It is hardly surprising that the National Council of State rose after an eight hour meeting on Thursday, February 5 with a decision not to postpone the election scheduled for February 14 and 28 as canvassed in certain quarters.
It would have been rather surprising if the eminent citizens who are members of the advisory council had succumbed to the pressure and shenanigans of those that orchestrated the call.
It was obvious that for the sake of peace and diplomacy, to say nothing of the survival of our democracy and enduring stability of the polity, that the tomfoolery evident in the call needed to be stymied. Nigeria is teetering on the edge of an abyss and it is startling that political gladiators seem to be oblivious of this fact.
How can any sensible Nigerian call for a postponement less than one week to the polls? I have heard some people argue that if the elections are postponed for a month or two, it will still not violate the electoral law. Maybe!
But what will the rescheduling achieve? What will be the ultimate goal? Is it to ensure that peace reigns in the country? Are we saying that if elections are not held this month then Boko Haram lunatics will lay down their arms or be defeated on the battle field?
What is the guarantee that the insurgents will be defeated before April so that the elections can hold? If they can be easily defeated in a month or two, why has it been difficult to do so in the past four years?
If the federal government has suddenly found the magic wand to dislodge the evil group, does it not lend credence to the school of thought that the country’s inability to defeat the group has more to do with politics than the capacity of the Nigerian state?
On the other hand, the question needs to be asked if Boko Haram warlords are waging their war of attrition against the Nigerian state because the elections were scheduled to hold in February. My answer is hardly!
Some of the vote-postponement protagonists predicate their call on the seeming unpreparedness of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Many cite the difficulties in the distribution of permanent voter cards (PVCs) as evidence of INEC’s unpreparedness.
While the perceived shoddiness is worrisome, the INEC has said for the umpteenth time that it is ready. Its Chairman, Attahiru Jega, has restated in clear and unambiguous terms his and the commission’s determination and ability to conduct the elections as planned.
In any case, it has taken the INEC and the federal government four years to prepare for this election. If the INEC has failed as woefully as we are being told, what is the guarantee that it will achieve in one or two months what it has failed to achieve in four years?
If we postpone the election for, say, two months but at the end discover that neither the ferocity of Boko Haram insurgency has abated nor has the INEC got its act together, then what happens?
The call for postponement is not altruistic. It has nothing to do with Boko Haram and the level of preparedness of the INEC. The call is self-serving and narcissistic. It is sinister. A throwback to the June 12, 1993 debacle that convulsed Nigeria and enthroned the brutish regime of Sani Abacha.
The worry is that even as the Council of State has advised that the elections should be held as scheduled, those scheming to scuttle the polls will not stop.
Jega was quoted as telling the Council that “our accomplishments are to such a degree that we can conduct the elections. Compared with the 2011 general elections, for instance, our systems are definitely more robust … We believe that we are ready for the elections as planned.”
If this is true, and I guess it is, why would anyone stop the elections even if the National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, insists that there are security challenges in 14 local government councils in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states? Shouldn’t Jega be given the benefit of the doubt? When he was appointed in 2010 to replace Professor Maurice Iwu, many said a Daniel had come to judgment and President Goodluck Jonathan reaped huge political capital from the appointment. So, what has changed? Is Jega no longer the electoral messiah? Is he no longer the proof of Jonathan’s vow and determination to enthrone free and fair elections?
It is instructive that Dasuki is changing the narrative now. When he addressed Chatham House in London on January 22, and asked for a postponement of the polls for three months, he predicated it on the inability of the INEC to distribute PVCs.
He informed his audience that he had already suggested to Jega that a postponement within the three months allowed by the Electoral Act was a good idea. Yet, at the Council of State meeting, Dasuki’s narrative changed. It was no longer the unpreparedness of the INEC. It was in security in the North East.
It is a shame that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Presidency are the champions of this ill-advised cause. The most logical conclusion that can be made from the drama is that the ruling party is afraid of the polls? And that is a tragedy for both the party and the country.
The PDP has been in power for almost 16 years and Jonathan has been in office for almost six years. In a democracy, it is easier for the political party in power to win elections because it can point to its accomplishments while the opposition relies on “promissory notes.”
The fact that the PDP and the Presidency are pushing for a postponement while the opposition APC is insisting that the elections must hold is instructive. The only interpretation is that the PDP is apprehensive that it may lose, and therefore needs more time to get its act together and see if its rhetoric gels with voters.
While that is a legitimate aspiration, after all, every political party wants to win election, it cannot be to the detriment of the Nigerian state.
But knowing the antecedent of the vote postponement crusaders, they won’t stop easily. Having failed at the Council of State, they are ready to shift the battle to the judiciary. So, we are bound to experience once again the drama that characterised the 1993 ballot.
Huge sums of money have been pumped into the postponement campaign that it has become a do-or-die affair. But it is an agitation that must fail for the sake of the country. The elections must hold as scheduled.
Democracy is the best form of government because it is a government of the people by the people and for the people, as enunciated by Abraham Lincoln, one-time president of the United States. Democracy does not guarantee a government run by angels. No! But it guarantees the sovereign right of the people to elect those to superintend over their affairs.
It is the responsibility of the political parties to convince the electorate on which direction to go. The PDP seems to be doing badly on this score. But it has itself to blame because, ordinarily, it should have all the aces in its kitty.
If the APC has more traction a week to the vote, it means that the PDP is poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. That is no reason to postpone the elections.
The will of the people, which oils the wheels of democracy, must always have a free reign. Anything short of that is a recipe for anarchy. Nigerians should not be sacrificed on the altar of the inordinate ambition of self-centered politicians. Elections must hold on February 14 and 28.
