Election postponement: Matters arising
They didn’t have enough gumption to look the Nigerian public in the eye and make a direct pitch on why the elections should be postponed, preferring instead to deviously employ all manner of rigmarole and proxy fire-fights to achieve exactly that purpose, even as presidential spokespersons and officials of the ruling party kept denying their […]
They didn’t have enough gumption to look the Nigerian public in the eye and make a direct pitch on why the elections should be postponed, preferring instead to deviously employ all manner of rigmarole and proxy fire-fights to achieve exactly that purpose, even as presidential spokespersons and officials of the ruling party kept denying their preference for the shifting of the elections.
What many people find puzzling is why a supposedly meek and good-natured man like Goodluck Jonathan was hell-bent on shifting the elections and damning the consequences – including a full-blown domestic discontent and stern rebuke by our international friends, especially the US that cautioned ab initio that “No excuse should be used to force the nation’s electoral body to postpone the elections and that delaying or postponing them “would be very dangerous for Nigeria.”
The answer to the puzzle lies in an Igbo proverb that posits that when you see a rat run out from the jungle and jump into a fire then you must understand that what it is running away from is hotter than the fire. Truth be told, the PDP and its presidential candidate were simply playing politics with PVCs and using the issue to blackmail INEC and the electorate. In their estimation, any other outcome was preferable to a certain defeat should the elections be held as scheduled!
Just the other day, a colleague reminded me of a particular grasshopper known in Igboland as Olafuru nwata (literally translated as “child deceiver”). When pursued, Olafuru nwata would fly out reach and perch within striking distance. The feeling of I-almost-caught-it harboured by the child and his ever increasing determination to make that extra effort needed to finally nail the grasshopper would make him focus exclusively on the chase to everything else.
Not only does the child return home empty-handed from the wild goose chase but also frequently gets punished by his parents for playing truancy. The PDP and the Presidency seem to be intimidated by Muhammadu Buhari’s image of incorruptibility. What to do? They decided to foolishly play truancy and pursue an Olafuru nwata by conjuring up a serial smear campaign against the opposition party presidential candidate. By the time it dawned on them that majority of Nigerians have refused to buy into their campaign of calumny there was no time left for them to showcase the achievements of the PDP presidential candidate!
Someone in the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation must have come up with a harebrained scheme on how to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by shifting the elections to impede Buhari’s momentum and muster a comeback-traction for Jonathan. Now, that the mission has been accomplished, expect to see the electronic and print media inundated with a flood of advertorials highlighting the president’s ‘democracy dividends.’ Expect also to see guided tours of various interest groups – traditional rulers, religious leaders, media practitioners, women and youth organisations, among many others – to ‘eyemark’ the various completed and ongoing projects in parts of the country.
While INEC may be largely blamed for tardiness, I, however, disagree with those who contend that its integrity has been compromised by the latest action. Lest we forget, INEC was subjected to a barrage of well-choreographed protestations of ill-preparedness for the elections, with some high profile names even demanding the resignation or dismissal of the chairman! When all the pyrotechnic antics failed to shake Jega, the president played his last card: convoke a National Council of State meeting where he would receive a resounding powerful support for the shift of the elections. But even that body that isn’t renowned for revolutionary ideas refused to queue behind the president.
While announcing the postponement of the polls in Abuja last Saturday, INEC chairman Professor Attahiru Jega clearly pointed accusing fingers at the service chiefs and the national security adviser as providing the lever for the postponement. He stated that they had written to him to the effect that they needed a minimum of six weeks “to flush out the insurgents causing unrest and displacing people in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.”
What they were saying in effect is that the nation is too insecure and unsafe right now and that it would take a minimum of six weeks to provide a secured environment to conduct national elections. Yet, if foreign countries were to issue travel warnings along the same lines to their citizens this same group of people would cry blue murder.
The battle to shift or not shift the elections was a lose-lose situation for the electoral body. If he readily agreed, supporters of Jonathan would perceive it as “vindication that INEC is not ready to conduct the elections despite its public claims” and provide more ammunition in their battle to have Jega removed from his position. If Jega insisted on the February 14 date, he ran the risk of facing a mutiny from compromised members of his own team, not to mention the you-are-on-your-own treatment by federal government-owned intelligence and security agencies. Jega fought long and hard but in the end he was confronted with a fait accompli far beyond his control.
But the big question to ask is why the service chiefs are so confident that they would accomplish within six weeks a burdensome mission they have been unable to squarely address in as many years. There can be only two logical reasons for the military’s newly found fighting spirit. Firstly, there’s now a credible ground to believe that military operations in the northeast hitherto were driven more by partisan considerations than a strong will to win the anti-terror war. Secondly, the involvement of the military high command in the political fray could only mean that something sinister is afoot to give a certain candidate in the race a winning electoral traction.
Let me categorically state without any fear or favour that the postponement of the February 14 presidential election not only exposed us to ridicule and shame within the comity of nations but it also represents a very bad sign and a terrifying omen for the nation’s fledgling democracy. It can only portend more sinister plots and eternal vigilance must be the watchword of the main opposition party, civil society groups and all men and women of goodwill.
Nigerians must reserve special slots in the national hall of infamy for this set of service and security chiefs. “That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history,” rued English novelist Aldous Huxley, “is the most important of all the lessons that history (paradoxically) has to teach.” Meanwhile, since the security chiefs have with their own mouths confessed their inability to guarantee security and safety in the nation – after years of hoodwinking us with false assurances – they should immediately resign their appointments or be sacked so that a fresh set of untainted security chiefs can wage the real war against terror with enhanced determination and fervency. This is the least Nigerians expect from them and this president.
Okoye wrote from Abuja