The events leading to the declaration of Mr Segun Oni as the winner of the Gubernatorial re-run in Ekiti State and the declaration itself have confirmed some of our worst fears for democracy in Nigeria. Few people could be shocked by the result as announced by Mrs Ayoka Adebayo. The woman herself certainly is aware that all is not well concerning the election she putatively presided over, otherwise she would not have made a unique but patently illegal declaration. Her declaration is shocking and amusing at the same time. According to her: “ Having met the constitutional requirement, I hereby declare the PDP candidate the winner of this election. Anybody who is not happy with the results should go to court”. Is the last sentence part of the statutory declaration, an advice, an admission that the result is manipulated or a political statement? Only Mrs Adebayo can tell. Well, we have again another opportunity to state certain fundamental truths about our electoral process using Ekiti as a case study.
Thesis 1
The defining characteristic of Nigerian electoral process is disrespect for laws generally. This point can be underscored by the fact that the person who announced the result of the election, Mrs Ayoka Adebayo, lacked the competence to do so, not being a Resident Electoral Commissioner known to law when she purportedly made the declaration. I made this point immediately Mrs Adebayo disappeared from the public and re-appeared at the INEC Headquarters, but it bears restating. Section 306 of the Constitution provides that the resignation of a person appointed under the Constitution, as the RECs, becomes effective upon receipt by the person to whom it is addressed. There is no doubt that the President received Madam Adebayo’s letter on the 28th of April, 2009. The Minister of Information, Madam Dora Akunyili, confirmed this at a press conference the following day when she said that the letter had been rejected by the Presidency or government. Of course,
you do not reject what you have not received. Once she effectively resigned, she ceased to be a Resident Electoral Commissioner to all intents and purposes until she is re-appointed again by the President under the Constitution. Mrs Adebayo has not been reappointed as a REC by the President. She is therefore unknown to law and indeed is a busy body or meddlesome interloper in the eyes of the law. It follows that the declaration of the re-run ‘result’ in Ekiti by the woman is illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional.
Thesis 2
There is lack of depth or strategic thinking in the ranks of the opposition. When Mrs Adebayo made the magical disappearance and reappearance feat, it was amazing to see some of the leading lights of the opposition celebrate the woman. Rather than demand that she should have nothing to do with the election, they left the PDP to grandstand and seize the moral high grounds as it were on the lack of credibility of Mrs Adebayo. I have no problem with using her disappearance and her statement that she would not act against her conscience to demonstrate that some people were bent on stealing votes. It is however unbelievable that the opposition could still trust the woman after she reappeared and said she was still a member of the INEC family. Could it really be that the opposition does not understand what the ‘INEC family’ connotes? I do not know how the opposition viewed Professor Iwu’s statement after meeting the woman that there was no need for her
to report to the police anymore, it is arguable that the Professor was satisfied that the woman was now ready to play ‘family’ politics.
Thesis 3
Ours is essentially a commando democracy. The illegal use of soldiers in Oye for the re-run confirms this. The President did not tell us that he deployed troops for the election, yet soldiers were seen all over the place. They could only have been there to do the bidding of whoever drafted them. The idea was to intimidate the people of Oye and neighbouring communities and send a signal to whoever cared that the election robbers would stop at nothing to capture the votes of the people and the people themselves. The decision of the Court of Appeal that it is unconstitutional to deploy troops for elections has since fallen on deaf ears. The warning issued to Mrs Adebayo that she must re-appear within 24 hours or face unpleasant consequences is revealing of the commando mentality of those heading state institutions. To ask a person who merely resigned her appointment and did not commit any offence to report for any reason could only have been possible in a
police state that ours has become.
Thesis 4
It is naïve to expect the chief beneficiary of distortions in the electoral process to reform it. One is amazed that many people took Mr President seriously when he was reported to have said that the will of the people would prevail in Ekiti. The problem is that those who believed that ‘undertaking’ failed to ask the President to define who he was referring to as the people. President Yar’ Adua is morally incapable of reforming the electoral process, rule of law or no rule of law. It would take a revolution to put an end to vote stealing in Nigeria. The truth whether anyone likes to hear it or not is that none of the existing mainstream parties like AC, ANPP, APGA, PPA or even Labour Party as constituted at present can champion serious reforms of the process. Many of them are part of the problem. Of course revolution requires self sacrifice and honest mobilization that are lacking for now. We must not despair as we really do not have any choice.
Thesis 5
True, Professor Iwu’s INEC has messed up the electoral process and in the process messed up the nation. The point, however, is that what requires change is the system. Our demand that Iwu must go can only make sense if it is seen as part of a broader strategy for system change. If it is an end in itself it would be as meaningless as conducting re-run elections under Professor Iwu.
Conclusion
The Ekiti rerun and the brazen manner in which un-collated results from a particular local government have been used shows that election brigandage is on the increase. The lesson is that the people must seek alternative ways to throw out the impostors who claim to be leading them.
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