Most electoral activities of these commissions always ended in confusion and avoidable controversy. The magnitude progressed with time. In all, our answer to bad electoral outings has been to change the name of the electoral bodies and leave every other thing intact; this has created the false impression that the root cause of our electoral troubles had much to do with the names of our electoral commissions. Like I observed earlier, now we have INEC, but from what we have seen, I am not too sure a lot of Nigerians agree that things have significantly changed.
How much independence has INEC? Are we satisfied with the process of nominating its officials? On the other hand, we the citizens have seen INEC in recent times go from one election to another. The strategies adopted may have changed a little, but I am not too sure the outcomes have been pleasant and comforting to majority of Nigerians. If it were, the complaints we see would have diminished considerably and the nation would be spared this refrain, “we tried, this is an improvement over the last election, we have learnt our lessons and we are going back to the drawing board”. As I got set to put pen on paper on today’s matter, my subconscious went back to a reader who joined many others to respond to an article written by Mike Awoyinfa on the nation’s colossal failure in the 2012 Olympics outing in London.
Awoyinfa after bemoaning our nightmare arising from woeful participation recommended hope and a return to the drawing board. This voice now came in a precise but strong manner: he was intelligent, but cheeky. The reader respondent said: “Mike (Awoyinfa), all the time we are at the drawing board, hand no de pain una, this is time for action.” Reading this contribution provoked prolonged laughter in me. Not too long ago Femi Anikulapo-Kuti got me thinking and positively very angry, when he said he was born into a nation where complains were the anthem and that he is 50 years old and still hearing the same song. The other day I was listening to a conversation on Channels Television Sunrise programme, and one of the discussants said, “We are still learning”. But another intelligent guest chipped in quickly, “when shall we stop learning and be a master of our own?”
As I gave thought to doing this piece, I told myself that these references fit INEC perfectly. Every time elections were round the corner, INEC and in particular its chief helmsman, Abubakar Jega, would tell the nation, “We are ready. We will give this nation the best election.” When the zero hour comes, the nation still finds problems in the pre-, actual and post-election activities of the body. Some of the nagging issues could be about the polling units, their locations, how to identify them (I hear in some places voting centres could be found in private residences of the powerful and even in palaces) the almighty electoral register, (sometimes we do hear of fake registers). If authentic, the next issue would be about its content credibility. For the election proper, we do observe that logistics have continued to be problematic; election materials don’t get to designated points on time and in the right numbers.
I call to mind the recent election in Edo, where distant locations got material and by 1 p.m. most areas in Benin, the capital, were still wondering if there would be an election or not. Some of the times, the role of security agencies are difficult to say, just as announcing results in many instances have been sources for great concern. When some or all of these occur, it is not unusual to hear INEC come out with the usual refrain, “we have seen our mistakes, even though this election is an improvement over the previous ones, we are returning to the drawing board, and when we conduct the next one, it will be error proof.” Like the gentleman responding to Awoyinfa’s article asked, we have been on the drawing board since independence (some of us were born then and we have reared children and getting old), would it not be correct to admit that our hands are experiencing some degree of pains right now? Do we like the circumstances surrounding us at present?
When will we stop drawing and face the serious task of decent and credible action (implementation). Our feeble attempts at initiating action have always produced negative results because we always relegated the important ingredient of planning and preparation. If indeed our governments and its agencies realize the importance of planning and preparation, we would have known and appreciated the usefulness of having a culture of kick-starting processes to our designated targets by early decisions, planning and then preparations. How does INEC intend to give us better elections in 2015? The need for most transparent and credible kind of elections in 2015 cannot be over-emphasized, given the kind of cloud hovering over the nation in the last three years. What does Jega and his aides intend to do in specific terms?
And why are they not putting the cards before Nigerians? Why hasn’t the process (es) started now that we have time? Wouldn’t electronic voting system be the best? The law as it is at present don’t have provisions for it, we have been told; do we just keep quiet and refuse to do nothing? Or do we want to wait by late 2013 we embark again on our usual ad-hoc methods? If it is a right method, what prevents preparations starting this year? After gulping so much money the last time, we still hear that the voters’ register is not very credible, and what’s more, those who have just reached the 18 years requirement would need to be captured. Fine! At what point should such moves start? Is it now when people can go and register on their own volition, or the last hour, when desperate politicians, especially some of them in power, would use illegally acquired funds to mobilize and herd vulnerable citizens to go and register with preconceived objective implanted in their empty but hungry minds? Would INEC be creating new electoral constituencies?
It has said it intends to do so. When will this be? What are the criteria? What kind of logistics would it require? Conducting polls in Edo, officials traveling by boat lost their lives and material. Is boat preferable to helicopter? Shouldn’t part of the thinking be which one could be faster and precise? The electorates are today more confused than ever. They are hungry and a hungry man has little or no control of his mind. He is desperate and psychologists do know that a desperate man can fall for anything. Wouldn’t massive enlightenment campaigns change their democratic behaviour for good? What about the role of security agencies? What kind of enlightenment are we giving them? Would the Army be part of the show? Forget the Edo case; I have been reluctant to talk about past military roles in previous elections. The idea itself is undemocratic (even though I can understand our peculiar circumstance).
What about the electoral officers? Why are we not seeing early training and retraining exercises in all parts of the nation? Have we solved the problem of ad-hoc staff? They have always been an issue in election outcomes. Who will do the job and what would be the recruitment process? It will be tragic if very late in time we begin to see the rush actions that had always brought us near the precipice. The times are ominous and only quality time spent to brainstorm and prepare can avert the looming dark clouds I see. I just wish this cup will pass over us.
People’s parliament
Re: Dangling dangerously on the brink
Uncle Ralph, do you know that men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared: but only men of character are trusted. As a nation, we don’t believe in ourselves. We buy what we have, give what we don’t have. Our leaders have failed themselves, their families and only God can take us out of this quagmire, if we can see Him as source of strength. Please, continue to help, Nigeria is in trouble. Kenneth Orji – 08085539348
I have never read your column before, this is the first time. I am grateful that we still have forthright and fearless people like you. Please, keep up the good work; you made a complete diagnosis and went further to prescribe medication. God bless you and keep you in Jesus name. Rev. Sam Z. Balogun (Kaduna) – 08023098837
Bro. Ralph, yours makes an interesting reading. Boko Haram or terrorism, fuel subsidy scam, Lawangate, etc. all point to one thing – Jaundiced leadership that celebrate mediocrity. Comrade Ekele I. J Onwukwe – 08036690827
I am not a prophet of doom, but quote me as saying that this country will not survive this current ailment unless something happens. The reason is short and simple: a powerful group of people, whose economic and political survival is tied to the present situation Nigeria is in, will not just allow things to change. To them, restoring normalcy and progress is like putting them out of business. Talking about bombings here and there, supposing the sponsors of this horror are arrested and it happens they are chieftains of a political party, as we have seen in the subsidy mess, can’t this exposure portray the party in bad light and work against its fortunes in future elections? Shouldn’t this be the reason we may not overcome these challenges? The man that is fiddling while Nigerians are dying in droves is a fool. Selfish political ambition could be his reason for keeping mute. Ifeanyichukwu – 07030981551
The fisherman’s face is ugly in the eyes of the fish. His shadow anger, no matter its weight, if he cannot swim, will sink with him. And so it is with some of us not from the core North in the eyes of those who profess haram, and yet we are one in our slide down the hill – what to add? Enjoy your tea when it is hot, for when it is cold you must have lost the teeth, you will have to count with your tongue. If Fela were to be around, maybe he would have had a name for this – maybe – LOCOPARAMBULATION. Remain blessed. Bon – 08134634586.
Could you reconcile your position on January for 2015 on account of peace and security and the leadership failure exhibited over fuel subsidy regime, budget performance and quality of governance? Shall we call a spade what it is? – 08035871985
Hello Ralph, your piece, “Dangling dangerously on the brink” was excellent. I enjoyed every bit of it. Keep up the good work and may God bless you. Pst Yardstick – 08038879224
Oga Ralph, you wrote well, we need prayers to move this nation forward, because our leaders have failed to deliver good governance. – Gordon Chika Nnorom – 08062887535
My dear Ralph, you are a blessing to your generation. I pray for many more Ralph Egbus. God will judge the wicked in Jesus name, Amen. They will never kill you for speaking out. More grease to your elbow, my dear brother. I love you. – 08086938006
What is more political than burning the churches and killing Christians, they want to annex the whole country as a Moslem or Islamic state. You think it is not possible? The Moslem world is still fighting the Jihad, but our government is confused, and neglected to protect/defend the citizens. Rather, government is protecting corruption and stealing of our commonwealth. How typical of Nigeria! The National Assembly has joined in the looting. It is my candid opinion that the two personalities in the deal only shouted when the sharing formula got bad or failed; nothing otherwise. Why did they wait so long to blow the whistle? Barr Uzo – 08055230173
Stop blaming northern leaders for all our problems. What has southern leaders done to curb kidnapping, rapes, especially in the East? What else do we want the North to do about insecurity? Enough of this shallow talk about northern conspiracy against Jonathan! – Dapo – 08055411766
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