Daily Independent (Lagos)
Daniel Kanu
6 July 2009
Lagos — At a pre-conference seminar of the Quadrennial Delegates' Conference of the Nigerian Civil Society Union held recently in Enugu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Maurice Iwu raised a very critical issue on the lack -luster attitude of the Nigerian elite in matters of election.
Iwu, had described them as the major obstacles to the nation's quest for a credible electoral system. The INEC boss admitted that though there were lapses in the system, there was need to ensure a change in attitude and perception of Nigerians to electoral process.
And unless the planned electoral reform begins with the elite, Iwu feared that the Federal Government might not realise its dream of bequeathing a viable electoral process to the country.
Admitting that though there were lapses in the system, he had noted there was the need to ensure a change in attitude and perception of Nigerians to electoral process.
Iwu had made another vital revelation that because the nation's political terrain offers politicians easy access to wealth and their bid to preserve the status quo, they were bent on subverting the will of the people at the polls.
According to him, the average Nigerian politician would never want democracy to thrive for the benefit of the downtrodden rather for selfish interest.
INEC Boss, who spoke on the theme "Charting the course for a better electoral process after 10 years of democratic governance in Nigeria," had told the audience that the disruptive influences of the "many princes or godfathers of the present day political process in Nigeria," most of whom have amassed so much wealth, which was deployed during election have become rather too costly to be ignored.
He equally noted that lack of financial autonomy by INEC presented a critical challenge in the preparation of the 2007 elections, stressing that he was happy that from the little efforts made, Nigeria could transform to another civil rule leading to 10 years of uninterrupted civilian rule.
"The danger inherent in the excessive use of money in politics manifests in several corrosive dimensions. For one, with such money, there is no level-playing field in an electoral contest anymore. It is a fact in most instances that those who deploy such excessive wealth for elections always lack restraint and so seek to buy off everything, including the electorate and the election personnel. A greater threat to democracy and the voice it offers the majority can hardly be found." He had noted.
Iwu disclosed that apart from the danger of excessive use of money in politics, INEC had identified three broad issues that continue to bog down the environment of elections in Nigeria.
These factors, he said, include the threat and actual unleashing of violence as a strategy to gain upper hands during elections, the inequity in gender participation in the politics and the mindset of Nigerians about elections.
He had, therefore, declared that any reform of the electoral system that does not find ways of strengthening the political parties, ensure strict compliance by their executives and members with the rules would have missed a critical aspect of the reform.
He suggested that reforming the laws guiding the electoral process was important, but that the attitude and conduct of the stakeholders and operators count much for the success that can ever be expected of the system, reformed or not.
"It must be stated that democracy survives and endures only on the culture of peace, tolerance, social trust, dialogue, consensus and interpersonal cooperation. Whatever mechanisms are put in place, until politicians imbibe these democratic ethos and attitudes and jettison the politics of bitterness, and see politics as service to God and humanity, every election cannot but be a declaration of war, with the concomitant cost in material and human resources. And this is a luxury Nigeria can ill-afford if democracy must take root, and if the nation and her people must develop," Iwu said
Festus Okoye, Executive Director, Kaduna-based Human Rights Monitor and member of the Uwais-led Electoral Reform Panel, for instance is irked by what happened at the re-run election in Ekiti State on April 25, 2009 and May 5, 2009. He said the experience was a clarion call to all the stakeholders in the electoral process in Nigeria to wake up to the reality of the fact that the struggle for credible election is just beginning. For him the Ekiti election was a test case that could be studied so as to correct future electoral fraud.
"I said this against the background of startling realities that confronted those of us who were domestic election observers in Ekiti State. The first is that, this is the first time in the history of Nigeria and in the history of electoral observations that Nigeria's election observers duly accredited by INEC were branded fake observers or spies. It has never happened before.
"The second reality is that this is the first time some elements within political parties, consciously and deliberately and maliciously decided to attack domestic observers. Giving the background of the flawed processes in 2007, the political class and the political parties have not learnt any lessons" Okoye noted.
According to Okoye "Most of them have refused to play by the rules of the game. Rather than go to campaign for elections, rather than go to mobilise the voters to vote them, they concentrated all their efforts at the recruitment of criminal gangs, at the purchase of arms and ammunition, at strategies for carrying and snatching ballot boxes, at strategies for criminal intimidation of eligible voters among other unholy strategies".
"If eligible voters do not know the symbol of their political parties, what are the political parties doing? What it means is that they are not doing what they are supposed to do-education of voters".
"A situation where a voter is going to the polling unit, and the first thing the voter sees is an armored tank, the next thing the voter sees is a soldier and heavily armed police, SSS and other security agencies, the psychological effect of that one has removed that conducive atmosphere and that freedom of choice that the voter has. So policing elections heavily is not part of the ingredients of democracy, it is not part of the ingredients of credible electoral process".
"For you to have free, fair and transparent election, it behooves that you must be allowed the freedom to go to the polling unit under a conducive atmosphere unhindered, unencumbered, uninhibited".
Daily Independent gathered from the majority opinion that Nigerians not only the elite need attitudinal change especially the Political class that has the highest stake.
For Dr Umunna Ulu, Public Commentator "Other issues are a definite date for our election petitions, INEC not being subject to the direction or control of any person or authority, passing of electoral offences commission bill that will deal and punish politicians that recruit criminal elements and strategy to rig election, proper monitoring of campaign funds by INEC, have a strong and viable independent judiciary, Press freedom as well as the political education of Nigerians"
The truth is that, roles played by both INEC and the Civil Society Organisations (CSO) or any group means a little. And utterances of local and international observers and monitors do not count much. They are but a means to an end. What is important is Nigerians getting credible and violence-free elections that would produce a listening government willing to put behind them the gridlocks that have held the country back since independence.
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