Situations whereby Civil Society Organizations have hung round their necks the neo-colonialist toga, in return for few Dollar, Pound or Euro dominations are totally condemned. Election rigging in Nigeria survived because the Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria are perpetually cocooned in their slumbers, and only wake up when Whiteman needs data to update his records for the perpetuation of his neo-colonialist Armageddon.
At this point, Nigerian Civil Society groups got hired by him for data collection, in the name of “election monitoring” or “observation”. The level of exaggeration of negative events in our societies by our Civil Society partners in their proposal-writings for funding is very alarming. In Anambra State, for instance, some civil society groups, while phrasing their fund- seeking proposals, equated Anambra State with the failed State of Somalia. Ninety-five percent of the groups trooping to “monitor” the said governorship election had in their proposals for Whiteman’s hard currency, presented the State as a “jungle” where no sane mortal lives at the moment, but a Hobbessian society where everyone is at war against everyone. Some of these groups even concluded that violence of shaking magnitude would envelope the State before, during and after the election.
Unfortunately, Nigerian Civil Society Organizations have become Nigerian Churches and Mosques, which theoretically preach for an end to evil doing, but practically opt for same so as to benefit from the “seeds” sowed by the victims and the victors of the evil doing. Sincerity, selflessness and consistency are fundamentally lacking in the present day Nigeria Civil Society Community. What now rules in the Community are mercantilism, engendered by neo-colonialism, neo-capitalism, and crude class consciousness.
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It is on these notes that we condemn, unreservedly, the flooding of Anambra State by every Tom, Dick and Harry in the civil society industry, in the name of “election monitoring” or “observation”. From Alliance for Credible Elections, Transition Monitoring Group, Nigerian Labour Congress, Nigeria Bar Association , CAN, JDPC, Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Federation of Muslim Women Association, People with Disabilities, Action Aid, Anambra State Associations in Diaspora, to Global Initiative for African Development, to mention but a minute few.
It may be correct to conclude that most of these groups are on a hired mission: “to record how many people that are killed or maimed on Election Day, forward the records to their funding agencies and get their balance of the funds so promised”. Funny enough, none of these groups was interested in ascertaining the level of preparations by INEC, which include: whether proper voters’ education was carried out; whether most, if not all the eligible voters were registered; whether the voters’ register was credibly updated; and whether the body of INEC’s National Commissioners was properly constituted.
Today, but for few credible groups and individuals such as Inter-society, CLO, Action Congress, Governor Peter Obi, the Anambra Human Rights Coalition, and a section of the Nigerian Media, the rot rocking the INEC’s voters’ register would not have been exposed. Even when we formally alerted some of these latter-day election monitors, to come and join in the fight to make Anambra poll truly free and fair, they shied away because Whiteman’s hard currency had not come. When an already rigged election is monitored, mechanical legitimacy is so conveyed.
Our position to the effect that the present INEC cannot and will never conduct a free and fair governorship election in Anambra State unless forced to do so, is still very firm. For the fact that INEC has owned up to the gross illegalities it has so perpetrated and to monumental anomalies in its discredited voters’ register, are further attestations to this firm position of ours. INEC may have sacked ten staffers and interdicted ten others over the said illegalities and anomalies, but till date the Commission is still brandishing the highly discredited voters’ register, which contains 1.1 million fake and dead registered voters and about 700,000 or living or genuinely registered voters, out of which, about 100,000 more were made redundant-living-voters having had their voters’ cards seized by the same INEC.
In the event of the foregoing, therefore, our questions are: with which voters’ register does INEC intend to conduct the said election? Is it a discredited voters’ register that recorded some polling booths or centers with zero registered voters and recorded some, if not many, with highly inflated “registered voters”? Is it a voters’ register that contains pictures of animals, doors and windows with human names or under-aged with voting age? Is it a voters’ register that is not updated? Or is it a mix up of names, pictures and blank photographs that are widespread?
For Anambra governorship election to be free and fair, INEC must apply modified “option A4,” whereby the holders of permanent and temporary voters’ cards with their pictures on the cards credibly authenticated, must be allowed to cast their votes for their choice candidates. Apart from this fundamental change, every other arrangement including timely provision and adequacy of sensitive and non-sensitive electoral materials such as FormEC8As must not be toyed with.
We also fear that the constitutional incompetence of INEC with respect to the non-quorum of the board of its National Commissioners, which is presently four, instead of the constitutionally required thirteen, may lead to the cancellation of the said poll by courts of competent jurisdiction. The language of the Constitution is very firm, original and unambiguous. Its violation is a product of nullity.
Our suit number FHC/AWK/CS/225/2009 ( Incorporated Board of Trustees of Inter-society v. Independent National Electoral Commission & Anor) before His Lordship, Honourable Justice Peter Oluyiwora, which judgment, billed for 15th day of December 2009, could not be delivered even till date, may invalidate the said election afterwards because of legal injustice trailing the non-delivery of the important judgment.
Therefore, INEC has no other option than to credibly conduct the said poll in a free and fair manner, no matter whose ox is gored. We call for a change of attitude by Nigerians especially INEC and the Nigerian Civil Society Organizations towards election rigging and abetting of election rigging. Civil Society groups must go beyond the pursuit of Whiteman’s hard currency to proactive engagement in pre-election, election and post-election management. Pre-election and post election managements are far more fundamental than the election proper. When eligible voters are disfranchised, election to be conducted is already rigged.
Signed:
Comrade Emeka Umeagbalasi
Chairman, The Inter-society, Nigeria
Board of Trustees
Phone: +234(0)8033601078
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