Treason shopping for legitimacy

Then a couple of weeks ago, Sambo Dasuki, the National Security Adviser, went to London to tell the international community that INEC was not even ready for the elections, as it was yet to distribute even half of the permanent voter cards (or PVCs), it was clear that something evil was in the offing. Now […]

Then a couple of weeks ago, Sambo Dasuki, the National Security Adviser, went to London to tell the international community that INEC was not even ready for the elections, as it was yet to distribute even half of the permanent voter cards (or PVCs), it was clear that something evil was in the offing. Now we have seen how that independent election umpire was blackmailed into cancelling elections a week to the scheduled date just because the ruling party is scared. Little wonder then that most people are crying foul. The ruling credo of the cabal in Aso Rock seems to be this: if the people are unlikely to vote you back, then to hell with elections!
Exactly why are President Jonathan and the ruling PDP scared of the elections? (Forget those briefcase ”parties” that pocketed large sums to call for a shift, as all of them put together would never get even 10 percent of the national vote). Would the ruling cabal even allow any election to take place, or would they get the NSA and military chiefs to come up with another excuse come March 28?
To be frank, it would have been difficult for Jega and INEC to take the risk of going ahead with the 14th February date. It is quite conceivable that some rogue elements within the ruling cabal could have staged some bombings, and even engineered enough chaos, to render the results inconclusive, and turn round and blame Jega for ignoring “security concerns”.
But what exactly is the game plan? To buy time for Jonathan and the PDP or what? Their sorry record of the last six years cannot be corrected in six weeks. Their propaganda may have more time to sink in to those already convinced that there is no alternative to what is now going on. However, many Nigerians have already made up their minds, and are hoping for something different. Corruption, cluelessness and callous disregard for people’s general welfare cannot be fixed in six weeks. In any case, the nation is already divided between those that are beneficiaries of the massive graft, nepotism and ethnic politics of this administration; and those of us who have had enough.
Or should we all be naive enough to listen to the security argument? If the government could not deal with Boko Haram in six years, what guarantee do we have that it could do so in six weeks? What has changed now? Is it the political resolve? If so, then the government is guilty of lying to us all these years and handling these insurgents with kid’s globes. If it is new and better weapons, then the critics have been right all along, and most of the allocation for equipment, arms and ammunitions had hitherto gone elsewhere. By the way, of the 8,500-strong African Union force to deal with Boko Haram, how many are we really contributing that the military would threaten INEC that it has no extra men to put on standby and assist the police in case of any emergency. Even if it is true that the army has devoted 15,000 men in the North-East to fight Shekau’s ragtag bunch, it still has over 70,000 more, and could have spared some of them for a few days to help with the elections. Someone sent me a comment by the activist Shehu Sani, which seems apt here. He wrote: “in the midst of bombs, bullets and apprehension, successful elections took place in Pakistan, Columbia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Ukraine, Lebanon, Syria, and the DRC” and so we should ask ourselves, why not here? Can the military not mobilise to secure 14 local government areas (out of our 774), but instead used that as the excuse to browbeat INEC into shifting our scheduled nation-wide elections? Could the government be hoping that our neighbours would liberate these 14 LGAs so it could take credit for such a feat?
President Jonathan is asking us to take the shift “in good faith”; but why are Nigerians sceptical? It is simply because we have been told too many lies. How many times have we heard that some “Chibok girls” have been freed? How many times have they “killed” Shekau? How many deadlines had the Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh given for ending the insurgency? What of the ceasefire accord(s)?
While we should give our military all the support we can because most of them have performed gallantly and in our best interests, we are apprehensive that most of the top brass are so grateful to be appointed that they seem to be more loyal to the powers that be than to the nation itself.
More disturbing is the fact that the social media, and even well established news sources too, have been awash with allegations and conspiracy theories. Some say that the plan is to ensure that there is no election if it looks, as it presently does, that Jonathan is likely to be kicked out. Others even claim that the administration and the hawks of the ruling party are shopping for an “agreeable” judge that would disqualify General Muhammadu Buhari, even if chaos would ensue. The price tag is said to be some two billion naira and a safe exit to Dubai for the chap. Yet others claim that we will soon see an all-out plot to discredit Jega and force him to resign so that they can have a more pliant INEC chair (some names are even being brandied around) so that the elections could be rigged in favour of the incumbent. Indeed some even quote from the Facebook entries of some Jonathan spokesperson that they will never hand-over to Buhari, but would even prefer some military chap as an interim leader.
My advice to Nigerians is simple; fear not. No extra-constitutional transfer of power is possible. That would be treason of the highest order. No one would dare attempt that. March 28 would be the day Nigerians re-invent themselves and drive fear into any non-performing government because we would re-energise our belief in ourselves, and restore our confidence in democracy. Let us be patient and not give anyone any excuse to scuttle that day of promise. Politicians must know from that day that they can be thrown out whenever they fail to deliver; that democracy is truly about accountability to the people.