Tempo (Lagos)
Dipo Okubanjo
31 May 2001
analysis
A hail of subtle disagreeing voices which greeted his appointment on 26 May 2000 as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), indicated that his path through what many regard as Nigeria's most thankless job, would be laden with controversies. Dr. Abel Ibude Guobadia, former Nigerian ambassador plenipotentiary to South Korea, was appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo as a successor to the late INEC boss, Hon. Justice Ephraim Akpata.
Informed observers who had kept a close tab on Guobadia's antecedents were not surprised by the magnitude of applause received by the former university lecturer when he stepped on to the floor of the Senate for screening. Reportedly, one after the other, the senators poured encomiums on him, eulogizing his strength of character, his integrity, impeccable public service record and forthrightness. However, what was not lost on most observers at the event was that many of the senators were either his former students or colleagues. No sooner had he been sworn-in as new INEC chairman than the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to rescind its decision or face legal action. Femi Falana, President of the CDHR had described Dr. Guobadia's appointment as unconstitutional, saying section 156 of the Nigerian Constitution provides that only a member of the House of Representatives or person belonging to a political party can hold the post of INEC chairman. Developments since then suggest that the Federal Government is not contemplating acceding to the demand of the anti-Guobadia campaigners.
The INEC boss, himself had in a recent interview justified his appointment. "I am not saying I want to be in the National Assembly or to be president or to be governor, but our qualifications to vote or be voted for, I think those are the key things in my own opinion. The moment all of us go to join AD tomorrow, the same people will say fire him; he can no longer be impartial," he said. Aside from the controversy which trailed his appointment, Guobadia has in recent times drawn the ire of groups agitating for the registration of new political parties. His rigid posture on this issue has attracted strident criticism from political observers who query his sincerity as an unbiased umpire. For instance, fiery Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi early this year, called for the removal of Guobadia following reports quoting the INEC chairman as having said that the electoral commission will not register any new party before the next elections. Fawehinmi had applied for the registration of his political group, the National Conscience Party (NCP). Prominent among other groups jostling for recognition by INEC is the National Solidarity Association (NSA), allegedly sponsored by former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.).
Interestingly, 68-year-old Guobadia attributes his intrasigence to calls for more parties outside the People's Democratic Party, the All Peoples Party and the Alliance for Democracy, to lack of an enabling law stressing that, "until and unless there is an electoral law, we do not have the enabling instrument for registering more parties." But investigations reveal that the Senate had since the middle of last February endorsed the establishment of more political parties to promote greater participation and competition in the political system.
Irrespective of the foregoing, Dr. Guobadia is once again in the eye of the storm. He is at the centre of a raging inferno threatening to consume one of the existing three parties and its former loyalists. Specifically, late last year, the crises rocking the Alliance for Democracy (AD), got to a head when two national chairmen were elected at two different conventions of the party on the same day in Abuja. It was evident that the AD was factionalised. Sequel to this development, Dr. Guobadia's INEC pitched his tent with the Governor Adeniyi Adebayo-midwived convention which produced Alhaji Abdulkadir Mohammed as AD's national chairman.
Expectedly, this did not go down well with the conveners of the other convention that produced Yusuf Mamman as chairman. They queried the rationale behind INEC's decision to put its weight behind Abdulkadir since it was clear to the whole world that the party was factionalised. Half a year after that episode, Dr. Guobadia pronounced that AD lawmakers who penultimate week decamped to another party cannot vacate their seats because the AD is a factionalised party. Meanwhile, the Constitution stipulates that if an individual is dumping his or her party, he or she must vacate the office to which he or she was elected. Wither principle! According to a school of thought, Guobadia's utterances since assumption of office suggest that powerful forces in and outside government are trying to manipulate the Independent National Electoral Commission for selfish ends.
Now, there are clear indications that the encomiums showered on the INEC boss during his screening by the Senate provided no guarantee that he would leave the office with his integrity unsoiled. Dr. Abel Guobadia, a former Director of Planning at the National University Commission and one-time commissioner for education in the defunct Bendel State under the then Brig-Gen. Jeremiah Useni is poised to go the way of his predecessors.
Mr. Eyo Esua, the first Nigerian to be appointed electoral commission chairman was thrown overboard after the seriously disputed 1964 federal elections. The discarded Federal Electoral Commission set up by the military administration of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo had Chief Michael Ani as chairman. The respected civil servant was forced to resign due to allegations of partisanship. Hon. Justice Victor Ovie-Whiskey who took over from Ani was accused of collecting one million naira bribe from the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN), to perpetrate an unprecedented rigging and violence during the 1983 general elections before the military putsch.
Gen. Babangida's first choice as National Electoral Commission (NEC) boss, the late Prof. Eme Awa lost out owing to his principled stand on issues and was promptly replaced with his former student, Professor Humphrey Nwosu. Nwosu is famously remembered as the electoral commission boss who conducted what is regarded as the freest and fairest elections in Nigeria, but sold out midway into the announcement of the results on 12 June 1993. His successor, Prof. Okon Uya was eased out on allegations of corrupt enrichment. Pa Sumner Dagogo-Jack appointed by dark-goggled dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha did not fare better while the respected Justice Akpata whom Guobadia succeeded tried to restore some honour to the position, but not without condemnations in the aftermath of the March 1999 elections which produced Obasanjo as president.
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