By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A coalition of civil society advocates North and South says it is of no use to scapegoat anyone for the shift of the presidential vote to February 23, which caused losses to individuals and the nation.
Allegations are being traded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with one accusing the other of engineering the shift from February 16 to perfect its rigging plan.
The postponement of the election five hours to balloting last Saturday surprised and inconvenienced thousands of Nigerians who had travelled long distances to vote.
It also cost the economy $1.5 billion, according to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), which warns that economic activity would not pick up until after the election.
A statement issued by the activists appealed to all stakeholders to stop pointing accusing fingers at any individual or group, and instead ensure the elections hold and winners progress the Nigerian project.
The statement was signed by Adele Jinadu (Chair, Election Analysis Centre), Femi Falana (legal practitioner), Ebere Onwudiwe (political economist), Jibrin Ibrahim (political scientist), and Y. Z, Ya’u (Co-Chair, Situation Room)
Other signatories are Idayat Hassan (Director, Centre for Democracy and Development), Ayo Obe (legal practitioner), Hussaini Abdu (Country Director, Plan International), and Auwal Musa Rafsanjani (Executive Director, CISLAC).
“We remain concerned,” they said, over the invitation of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the Department of State Services (DSS), even though the summons were later withdrawn.
The DSS had invited for interrogation Okechukwu Ibranu (INEC National Commissioner), Chidi Nwafor (Director of Information and Communication Technology).
Also invited were Ken Ukeagu (Director of Procurement), Osaze Uzzi (Director of Voter Education and Publicity), and Bimbo Oladunjoye (Assistant Director of ICT).
The DSS can convene and interrogate anyone suspected to be a threat to national security, and the activists said, “we do not in any way question that.
“Our concerns stem from a web design that suddenly emerged on social media yesterday (February 22) presenting alleged linkages between the Atiku Campaign Organisation and leading civil society activists of Igbo ethnicity and Professor Okechukwu Ibeanu in INEC.”
Those targeted were Olisa Agbakoba, Clement Nwankwo, Sam Amadi, Innocent Chukwuma, and Chidi Odinkalu, all of them well known national and international rights activists of Igbo extraction.
Alleged links were then drawn to Ibeanu and Mike Ogini of INEC; Senate President Bukola Saraki, the Ballard facilitation of the trip Atiku Abubaka made to to the United States, and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Atiku is the presidential candidate of the PDP and the main challenger to Muhammadu Buhari, incumbent president and candidate of the APC.
“Within hours of the circulation of this web, a massive social media campaign with the hashtag #INECIbeanuMustGo was trending presenting Ibeanu as the Atiku Campaign mole in INEC with responsibility for scuttling last Saturday’s election and rigging the forthcoming elections.
“We know Okechukwu Ibeanu to be a committed democrat who has devoted his life to the struggle for peace and democracy in Nigeria,” the statement stressed.
“He is a respected professor of political science and was in charge of logistics, having taken over from Amina Zakari in October 2018.
“Subsequently, a different ad hoc committee was set up specifically for the elections. The ad hoc committee has 17 members, and is headed by Ahmed Tijjani Mu’azu, a retired Air Vice Marshal.
“Making Ibeanu the fall guy for the botched elections is therefore completely wrong. INEC has collective responsibility for the failure.”
The activists said there appears to be an orchestrated campaign against Ibeanu, because his house in Enugu and his car have been broken into with valuables, including laptops and iPads, taken away.
On February 18, 2019, an article he wrote in December 2015 resurfaced on social media followed with a comment: “Nigeria has a Biafran agitator as the REC for Logistics, no wonder this unpatriotic individual, Professor Okechukwu Ibeanu, who has made his mission to undermine the Nigerian state.”
Ibeanu’s article was a rejoinder to an article on Perceptions of the Igbo Question and Biafara written by Ibrahim, one of the signatories of this press release.
Ibeanu has had a distinguished academic career at home and abroad and was special rapporteur of the United Nations from 2004 to 2010.
In 2016, he was appointed INEC National Commissioner representing the South East.
He was the Chief Technical Officer to Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman between 2010 and 2015, and contributed to the success of the elections in 2011 and 2015.
The signatories expressed the following concerns:
- There are too many conspiracy theories and a great deal of mudslinging in the campaign, which is characterised by strong ethno-religious mobilisation on all sides, and harmful to nation building.
- This is a clearly orchestrated campaign to smear the names of these people, most of whom have devoted their lives to the struggle against military rule and for democracy for three to four decades.
- The campaign is divisive and is geared to smear an ethnic group and present them as enemies of democracy and free and fair elections.
4) The smear campaign can only do harm to the difficult process consolidating Nigerian democracy.
The activists urged all stakeholders to desist from pursuing campaigns of calumny against any group, and to instead, “focus on ensuring that the elections hold in a spirit of nation building that would allow the winners of the elections carry forward the Nigerian national project.
“Let us all work with the INEC and all other authorities involved in the electoral process to rebuild trust, and to ensure that there is peace and concord before, during, and after the elections.”
