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Comrade Ojeremen
Comrade Ojeremen
The long search for a fair electoral system in Nigeria
Related to country: Nigeria

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Dapo FafoworaThe most serious challenge facing the Nigerian political system since independence in 1960 has been its failure to produce a free, fair, and transparent electoral system that will ensure that the results of general elections in Nigeria reflect the true will of the people. Elections held under colonial rule had been largely free and fair. Most elections in Nigeria since then have been marked by extensive rigging. In the 1964 general elections in the old Western Region, the Premier, Ladoke Akintola, and his deputy, Chief Fani-Kayode, could boast openly that it did not matter really how the electorate voted, that their political party, the NDP, that was evidently unpopular in the region, would win the elections.

They duly declared themselves winners even when it was clear that they had been rejected by the electorate. The Army took advantage of the ensuing disorder in the region to seize power in the country in 1966. The stakes involved in winning or losing elections in Nigeria have simply been too high. Politicians regard elections as a do or die affair, a thought echoed by President Obasanjo in the 2007 general elections when he made it clear to the nation and the electoral commission that the PDP had to win the elections at all costs. The election on June 12, 1993, widely believed to have been won by Chief Moshood Abiola, were the freest in the nation’s electoral history. But the results were foolishly annulled by the Babaginda regime simply because Abiola was not considered politically acceptable to the departing military regime. He had not been expected by the military to win the elections. The military oligarchy felt that an Abiola presidency could not be relied upon to protect its residual political and financial interests. Civilian opposition, particularly from NADECO, Afenifere, and civil rights groups, to the annulment of the elections, was so strong that the military were left in a quandary about what to do next.

As a matter of political expediency and a sop to the supporters of Abiola, an unelected civilian government under Chief Ernest Shonekan was appointed. But after a few months in power, Chief Shonekan’s government was brushed aside and under General Abacha, the military returned to power for another three years. When the military finally realized that it could no longer continue to rule with the bayonet due to strong domestic political pressures, it cynically manoeuvred itself out of power, while at the same time manipulating the electoral system and the 1999 general elections to ensure the election as President of one of its own, retired General Obasanjo. The real significance of June 12 is that it made military rule no longer tenable. It created possibilities for a civilian democratic rule. But we are not there yet.In effect, the military remained in power by proxy. It had succeeded in installing as a civilian president a former military ruler, who could be counted upon to protect the extensive business and financial interests of the military oligarchy.

With the notable exception of General Abacha who had gaoled him, President Obasanjo carefully refrained from probing any of his military predecessors, particularly General Babangida, for any official misdemeanours and fraud, of which there were a lot. There is no question that, contrary to the provisions of the Constitution, President Obasanjo sought and did all he could to extend his tenure. When that failed, he personally imposed Umaru Yar’Adua on his party as its presidential candidate, and duly ensured his election as president in the ‘do or die’ general elections of May, 2007, which by local and international consensus, was badly flawed. Even President Yar’Adua, the chief beneficiary of the massively rigged election that brought him to power, admitted that it was less than transparent. But that has not led to his resignation from office as President.

The matter is now before the Supreme Court.Instead, President Yar’Adua has set up a high powered official committee for the review of the electoral system involving some of the most eminent public figures in our country, under the chairmanship of the former Chief Justice of the federation, Uwais. No one doubts the integrity of the members of the committee, or their determination to work for and produce an electoral system that could end the massive abuse of the electoral process in Nigeria. But the committtee must understand and accept that there is widespread public cynicism in Nigeria that, regardless of its collective integrity and recommendations, it can solve Nigeria’s electoral difficulties, particularly the lack of transparency in the conduct of general elections in Nigeria.

The committee is only the latest of many other electoral reform committees, before and after independence, established by previous governments, civilian and military, to review the electoral system and process so as to make free and fair general elections possible in our country. But the findings and recommendations of those committees have been openly flouted and undermined by the political elite who are, in no way, committed to the holding of free and fair elections in the country. The federal government has openly used its extensive coercive powers, particularly the state security service, the police, and even the army, to undermine free elections in Nigeria, a disservice to the growth of a truly democratic culture and system of government in our country.

Without ensuring the impartiality and independence of these agencies, all of which openly expect and accept financial inducements and favours from the authorities to subvert elections, it is difficult to see what the review committee can do to ensure that general elections in Nigeria are indeed free and fair. The focus of the electoral review committee should be on the electoral process, rather than the electoral institutions. That is where the rigging actually takes place.In 2003, I was serving in the Akande government of Osun State when, collectively, the security agencies, in my presence, warned him that he would lose the elections if they were not offered official inducements, or bribes. This was clearly blackmail about which Chief Akande could do nothing as he was not in charge of the security agencies in the state.

It was hardly surprising that in the end, Chief Akande ‘lost’ the election to the PDP in the state, an election he should have won easily. I have no doubt that this was what happened in the other AD states in the South-West all of which, surprisingly, lost the elections to the PDP. Lagos was spared from massive rigging by the determination of Governor Tinubu and his political colleagues of the AC, as well as the vigilance of the politically- sophisticated Lagos electorate, to fight any subversion of the electoral process. But if the electoral trend of massive fraud persists, there is no guarantee that the AC government in Lagos would be able to hold on to power in the next general elections. All the PDP needs to do to secure the defeat of the AC government in Lagos is to compromise the impartiality of the electoral commission and the security agencies. And this is not beyond the realm of possibility.The biggest challenge facing the electoral review committee then is how to ensure the independence and impartiality of the electoral commission, particularly its chairman, and the security agencies.

In the case of the federal electoral committee, what the present unsatisfactory situation calls for is that there should be a consensus among all the registered political parties and other stakeholders regarding the nomination of its chairman and members. It is asking for too much to expect that a chairman nominated and appointed solely at the discretion of the incumbent president, and who can be removed by him at will, can really be truly impartial and independent in the discharge of his duties. Another thought is for the judiciary to be entrusted with the power of nominating to the president and heads of the other political parties three retired judges for their consideration as chairman of the electoral commission. The point being made here is that an electoral commission that owes its appointment solely to the President, an interested party in the general elections, can hardly meet the test of impartiality necessary for the conduct of free and fair elections in our country. Equally important in ensuring free and fair elections in our country is the commitment of our politicians to a truly democratic culture under guarded by free and fair elections.

But this will not happen because of the high financial stakes involved in winning elections at all costs. In 2003, or thereabouts, it was reported in the media that soon after the general elections the Obasanjo government had paid each Senator N53million as wages, and fringe benefits. This is not the kind of remuneration that can induce politicians to play the electoral game by its rules.

June 19, 2008 | 7:53 AM Comments  0 comments

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