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Re: The Conspiracy Of Inconclusive Elections By Morgan Omodu

August 22, 2016

Inconclusive elections in our polity did not commence with INEC under its new boss.

Inconclusive elections in our polity did not commence with INEC under its new boss. In fact, the constitution provides for a scenario where elections are deadlocked, due to the inability of any of the parties involved in the elections to meet constitutional conditions to be declared a winner, necessitating a re-run. The current deliberately induced deadlock, through violence and daredevilry rigging, by the political class (sometimes in cahoots with compromised electoral officers), as reprehensible and condemnable as it is, is not a new trend either. In fact, before the advent of the Fourth Republic, and since after, it has presented a major challenge to successive EMBs in the country. It is against this backdrop that I read the article by Remi Oyeyemi, wherein, with the most provocative, condescending, abusive and acutely unprofessional of languages, he vainly tried to malign, denigrate and derisively lampoon the INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, for merely stating very obvious facts in his Punch interview. In the said interview, Prof. Yakubu suggested that it would be akin to him playing God by pontificating over the conclusiveness of the 2019 elections given constitutional requirements and the brazen instinct for electoral roguery by the political class.

When has it become a sin to be realistic and say things the way they are? In a country where official lines, political correctness, and red herring pronouncements are the stock in trade of political actors, shouldn't the likes of Oyeyemi see Prof. Yakubu's brute honesty and straight to the chase remarks in assessing the many challenges to credible elections in Nigeria as a breathe of fresh air? Perhaps, Oyeyemi has gotten too accustomed to lies and deceit that he views truth from tainted and value-laden prisms. Oyeyemi, perhaps also, has gotten too cozy with the class of the lying heathens that he sunk to an al-new low in his very unwarranted brutish and junkyard tirade against the INEC chairman.

For the record, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu's comments about the danger that actions of politicians pose to elections in this country are not new, either from him or his predecessors; the only new phenomenon is the sophistry that politicians have now adopted in their bid to compromise the electoral system. His sin is perhaps, for the first time, the umpire is taking the battle to the doorsteps of politicians by uncompromisingly refusing to rubber stamp outcomes of elections that are not only not in compliance with electoral laws but also stained with the blood of Nigerians. Maybe Yakubu's "naivety," as Oyeyemi suggested, is in his stubborn determination to ensure that no longer will election results be determined at the offices of compromised INEC officials but on the field, in keen contests whose results are determined by the people and the people ALONE. Perhaps Oyeyemi has gotten too used to disseminating and analyzing contrived results of previous elections and so, lazily finds it difficult to decipher the new trend of elections becoming very competitive, making predictions by analysts such as him difficult. 

In the past, results have been released for the sake of them and aggrieved parties told to approach the tribunals. Have we as the nation paused to ask for the cost of our national treasury of flawed elections, in terms of time, resources and yes, lives lost conducting re-run elections? While this piece is not an attempt to revise the immediate past INEC's position in history, but if a spade should be called its real name, the 2015 election witnessed the highest number of canceled elections in the annals of our electoral history. Ninety-nine percent of the elections so far conducted by the Prof. Yakubu led INEC have been re-runs of 2015 elections canceled by different tribunals. Has our collective amnesia reached new heights that the likes of Oyeyemi should be clamoring for the release or announcement of results by any means necessary? Have we not learnt from history? And for Oyeyemi, if results are not released, no matter how tainted, then Yakubu should be relieved of his duties! For basically obeying the law? So much for activist journalism! In saner climes, Oyeyemi would have dedicated his precious space in the revered SaharaReporters to calling for the prosecution of any members of the political class that is taking us to such bestial levels of beheading citizens and INEC ad-hoc staff performing legitimate functions. But no, he would rather Yakubu leaves the stage for a more malleable "Iwuesque" INEC chair.

Since Oyeyemi is looking for enemies of the nation, it is important to nudge him in the right direction. The real enemies of the country are those that call for the release of election results no matter what it took to secure such results. Enemies are those that play the ostrich over clear signs that politicians are pushing our democracy to the precipice with their actions, especially with regards to the violence that is unleashed on Nigerians performing a simple task as casting their votes for candidates of their choice. Our real enemies are those who use their influence in the media to tacitly encourage politicians by calling for punishing a man who is standing up to the shenanigans of these agents of death. Our enemies are those who sponsor these violent acts during elections; have the means to influence public opinion negatively so much so that columnists like Oyeyemi now gloss over acts such as the murder of young Nigerians during such campaigns of "war" called elections.

Oyeyemi asserts that Prof Yakubu is on a hatchet job to do the bidding of the ruling party, specifically, President Buhari. Hmmm! How we miss the days when journalists and columnists were worth their onions and actually took the time to read and investigate issues with a view to ascertaining the sacred truth. If Oyeyemi had befriended 'Google' and done a mere cursory check, he would have found out that the opposition PDP has won most of the re-run elections so far conducted, prompting the national chairman of the APC to accuse Prof Yakubu of being a PDP mole in the INEC.

Just over the weekend, in Oyo State, an APC controlled enclave, the candidate of the Labour Party defeated all comers to win the re-run election there; an election that went unnoticed, perhaps because the agents of violence were asleep or were beaten to their game by the resourceful new INEC under Yakubu. Make no mistake, if that election had been mired by violence, Yakubu would not hesitate to call it inconclusive! For him, he would rather be stereotyped, though wrongly, than allow a drop of innocent blood be shed by these pernicious posses of politicians.

Prof Yakubu, given his pedigree, is not one for quick fixes. He understands the challenge and is up to it. He met a worse situation in his previous bit, and within four years, turned around that agency to becoming one of the best in the country. Is INEC the same as TET Fund? No! But has the zeal, patriotism, dogged determination, attention to details, pragmatism, zero tolerance to impunity and commitment to duty, all qualities and more that Prof Yakubu combines, left him? This writer thinks not. Rather, the man is reborn and will do the needful, no matter whose ox is gored in making our elections better. Oyeyemi can either support him or be prepared to coin more abusive terms to denigrate the man, for he is not going to be intimidated into perverting the cause of justice or becoming permissive of impunity. If Oyeyemi had researched Prof Yakubu's opinion before publishing such a toxic rant, he would have been given a good inkling and an inside scoop into the atrocious dimensions that politicians are resorting to in their bid to compromise an otherwise good electoral process. Prof Yakubu, who till date answers his calls himself, operates an open door access to everyone, and I am certain that a call from Oyeyemi would not have gone unanswered. As an election observer since 1999, this open access is unprecedented in the history of INEC and current staff will tell you that there is a new buzz in the Commission.

So much for conspiracy against the nation!

Morgan Omodu is a social commentator and publicity director of Getting Involved Campaign.
 

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