Imiewanlan Oyakhire
21 November 2008
opinion
How fascinating it is to see Nigerian politicians and critics react to the emergence of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States of America after two years of enduring campaigning and a historic election victory.
The Obama feat, as Obama himself told Bill O'Larry of Fox News channel, would not have been possible anywhere else outside the United States of America. What the world celebrates today is one man's determination to bring to reality his vision and self belief despite mounting odds against him which does not however obliterate the fact that the America political system is not a perfect one.
Most critics of Professor Maurice Iwu may have woken up on Wednesday, 5th of November to celebrate a fellow black man's victory without any precursor to the American electoral process or events to this particular election.
Surely, Iwu is not the first to remark such weakness in the American electoral process, but Iwu's only sin is that he made such a remark to an audience at such a time of intense emotion and unreasoning. I don't know how many Iwu's critics have noted that this flawless US election has been noted by international election observers to have lacked in a key democratic element: secrecy of balloting.
Nevertheless, what is eccentric in what Iwu said? Leadership newspaper report of 23 November was unambiguous about this. The paper quoted Iwu as saying: "elections would not have good outcomes if they were conducted by the Attorney General in the various States like it is done in the United States". The paper also quoted Iwu as saying, "when you talk about the system, we are gold standard. But when you talk about the process where our own attitude to implementation of duties come in, that is where we have flaws".
Main stream Nigerian media's report slanted Iwu's comment to give the impression that he said Nigeria electoral system is better than that of America without specifics.
As I was saying, Iwu is not the first person to remark this defective aspect of United States electoral system. An African election observer (not a Nigerian) who monitored the 2004 US presidential election remarked the glowing beauty of the United States electoral system but scowled at the role of the Attorney Generals in the various states as undemocratic. The Attorney Generals on whom the reins of the electoral process of a state rest are political appointees and are committed members of the ruling political party in the state.
In an election like Obama's where his Electoral College votes were more than double of McCain's, such is not remarkable, but they can be seen to be biased when electoral victory is contentious like the watershed event in the State of Florida in the Al'Gore, Bush election in year 2000. Iwu may have made his comments against the backdrop of the voter registration disputes in key battle ground states and the role the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) in the voter registration process which caused some frictions and legal challenges before this election.
The Republicans had accused ACORN (who they also said were pro Obama) of voter registration fraud, especially in the state of Ohio where some interrogated voters confessed to have done multiple registration. It was also discovered fictional names as the popular children cartoon character, Mickey Mouse, and dead people were registered to vote. The Ohio voter registration revelation became the heart of a dispute between the Ohio Republican Party and Jennifer Brunner, Ohio secretary of state, a Democrat. Brunner was accused of bias and obstructing access to voter registration verification efforts by County officials.
Let us put aside sentiments. Much as Iwu's measuring standard is disputable, is it not the truth that our electoral failures are factors of the process, "our attitude to the implementation of duties" than systemic? Then what is unusual about what Iwu said?
It is remarkable everybody is elated at the Obama revolution in a society that decided to put aside divisive tendencies and embrace the gospel of change as preached by Obama. This should challenge all of us to think deeply and also to bring to bear the reality of the US experience to our political perspective.
To zero the lessons of the election to only one man (Iwu) as the cause of our political adversities betray our lack of understanding of the dept of the significance of the Obama's victory. The real lesson should be how we can take affirmative actions at correcting our implementation of duties - radical deviation from the ways we have always known to do things. This is the change Obama preached.
Lest we forget, the other day, Raila Odinga, the Kenyan leader pricked our consciences when he questioned the rationality of rotational presidency and politics of ethnic mistrust. Specifically, he queried the inability of the Ibo man to occupy the highest office in our land; reminding us of our version of racism which election of Obama has triumphed against and a paradigm which we should learn from the Obama victory. I ask, how did Iwu create this problem in this country?
Other enduring lesson of the US election is the mood and decorum of the campaigns, from the primaries to the election. Much as the mood was heated based on engaging issues canvassed, there was never a time politicians and their supporters resorted to maiming and killing of opponents. Issues canvassed were based on party ideology and individual beliefs and progammes.
It was for the electorate to decide his choice based on shared values with any of the candidates. How many of us can remember issues canvassed by our political parties in the last election and the ideological leaning of our political parties if there be any? Again, I ask, how is Iwu responsible for this?
If Obama and McCain were Nigerians as Walter Carrington reminded us the other day, they will never have the opportunity to emerge from their party primaries. They would probably not have millions of naira to pick party nomination form or a godfather that would muscle out other contestants to ensure the primary is a mere affirmation of the godfather's candidate at party convention.
How many of our politicians have the grace to accept defeat as McCain did or honour their words as McCain promised not to make the Rev. Jeremiah Wright matter an election campaign issue when it first broke during the Democratic primaries and never reneged on his words at the face of an obvious defeat. These are some of what the Obama victory should change in us, our do-or-die and usual way of politicking.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
