddenly found his rhythm again after several years of being in limbo – banned political rallies in the local government.
The people claimed that their action was a reaction to the violent attack on the APC on February 17 in which one policeman was killed.
“As a result of what happened, stakeholders have decided that there should be no more rallies for now in Okrika until further notice. The town (Okrika) has spoken and the decision is unanimous.
“The decision was taken to avoid further incidence of violence as a result of the attitude of political parties,” said one Marcus Orabipi, who spoke on behalf of the community.
The PDP had held a rally in the town without disruption, and rather than the security agencies investigating and fishing out the hoodlums who threw bombs and shot at defenceless politicians at the APC rally, all rallies have been banned by characters like Ateke Tom.
Then on March 4, four political parties threatened to boycott the elections if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) uses card readers to validate Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and also asked INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, to proceed on terminal leave. They accused him of unprofessionalism and poor judgment.
We “observed some obvious but dangerous developments in the proposed use of card readers” by the INEC, said the group, which included MEGA Progressive Peoples Party (MPPP) National Chairman, Dare Falade; and presidential candidates Kelvin Alagoa of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), and Rafiu Salau of Alliance for Democracy (AD).
“The card reader is a device which is susceptible to manipulations to favour particular candidates and in the process, disenfranchise many registered Nigerian voters or potential election winners,” the group argued.
How will the use of card readers favour candidates and who are these candidates? They did not explain. A red herring!
Their only concern is that “since Attahiru Jega has shown a lack of professionalism and good judgment in his actions so far in the conduct of the 2015 elections and since he has about three months to the end of his tenure as INEC Chairman, we, the stakeholders, urge him to quietly consider proceeding on terminal leave so that a more competent person can handle the current election process.”
In puerile theatrics reminiscent of what characterised the June 12, 1993 election annulment, Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) National Chairman, Onwubuya Breakforth, who spoke on behalf of the group, claimed that the three parties, alongside his ACD, represented 15 political parties.
If there were indeed 15 political parties behind this plot, why are the 11 others not coming forward to own up to their monkeyshines if they actually believe in the cause they claim to be fighting?
None of these political parties can win even councillorship election. So, what is their stake? Who is using them for this grievous mischief? Who are they working for? Who is the piper playing the tune they are dancing to? Again, the hand of Esau, the voice of Jacob.
This call by the four political parties came a day after a Federal High Court in Abuja refused an application by AD, United Democratic Party (UDP), Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), and Action Alliance to stop the INEC from using card readers to accredit voters.
It is also interesting that the PDP and the Jonathan Campaign Organisation, which had all along claimed they had nothing against the card readers, are now aligning with those who want the technology jettisoned.
Spokesperson for the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign, Femi Fani-Kayode, said on the same March 4 that PDP’s position on card readers remained that “the machine has not been tested in any election and there are bases for genuine concern over the use of the machine, for the first time, in a crucial election of this magnitude.”
Then on March 5, a little known Young Democratic Party (YDP), got an Abuja High Court to compel the INEC to recognise and to accommodate it in the elections that are barely four weeks away.
And on the basis of the recognition, the party is ordering the INEC to either reprint the ballot papers to include it for the elections or postpone the vote.
Claiming that his party was ready for the polls, Ugo Nwofor, YDP’s Publicity Secretary, told journalists in Abuja on the day that the INEC “has just two options.”
The conditions, according to him, include reprinting the ballot papers to accommodate the YDP and its candidates.
If the INEC does not have “appropriation for logistics” for reprinting the ballot papers, Nwofor issued the second option which was that the “lNEC should postpone the elections to accommodate our party.”
These are all booby traps for the INEC. The road to free and fair elections has been dangerously mined.
The campaigns have since degenerated into name-calling. Issues are thrown out of the window. All manner of political shibboleths are thrown into the mix. Insults are on parade. It is as if what will win the election is who has the capacity to pour more venom.
Politicians and their political parties forget that democracy is all about the people – their welfare; about the promotion of public good.
What I find most ironic in the unfolding drama is the PDP’s undisguised contempt for Jega. And I ask, when did he become a villain? Is this not the same Jega that Jonathan used as a poster boy for free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria?
Hasn’t Jonathan touted “credible elections” as one of his biggest achievements since 2010? Weren’t those “credible elections” superintended by this same Jega?
So, what has changed? Is it the introduction of card readers? How does that make Jega a less credible umpire? Or is there something the long-suffering people of Nigeria are not being told?
With the spate of denunciations and court cases against the INEC and the elections, I see another June 12 in the making. I see a systematic and deliberate effort to discredit Jega and delegitimise the INEC. I see June 12 saga all over again.
There is a conscious effort to undermine the INEC rather than strengthening it to carry out its constitutional duties. I don’t know whose or what purpose all these shenanigans will serve. But the augury has never been starker.
I only hope common sense will prevail sooner than later so that this country will pull back from the brink before it is too late.