Ngor Okpala election has shown clearly that it is not yet uhuru for Nigerians as the party in power has not abandoned the satanic desire to foist itself on Nigerians in 2023.
By Sonny Ogulewe
The amended Electoral Act that has ushered in a new electoral process was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, curiously a day to the Ngor Okpala State Constituency by-election in Imo State. By law, the amended electoral act came in effect from the moment it was signed by Mr. President and therefore was the substantive electoral law that guided the Ngor Okpala State Assembly by-election and other by-elections that took place across the country that same day.
Going by the bipartisan enthusiasm expressed by Nigerians over the signing of the amendment bill, Nigerians had expected that the litmus test of the new Act would have been the conduct of a flawless by-election across the country particularly in Imo State.
Instead, the rigging of that election was so brazen and shameful that it has put a huge question mark on the effectiveness of the new Electoral Act to check electoral malfeasance and the readiness of the party in power to advance the frontiers of a credible electoral process in Nigeria going forward in 2023.
Nigerians have not forgotten the efforts made by the APC to frustrate the amendment particularly the electronic transmission of results and other associated electronic components of the electoral process. But at the end the joint pressures from the watchful populace in collaboration with the civil society groups made it impossible for the party not to backtrack on their initial plans to frustrate the amendment.
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However, the Ngor Okpala election has shown clearly that it is not yet uhuru for Nigerians as the party in power has not abandoned the satanic desire to foist itself on Nigerians in 2023. The dominant view in the market places, drinking bars, social and political gatherings is the fact that Nigerians are passing through excruciating times never experienced in Nigeria’s history and by this view, under any credible election, the APC stands no chance of returning to power. But the desperation of the governing party is not healthy to the endurance of our hard won democracy considering the dramatic political developments in the West African sub-region.
The developments in Eastern Europe should be a concern to all lovers of democracy in Nigeria. Two weeks ago Russia invaded Ukraine in what has ostensibly been described as the highest level of brazen provocation and impunity that confounds the civilized world and tasked the place of diplomacy in contemporary international relations. The issues in contention were hardly issues that should provoke such monumental damage to moral judgment and total affront to international law and diplomacy. The sovereignty of the states is held sacrosanct in the conduct of international relations but this invasion is completely out of place and the global community of civilized nations has been taken unawares and confronted with a completely new global challenge and nuclear threat.
The West and other civilized world are presently focused on the Russian/Ukraine crisis and managing the consequences of it which essentially has become a present challenge that would dominate political and diplomatic discourse in several months to come. The unintended economic and social consequences will certainly be a huge issue that would also engage the international community in several months to come.
All the diplomatic resources will definitely be channeled towards mitigating the overall dislocation of the international system to the neglect of any other global issue. A good observation of the international media focus is that it has shifted from covid-19 pandemic to the Russian/Ukraine war. To the international community nothing matters more than managing the present challenge.
Nigerian’s general election will take place in 2023 just few months away. And not many Nigerians have any recollection of any impact this Russian/Ukraine war would have on the country’s 2023 general elections. There are certainly consequential effects of this war that will significantly impact on a smooth transition of power.
Elections world over particularly in developing countries have always been on the radar of the international community as the outcome almost always impacts on the general wellbeing of the globalized world either negatively of positively. In Nigeria, elections are akin to war because the drive is for power and ultimately accumulation of surplus not for service and a dangerous dimension of this enterprise is only moderated by external scrutiny.
Now that attention of the world will be focused on the mitigating or ameliorating the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there will be little attention on Nigeria’s election which going by dress rehearsal at Ngor Okpala will be “the mother of all rigging” in 2023. The attention of the international community will not be deployed to ensure that the actors conduct themselves in a civilized manner for a fair and credible election to take place. This is a source of concern.
The validation or otherwise of elections in the developing countries by the global bodies as basis for future collaborations have always moderated desperation of the parties particularly the party in power in these countries. In the absence of these efforts in 2023 elections consequent upon the shift of focus to the present war in the Eastern Europe and the consequences of it, a license for impunity which the party ably demonstrated during the Ngor Okpala State of Assembly by-election will be widespread in a more dangerous dimension.
The massive and brazen rigging of the Ngor Okpala by-election has given INEC new insights on certain loopholes unscrupulous politicians may exploit to derail the good plans laid out by the commission for a more credible election. I do not doubt the sincerity of INEC but It is however important that the commission again looks into the operationalization of the Act to ensure that any perceived gap inadvertently created to give vent to impunity as demonstrated at the by-election in Imo State is immediately addressed.
One important lacuna is the voting after accreditation has been completed rather voting should go on simultaneously with accreditation if the integrity of the election process is to be preserved and to save our democracy from collapse..
Sonny Ogulewe Ph.D, wrote from Imo State