INEC Election Time-Table: The roadmap to another democratic abyss

Those who hailed Prof. Attahiru Jega shortly after his nomination and subsequent appointment as the next INEC helmsman would now read between the lines that his popularly avowed credibility is beginning to tow the line of doubt. The recently released time table for the 2011 elections is an indication that we are heading towards another ‘iwuistic’ type of electoral results fraught with anomalies and general condemnation. The time table, apart from putting everybody under pressure, is designed to fail because the timing is too short for any meaningful planning and execution of credible elections; the order of the election which put presidential election before governorship is a strategy designed and perfected in 2003 and now inherited by the ‘Proff’ to rig elections for PDP in many states in the coming elections.

Besides, the 2010 electoral Act has been inundated with booby traps that will eventually set the country on another round of petitions which would not resolved within six months before the swearing-in as stipulated by the new electoral act. Specifically, section 133(1) of the electoral Act provides that, “No election and return at an election under this Act shall be questioned in any manner other than by a petition complaining of an undue election or undue return (in this Act referred to as an “election petition”) presented to the competent tribunal or court in accordance with the provision of the constitution or this Act, and in which a person elected or returned is joined as a party.”

The straw that broke the camel’s back is section 132(2) which defines tribunal or court to mean in the case of Presidential or Governorship election, the Court of Appeal and in case of any other elections under the Act, the election tribunal established under the constitution or Act. The implication is that the Court of Appeal now has original jurisdiction in the determination of Presidential and Governorship election disputes. One need not be lawyer to interpret the import of this section and the implications it would have for our democracy.

Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the twelfth year anniversary of the party last August thumped their chest as the best party ever existed in Nigeria. While rolling out their achievements, the leadership of the party posited that their twelve years in the saddle of power has brought both stability and economic advancement to the Nigerian polity. The question is: how many people are richer and how many poorer since they have been in power?. The answer is not far-fetched: there friends, families and cronies. Is this how economic development is measured when majority are wallowing in abject poverty?

I think it will be appropriate for me to highlight some of the PDP’s achievements in the last twelve years which they could list due to the neglect in their oversight functions, to wit: epileptic power supply is part of the economic advancement; privatization of education is also part of the economic advancement; hospitals without modern facilities with medical personnels moving in and out of strike for unpaid allowances is also an achievement worth mentioning; inability to fix our refineries is economic growth; the deplorable state of the federal roads is a major achievement; institutionalised corruption with EFCC being used only to harassed perceived enemies of the government including their members is a very good one; massive unemployment of youths and the use of some as political thugs is also a brilliant achievement; manufacturing companies in the country are closing shop, while the country has been reduced to a consuming nation, importing more than exporting is a great accomplishment. What future for our technological advancement in the face of all these so called achievements by the PDP-controlled government?

Let’s face it, of what use is our so-called ‘political stability’ that has not translated into job for the jobless, home for the homeless, compulsory and qualitative education for the children of the less privileged, good medical care for the citizenry, improvement in the infrastructure necessary socio-economic growth and development, vibrant manufacturing industry, uninterruptible power supply, functional refineries, solid financial institutions to mention just a few.

The leadership of the PDP who gathered to reel out the so called ‘achievements’ should bury their heads in shame. Rather than boost, they should apologise to Nigerians for putting them through this tortuous road to economic slavery and political hegemony in the last twelve years. The handling of 2011 elections under this obnoxious electoral Act and horridly prepared time-table will determine the level of seriousness to make our votes count and engender credibility in the political system largely dictated by the PDP. Let’s save Nigeria, so Nigeria won’t die!

GOD help Nigeria!

Nigerianisation Policy: Panacea for socio-cultural and political integration of Nigeria.

Any time I review the Nigerian political history from 1914 to present day, one personality always cuts my attention. And that person is the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and the former Premier of the Northern Nigeria. I admire this rare gem because of his unique vision for his people and the Nigerian people in general. He was a selfless leader who chose to serve his people within the northern enclave rather than taken up the Prime Ministerial post even when he had every right to it as the founder and leader of the Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC). Rather, he relinquished that to Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and chose to build his people back home. He was a forthright personality who would not play politics with his emotions. He was rich in political sagacity, yet chose to be poor materially even with all resources at his disposal. What a perfect example of selfless service to his people.

During a conversation with the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the former ceremonial President of Nigeria in the first republic, he said: ‘let us understand our differences, you are a Christian and a Southerner, I am a Muslim and a Northerner, if we understand our differences, Nigeria will move forward’. That was in response to Azikiwe’s position that we should forget our differences so that Nigeria can move forward.

The two founding fathers of Nigeria admitted and agreed that differences exist between the northern and southern part of the country, but disagreed on how to deal with those differences. It is between forgetting our differences and understanding them. It is only an irrational being that would forget his background and exchange it for a foreign identity; in fact it is the essence of our socio-cultural existence as a nation. However, in identifying with our tribe we must strike a balance by understanding the feelings of other nationalities within the same geographical entity in other to achieve harmonious living. The import of this argument lay the basis that what exists amongst Nigerians is social contract which was later reinforced by Chief Awolowo’s assertions that Nigeria ‘‘is a mere geographical expression’’. At this point, we must admit that we are people born of the same father, but different mothers. But our fatherland must not be destroyed because we want to maintain at all cost our ‘maternal’ lineage.

The failure to ‘forget our differences’ may have informed the reason behind the ‘Northernisation Policy’ of Ahmadu Bello during his tenure as the Premier of the Northern region. Though conceived as a balancing act to catch up with the development in other regions of the country, the thrust of that policy was first and foremost to unite the North irrespective of cultural, religious and political inclination. Ahmadu Bello worked closely with non-Muslims to achieve his vision for northern unity, which was a rare feat for a core Fulani living or dead. It was a brilliant manifesto and remains till date an attempt to unite a people of a region, making it to forget their differences as a major block in a united Nigeria and focusing on socio-economic transformation in which everybody became a major player and participant. Although the Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC) was not the only political party in the north during the period, Ahmadu Bello succeeded through this policy to mobilise the people and made them see themselves as one and indivisible entity using socio-cultural appeal which today is manifesting in strong political structure that threatens the southern block.

My quarrel with late Sir Ahmadu Bello of blessed memory is that he failed to turn this idea into a national agenda. As the leader of the defunct Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC), one thought he could have incorporated this document into the manifesto of NPC which controlled the centre. Rather, he chose to make it a regional policy for consolidating the political ideologies of the northern Nigerian to further harness the economic and political potentials of his people.

It is rather sad to note that 50 years after independence, we are still looking for common identity; common direction and agreed terms of corporate existence. We have failed to identify grounds for the consolidation of our paternal relationship. It is only at public fora that our people identified themselves as Nigerians or when they are outside the country, whereas in the comfort of their homes and in their private discussions they thump their chest as Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Ijaw, Tiv, Fulani, etc the list is endless. Where is our national unity, when, a Yoruba man from south west cannot contest and win elections or get political appointment in South Eastern part of the country; and Igbo man from South East cannot feel at home in the northern part?. We have failed to see ourselves as one indivisible family.

To face the truth, the unity of Nigeria is under threat except urgent measures are taking towards replicating the ideals of the founding fathers of Nigeria. Ahmadu Bello’s ‘Northernisation Policy’ document could serve as a guide for producing a prototype on ‘Nigerianisation Policy’ document. Such a policy if modified to reflect modern realities and backed by adequate act of the parliament would usher in a new Nigeria where all will be proud to live in and call his own. To achieve this, one of the objectives of the policy must be geared towards making true Nigerians, out of the present arrangement, with inalienable rights to contest political office in any part of the country outside their primary state or region. This will engender growth by bringing on board fresh ideas and innovation for the rapid transformation of our nation.

GOD help Nigeria!

2011 ELECTIONS AND THE POLITICS OF 3RD TERM

The race towards the year 2011 elections has begun in earnest with political gladiators grouping, re-grouping, merging and un-merging, camping to reel out the rules of the game to contending tendencies across the table; and in some cases decamping for lack of political space and level playing field. It is not uncommon in politics for politician contesting for one post or another to make bogus claim and assure his/her supporters that certain leaders within the party have already ceded the party ticket to him/her, thereby creating confusion of unimaginable proportion.

Ambition, they say, is like sea water; the more you taste it, the more you feel tasty. So it is with the zeal to remain in power in Nigeria. An average Nigerian would not quit the stage when the ovation is loudest until push or disgraced out of office. Just like children on the playing ground, they are so much carried away by the paraphernalia of the office and soon forgot the time to go ‘home’. Even when the leader is willing to throw in the towel, his friends and cronies, for selfish reasons, would urge him to continue and finish the ‘goodwork’ he had started.

In some states and local government areas, there are reports on a daily basis that some incumbent members of both Federal and State assemblies are repositioning themselves for a third term run with a resounding assurance that the ticket for both the State and National Assembly have been ceded to them by their political godfather. It is disheartening to note such a move is being fired up by those are more or less political liabilities to their parties; many of whom have not contributed anything meaningful to the development of their constituency through initiation or sponsorship of bill that impact positively in the lives of their people and the generality of Nigerians. To me, they have no business being in the house ab ignition safe for political balancing. Many of them still parade questionable academic certificates.

There is nothing wrong in making case for political balancing or zoning in the selection of candidates for various posts, what is paramount is that all contending factors should come to the playing ground with their best eleven; a situation where mediocre hiding under the guise of political balancing to lord over better qualified candidates is no longer ideal for the image of our country and indeed our democracy. In fact it is totally unacceptable.  It is high time we raced the bar to ensure and encourage professionalism in our national polity.

Although, the 1999 constitution by virtue of section 86 did not limit the tenure of the Honourable Members of the Parliament, however, given the political pressure in each and bearing in mind that other people in the party have contributed in no small measure to the growth and development of the party and the people, the selection process has to be reviewed to reflect the wishes and aspirations of their people.

It is pertinent to note that the most states and local governments in Nigeria have not benefitted immensely from the 8-year tenure the incumbents have spent at the State and National Assembly, to warrant being considered for a third term slot. Third term slot is viewed as a continuation of ineffectual service delivery; with no visible impact on socio-economic lives of the people of this country. For some legislators who are already running their third term in office as honourable members of the National Assembly, it is a demonstration of their commitment to the ideals of democracy which informed being return by their people. It is a different ball game where in every sense of it a legislature representing a particular constituency for almost 8 years has not been accountable to his/her people in terms of dividends of democratic. Yes, the constitutional duty of the legislature is to make laws for socio-political and economic development of the country. However, it is widely believed there are ways an Honourable member of the House can use his influence or lobbying power to attract developmental projects into his/her constituency for the betterment of his/her people.

Given the peculiarity of nation, it is premature for a politician to stay beyond two terms as a member of the both state and federal legislatures. This nation is earnestly yearning for fresh ideas that will move it forward, and this can only come through creation of political space for young, able and dynamic youth who are ever willing to infuse the necessary energy for the rapid transformation which our country requires. I think it is high time we flushed out those old elements with archaic ideas from our polity and bring on board youths born after our independent. God help Nigeria!

Nigeria @50: Fifty steps forward, Fifty backwards

In 1985 when Nigeria celebrated her twenty five years of nationhood, the late Evangelist Sonny Okosun asked the rhetorical questions in his debut album titled: Which way Nigeria? The song took the nation back memory lane by probing the minds of Nigerians and challenging the leadership for wanton abuse of privileges while admonishing them to “let’s save Nigeria, so Nigeria won’t fall”. Just like many songs, we danced, we clapped and said: “well done boy to Okosun ‘’ for a nice presentation without reflecting on the message which the lyrics intended to achieve. Running through the lyrics again might not be necessary because we are all familiar with the song with the exception of the younger generation who bears the brunt of the official ineptitude of the Nigerian leaders.

In few days from now, the Federal Republic of Nigeria will clock 50 as a sovereign nation. Just like yesterday, Nigeria will be older by another quarter of a century in few days time. With this, she joins 17 other African countries who coincidentally gained political independence in 1960 from their respective colonial masters. The purported celebration of the nation at 50 has generated a lot mixed feelings amongst Nigerians especially since the government planned to spend 10 billion naira which was later reduced to 6 billion naira when the whooping amount was greeted with criticism by Nigerians across all walks of life. To the few, especially those who will benefit from the largesse in terms of contracts and patronage, it is a day worth celebrating, while to a large percentage of people in Nigeria it is a celebration of 50 wasted years of consistent inconsistencies that is unworthy of being celebrated.

The argument is: why spent so much money to celebrate in a country where majority of the people live below the poverty line; our hospitals are now ‘mere consulting clinics’ with no modern facilities and highly unmotivated medical personnel whose pastime is to embark on incessant strikes to drive home their demands for pay rise;  decent, comfortable and affordable housing is elusive; water, water everywhere but none to drink; education is now exclusive reserve for the rich children as qualitative education is privatised and commercialised while government continue to neglect its primary responsibilities of providing affordable education for the children of the poor; electricity is a write-off; infrastructural provision is gradually being taken over by private entities courtesy of privatisation policy. In fact, we now have governance without responsibilities to the ordinary citizenry.

The few who believes the event is worth celebrating belongs to the aristocrat class who have benefitted immensely from the Nigerian project since independence and wish to encourage a system that shares the cake before being baked. While the large chunk represents the economically disadvantaged with no hope in the future of the country and who believes that such huge sum should have been invested in our decadent infrastructure.

The problem with our embattled nation has been identified in different fora as that of leadership and inconsistent policy thrust that engender growth in the economic and social wellbeing of the citizenry. We have since independence lacked visionary leaders endowed with the capacity to harness our collective potentials and transform them into physical energies for socio-political and economic growth. The fight against corruption is lost even before the battle begins as perpetrators of corrupt practices are perfecting their acts sooner than their strategies are discovered. Thus, Nigeria is growing at arithmetic progression while its corrupt leaders are growing at geometric progression. They use their ill-gotten wealth from the state treasury to fight a legal battle against the state under the guise of due process and rule of law. What an irony!

Recently, there was a report that Nigeria has expended more than one trillion naira in the last 4 years on the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) without visible impact on the lives of Nigerians. This revelation threatens the full implementation of the programmes under the MDG at the target year of 2015 for the realisation of the policy thrust within the MDG projects. Nigeria is used to incessant policy shifts. When Gen. Ibrahim Babangida took over the leadership of this country in 1985, apparently to placate the restless Nigerians who were unhappy with the take-over, he quickly roll out policy which set targets for year the 2000 through the popular slogans; Education for all by the year 2000; Health for all by the year 2000; Housing for all by the year 2000 etc with billions of naira ‘consumed’ in the process by friends and cronies without achieving the target. When Gen. Sani Abacha took over in 1993, it became obvious that the year 2000 target for the provision of the infrastructure was no longer feasible. His administration came up with Vision 2010 and the vision died with his demise in 1998. This is year 2010, Nigeria is yet to realise any of her visions since 25 years ago. If it took a nation 25 years to see a vision without realising it, it then means that the vision is either not well articulated or there has never been any vision ab initio, rather what had been postulated are mere wishes that lacked substantive energy for it to blossom to reality. And yet the nation plans to spend 6 billion naira on the celebration of a visionless nation.

It is high time we spoke to the conscience of our leaders. This is time to face the issue and begin a process of leading this country aright. We urgently require national vision that is backed with absolute commitment to deliver. The problem with the country is not dearth of manpower or material resources but that of leadership. We want a leader with a patriotic zeal, determined to put the ‘extra’ behind the ‘ordinary’ to reposition this nation and take governance to another level. It is pertinent to ourselves these basic questions: Where are we coming? Why are we here? What does the future portend to us a nation? Finding answers to these questions is crucial to our development as geographical entity and a panacea for dealing with issues of moving one step forward and two backward. Like Alice in Wonderland, we are running so fast only to maintain a stagnant position amongst the comity of nations. God help Nigeria!