Fighting dirty for Iwu’s money

There have been pro and anti-Iwu groups sprouting all over, each one employing dramatic means to force the hands of decision makers on the fate of Maurice Iwu, whose term as INEC chairman expires June this year. In a bid to secure a second term as INEC chairman, Pro-Iwu groups have surfaced, rallying along Abuja […]

There have been pro and anti-Iwu groups sprouting all over, each one employing dramatic means to force the hands of decision makers on the fate of Maurice Iwu, whose term as INEC chairman expires June this year.

In a bid to secure a second term as INEC chairman, Pro-Iwu groups have surfaced, rallying along Abuja streets, distributing handbills demanding that Iwu be allowed to conduct the 2011 elections. The move bears a semblance to rallies organized by hitherto non-existent groups to have then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan made substantive president.

These moves provoked those with anti-Iwu sentiments such as Labour and other civil society groups to also stage counter rallies. There have been posters calling for the immediate sack of Iwu pasted on major roads within the capital.

However, investigations by Sunday Trust reveals that these groups are being sponsored by yet to be identified individuals and organisations who might benefit from Iwu’s continued stay in office, or his removal on the other hand.

Following announcements by the Nigerian Labour Congress and its allies that they a planning a massive rally to call for Iwu’s sack, a curios notice appeared on the notice boards in INEC’s Maitama headquarters charging “the entire staff of the commission to show love to our able Hon. Chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu, to give him support to continue to oversee the affairs of our noble commission till 2011 general election, in pursuit of credible, free and fair election come 2011.”

The notice, which demanded the commission’s staff to participate in rallies planned for March 30th to April 1st, caused a stir at the commission’s headquarters with staff expressing discomfort with the directive. This was coming on the heel of a pro-Iwu rally the previous week by yet another group.

But Labour took the commission by storm, March 31st, when a large number of people stormed the commission’s headquarters and held sway for three hours, making speeches and singing solidarity songs. They threatened to embark on a strike that would cripple the nation should Maurice Iwu be re-appointed. They hoisted banners expressing their disaffection with the chief electoral umpire.

“Prof. Iwu must go and this is the best place to say this. The Nigerian workers have sent us and the message is very clear enough, Mr. Iwu must not remain the INEC chairman after June.” Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, NLC President, who led the group said.

The rally was organised by the NLC, the Trade Union Council (TUC) and Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO).

However, investigations by Sunday Trust reveals that labour too employed underhand tactics. A number of the protesters were rented. One of them, an artisan from the suburb of Nyanya, said he was paid N2, 000 to participate in the rally. He had to close down his business for a better part of the day to participate, he said.

That rally angered the commission which issued a statement denouncing the labour led group as “gangsters” and petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo to sanction all those involved in “picketing” the commission’s office .

“Whatever their grievances, the mob ought to have taken them to national assembly for redress and not to picket the commission. This is what other serious-minded groups are doing. We therefore deplore the decision of these misguided souls to cause pandemonium in our premises, an act which is not only reprehensible but condemnable,” Mr. Emmanuel Umenger, the commission’s director of publicity said.

The next day, a “serious minded group” stormed the National Assembly calling for retention of Prof. Iwu as INEC chairman to oversee the 2011 elections. The group, the Alliance for the Defence of Democracy (ADD) was led by a certain Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, who had been active in the recent anti-Yar’adua rallies.

He said that the calls for Iwu’s removal be disregarded and asked  that he be re-appointed after his 5 year tenure elapse in June. They too hoisted banners, some of them with the inscription “Iwu + Jonathan = Free and Fair”. He also announced plans to collect 15 million signatures from across the country in support of Iwu.

Shortly after the rally, the rented crowd was engaged in a free-for-all brawl by Eagle Square over payments. A certain “Coachie” who had coordinated the hiring of youths from Mararaba was given a tough time by the youths, mostly of school age. They accused him of trying to short change them by paying them just N500 instead of N2, 000.

“I swear if them give me more than N500 make I die,” Coachie kept saying as he struggled with the angry youths. The matter was later resolved and the youths boarded buses and left.

But in Iwu’s primary constituency, he seems to be faring well. Some INEC staff feel he is not such a bad man as he is being made out to be.

“In terms of staff welfare, he has done very well,” an INEC source told our reporter. “Removing him must be on based on proven misconduct and this is not going to be easy,” he said.

On Iwu’s poor handling of the 2007 election, the source said, “He is a hero in that regards because Obasanjo never wanted it. He wanted chaos so he could continue in office. Holding the election was a victory.”

This claim runs contrary to assurances by Prof. Iwu that the 2007 elections would be free and fair. The European Union observer group led by Max Van der Berg said that elections was characterised by “poor elections organisation, lack of transparency, significant evidence of fraud, voters disenfranchisement and bias.”

But with a budget of about N50 billion approved for next year’s election, the desperate scramble to be in control of this fund will rage intensely.  And Ugochinyere’s move to collect 15 million signatures may just succeed in a system where a polling station in Yenegoa, Bayelsa State, with 500 registered voters returned 2,000 votes in the 2007 election conducted by Prof. Iwu.