June 13, 2006
Maurice Iwu, the brilliant professor who is on course
to be a disastrous electoral umpire, likes to prate
these days about patriotism. To hear him tell it, Iwu
is so determined to make the 2007 polls an emblem of
integrity, transparency and probity that he has
pledged to martyr himself if that’s what it takes. The
Punch of Thursday, May 8, carried a telling caption:
“2007: I’m ready to die—Iwu”. The report opened with
this statement: “The Chairman of the Independent
National ElectoralCommission, Prof. Maurice Iwu, on Wednesday said he
was prepared to die to ensure a free and fair election
in 2007.” The Punch reported that Iwu “said he would
insist on a fraud-free poll despite intimidations and
the threat to his life from persons opposed to having
a credible election in the country.”
I beg the man’s pardon, but I just can’t take him
seriously. He cuts an unimpressive, unpersuasive
figure. In fact, if anybody epitomizes a threat to the
credibility of next year’s general elections, that
person, I suggest, is Iwu himself. His provenance as
well as his record at the helm of the electoral body
inspires little confidence in his steeliness and
independence. As I indicated in a series of pieces
following his nomination by President Olusegun
Obasanjo, Iwu should never have got the job. It’s sad
that the National Assembly shirked its responsibility
by insouciantly affixing its imprimatur on Iwu’s
nomination.
The first warning signal lies in Iwu’s relationship
with the infamous Uba family. It is a matter of open
speculation that Iwu’s ascendancy was pushed by the
trio of Andy, Ugochukwu and Chris Uba. Andy Uba is
Obasanjo’s well-known confidante and Man Friday, the
dependable facilitator of the president’s licit and
illicit schemes. Though reticent by nature, often
shying away from the spotlight, Andy is known to wield
an influence within the sectors of power far in excess
of his official designation. It is also known that
Andy covets the governorship of Anambra come 2007.
Ugochukwu Uba is the undistinguished holder of one of
the senatorial seats from Anambra state. Despite the
legal triumph that upheld his election, the perception
lingers in some quarters that he is something of a
usurper. His emergence as a senator is as shadowy and
open to question as his record in office has been, to
put a mild word on it, unremarkable. If the quantity
and quality of his legislative activity is to serve as
a yardstick, then Senator Uba is best characterized as
an absentee voice. Though representing a zone plagued
by serious crises, including erosion, catastrophic
federal roads as well as crushing poverty, Uba has
stoutly resisted any temptation to lend his mouth to
the narration of his constituents’ plight. The one
time he was ever heard from (and quite loud and clear)
was when he waxed with the shameless minority that
attempted to subvert the will of Nigerians by
endorsing a third term for the president. Otherwise,
Uba has been conspicuous in his silence, one of the
most solid practitioners of the art of representation
through muteness.
Senator Uba’s quiescence is virtuous only when
juxtaposed against the loud, pathetic preening of
younger sibling Chris Uba, the young man whose wealth
has bought him neither temperance nor a modicum of
wisdom, the unfledged rustic who has become a perfect
metaphor for all that is hideous and exceptionable in
the breed of political godfathers. Chris Uba’s
curriculum vitae as a politician includes such items
as orchestrating the abduction of his estranged
political godson, marshalling thugs to sweep through
his home state in an orgy of destruction, and
gleefully confessing to Obasanjo as well as the world
that he had presided over the rigging of the 2003
elections in Anambra state.
What’s my point? Simply that Iwu, a candidate
championed by the Ubas, should not have been allowed
to work even in a subordinate capacity in an electoral
body that aspires to hold respectable elections. Had
members of the national legislature not slumbered when
constitutional duty required particular alertness,
Iwu’s nomination should have been dead on arrival last
year. Nigeria would not have been encumbered by an
electoral chief given to pompous flights of martyrdom.
When a man with Iwu’s antecedents asserts that unnamed
antagonists “want to kill me because I am saying the
time has come to stop the people who have manipulated
the electoral system for so long,” his pathos should
rouse us to derisive laughter. When he adds that “By
God’s grace, we will stop them in 2007” or proclaims
that “There will be a free and fair election, even if
that will be the last thing I will do in my life,” we
should open that beer and have a hearty laugh at the
man’s sense of theatre.
Iwu is tainted by reason of his supposed sponsors. His
record in office is also far from stellar. His
cooperation in Jerry Ugokwe’s gambit to keep a
purloined seat in the House of Representatives is an
abiding smudge. Ugokwe, a chum of Obasanjo, had been
declared an unelected impostor in the House of
Representatives where he’d assumed a seat that
belonged to Christian C. Okeke. Instead of accepting
the rulings, Ugokwe sought to make a self-serving
mockery of the nation’s electoral laws by filing an
untenable appeal in the ECOWAS court. Despite the
clear folly of Ugokwe’s expedition to the ECOWAS
court, Iwu’s INEC went to ludicrous lengths to
frustrate Okeke’s legitimate claims to a certificate
of return as the duly elected candidate.
Iwu then set a new record of shame when his commission
adopted a bizarre posture on the legal challenge
mounted by Peter Obi to recover his gubernatorial
mandate in Anambra. While the case proceeded at an
electoral tribunal, INEC defended its determination
that Chris Ngige of the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party had won the governorship pennant in 2003. Yet,
the moment the tribunal pooh-poohed that position,
Iwu’s commission filed an appeal claiming that the
2003 polls were irremediably defective, and seeking
leave to conduct a new election. Only the politically
blind could have failed to recognize what was at stake
in INEC’s volte-face. The commission was in cahoots
with the PDP to smuggle in another governor who would
be more amenable to the parasitic designs of the
party’s viperous godfathers. It came as little
surprise when the appellate court both upheld the
tribunal’s verdict and scolded INEC for its scandalous
petition.
Iwu’s messianic complex should be exposed for what it
is: a dud. Far from possessing the will and muscle to
shepherd Nigeria through elections with reasonable
odds of passing muster, Iwu is burdened with negatives
that render him unfit for his job. This is the man who
came up with the bewildering idea of introducing
electronic voting, this in a nation with notorious
power breaches. He also advanced the curious idea that
Nigerian elections would be better served if foreign
monitors and authenticators were jettisoned. How does
a man with such baggage find the spunk to project
himself as capable of conducting paragons of
elections?
In the end, we must not forget that Iwu was entrenched
in office by the same coalition of forces and
interests that tried to orchestrate the doomed third
term. Nigerians ought to ask themselves whether these
interests have any reason to promote elections that
stand the test of credibility. Let us illustrate with
Andy Uba. Given his last name, his gubernatorial
ambition in Anambra is a hopeless case. Yet, until the
president’s third term fantasy was re-made into “thud”
term blues (apologies to Chuks Iloegbunam), a few
pundits could state with utter confidence that Andy
Uba’s gubernatorial “installation” was a done deal.
From most accounts, Iwu is a brilliant scientist. The
National Assembly should rusticate him from INEC and
send him back where he can thrive: his laboratory.
to be a disastrous electoral umpire, likes to prate
these days about patriotism. To hear him tell it, Iwu
is so determined to make the 2007 polls an emblem of
integrity, transparency and probity that he has
pledged to martyr himself if that’s what it takes. The
Punch of Thursday, May 8, carried a telling caption:
“2007: I’m ready to die—Iwu”. The report opened with
this statement: “The Chairman of the Independent
National ElectoralCommission, Prof. Maurice Iwu, on Wednesday said he
was prepared to die to ensure a free and fair election
in 2007.” The Punch reported that Iwu “said he would
insist on a fraud-free poll despite intimidations and
the threat to his life from persons opposed to having
a credible election in the country.”
I beg the man’s pardon, but I just can’t take him
seriously. He cuts an unimpressive, unpersuasive
figure. In fact, if anybody epitomizes a threat to the
credibility of next year’s general elections, that
person, I suggest, is Iwu himself. His provenance as
well as his record at the helm of the electoral body
inspires little confidence in his steeliness and
independence. As I indicated in a series of pieces
following his nomination by President Olusegun
Obasanjo, Iwu should never have got the job. It’s sad
that the National Assembly shirked its responsibility
by insouciantly affixing its imprimatur on Iwu’s
nomination.
The first warning signal lies in Iwu’s relationship
with the infamous Uba family. It is a matter of open
speculation that Iwu’s ascendancy was pushed by the
trio of Andy, Ugochukwu and Chris Uba. Andy Uba is
Obasanjo’s well-known confidante and Man Friday, the
dependable facilitator of the president’s licit and
illicit schemes. Though reticent by nature, often
shying away from the spotlight, Andy is known to wield
an influence within the sectors of power far in excess
of his official designation. It is also known that
Andy covets the governorship of Anambra come 2007.
Ugochukwu Uba is the undistinguished holder of one of
the senatorial seats from Anambra state. Despite the
legal triumph that upheld his election, the perception
lingers in some quarters that he is something of a
usurper. His emergence as a senator is as shadowy and
open to question as his record in office has been, to
put a mild word on it, unremarkable. If the quantity
and quality of his legislative activity is to serve as
a yardstick, then Senator Uba is best characterized as
an absentee voice. Though representing a zone plagued
by serious crises, including erosion, catastrophic
federal roads as well as crushing poverty, Uba has
stoutly resisted any temptation to lend his mouth to
the narration of his constituents’ plight. The one
time he was ever heard from (and quite loud and clear)
was when he waxed with the shameless minority that
attempted to subvert the will of Nigerians by
endorsing a third term for the president. Otherwise,
Uba has been conspicuous in his silence, one of the
most solid practitioners of the art of representation
through muteness.
Senator Uba’s quiescence is virtuous only when
juxtaposed against the loud, pathetic preening of
younger sibling Chris Uba, the young man whose wealth
has bought him neither temperance nor a modicum of
wisdom, the unfledged rustic who has become a perfect
metaphor for all that is hideous and exceptionable in
the breed of political godfathers. Chris Uba’s
curriculum vitae as a politician includes such items
as orchestrating the abduction of his estranged
political godson, marshalling thugs to sweep through
his home state in an orgy of destruction, and
gleefully confessing to Obasanjo as well as the world
that he had presided over the rigging of the 2003
elections in Anambra state.
What’s my point? Simply that Iwu, a candidate
championed by the Ubas, should not have been allowed
to work even in a subordinate capacity in an electoral
body that aspires to hold respectable elections. Had
members of the national legislature not slumbered when
constitutional duty required particular alertness,
Iwu’s nomination should have been dead on arrival last
year. Nigeria would not have been encumbered by an
electoral chief given to pompous flights of martyrdom.
When a man with Iwu’s antecedents asserts that unnamed
antagonists “want to kill me because I am saying the
time has come to stop the people who have manipulated
the electoral system for so long,” his pathos should
rouse us to derisive laughter. When he adds that “By
God’s grace, we will stop them in 2007” or proclaims
that “There will be a free and fair election, even if
that will be the last thing I will do in my life,” we
should open that beer and have a hearty laugh at the
man’s sense of theatre.
Iwu is tainted by reason of his supposed sponsors. His
record in office is also far from stellar. His
cooperation in Jerry Ugokwe’s gambit to keep a
purloined seat in the House of Representatives is an
abiding smudge. Ugokwe, a chum of Obasanjo, had been
declared an unelected impostor in the House of
Representatives where he’d assumed a seat that
belonged to Christian C. Okeke. Instead of accepting
the rulings, Ugokwe sought to make a self-serving
mockery of the nation’s electoral laws by filing an
untenable appeal in the ECOWAS court. Despite the
clear folly of Ugokwe’s expedition to the ECOWAS
court, Iwu’s INEC went to ludicrous lengths to
frustrate Okeke’s legitimate claims to a certificate
of return as the duly elected candidate.
Iwu then set a new record of shame when his commission
adopted a bizarre posture on the legal challenge
mounted by Peter Obi to recover his gubernatorial
mandate in Anambra. While the case proceeded at an
electoral tribunal, INEC defended its determination
that Chris Ngige of the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party had won the governorship pennant in 2003. Yet,
the moment the tribunal pooh-poohed that position,
Iwu’s commission filed an appeal claiming that the
2003 polls were irremediably defective, and seeking
leave to conduct a new election. Only the politically
blind could have failed to recognize what was at stake
in INEC’s volte-face. The commission was in cahoots
with the PDP to smuggle in another governor who would
be more amenable to the parasitic designs of the
party’s viperous godfathers. It came as little
surprise when the appellate court both upheld the
tribunal’s verdict and scolded INEC for its scandalous
petition.
Iwu’s messianic complex should be exposed for what it
is: a dud. Far from possessing the will and muscle to
shepherd Nigeria through elections with reasonable
odds of passing muster, Iwu is burdened with negatives
that render him unfit for his job. This is the man who
came up with the bewildering idea of introducing
electronic voting, this in a nation with notorious
power breaches. He also advanced the curious idea that
Nigerian elections would be better served if foreign
monitors and authenticators were jettisoned. How does
a man with such baggage find the spunk to project
himself as capable of conducting paragons of
elections?
In the end, we must not forget that Iwu was entrenched
in office by the same coalition of forces and
interests that tried to orchestrate the doomed third
term. Nigerians ought to ask themselves whether these
interests have any reason to promote elections that
stand the test of credibility. Let us illustrate with
Andy Uba. Given his last name, his gubernatorial
ambition in Anambra is a hopeless case. Yet, until the
president’s third term fantasy was re-made into “thud”
term blues (apologies to Chuks Iloegbunam), a few
pundits could state with utter confidence that Andy
Uba’s gubernatorial “installation” was a done deal.
From most accounts, Iwu is a brilliant scientist. The
National Assembly should rusticate him from INEC and
send him back where he can thrive: his laboratory.
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