President Muhammadu Buhari is known for his nepotism and for rewarding people for their ultra-loyalty to him. Here is a president who fills virtually all of the country’s most critical public offices with Northern Muslim elites, and who rewarded utterly incompetent but loyal service chiefs with ambassadorial appointments after he reluctantly sacked them.
But nothing is more dangerous to Nigeria’s democracy, more egregious to its electoral system, than his nomination of Lauretta Onochie, one of his ultra-loyal aides and one of his party’s most partisan apparatchiks, as an independent electoral commissioner. It is a barefaced attempt to undermine the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system.
Buhari, a former dictator, said ahead of the 2015 general elections that he was a “converted democrat.” Critical minds found that claim dubious given his anti-democratic antecedents. But even if Buhari “converted” to democracy, it soon became clear that the conversion was opportunistic and superficial. Why? Because he backslid once he became president. His actions and utterances, his intolerance of peaceful protests, his disregard for the rule of law, etc, are not the behaviours of a true democrat. Yet, Buhari never stops talking about his commitment to democratic norms.
In his June 12 ‘Democracy Day’ speech, President Buhari said: “My commitment to bequeathing a sustainable democratic culture remains resolute.” Fine words! But, beyond the rhetoric, what does he really mean by “democratic culture”? Well, beyond we come to Onochie, let’s consider some of what Buhari means by “democratic culture.”
It is, indeed, a critical condition of a credible electoral system that an election umpire is not only independent and impartial but also seen to be so
Take the electoral law. Shouldn’t that be part of the democratic culture? Yet, President Buhari has shown absolutely no interest in reforming Nigeria’s deeply-flawed electoral law. Indeed, in 2018, he vetoed the electoral amendment bill that international observers and senior lawyers said would have made the 2019 general elections credible. Well-informed people say that Nigeria’s electoral system is dysfunctional, that the 2010 Electoral Act is not fit for purpose. Yet, a new electoral law may not be enacted before the next general elections, which are barely one and a half years away!
Recently, Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State begged the United Nations to help ensure that the pending electoral bill in the National Assembly was passed and that the president assented to it. But neither is guaranteed to happen. President Buhari rarely talks about Nigeria’s electoral system. He sees “democratic culture” only in terms of voting, regardless of the underlying conditions. But true democracy is not just about voting; it starts with having a robustly credible electoral system, and a proper electoral law.
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Another way President Buhari sees “democratic culture” is through the prism of partisan politics. Last week, in a misguided statement in which he branded advocates of restructuring “ignorant”, Buhari said: “The majority of those calling for restructuring are people that are so afraid to go into partisan politics.” Well, if he were a true democrat, he would know that democracy is an ecosystem in which partisan and non-partisan individuals interact to ensure good governance. Democracy is not a space just for partisan or elected politicians.
Think about it. Are judges elected? Are the media, known as the Fourth Estate, elected? Are traditional rulers elected? Are religious leaders elected? Are members of the professional bodies elected? Are civil society organisations elected? Yet, they are all part of the democratic ecosystem, part of the tapestry of democracy..
In the US and the UK, courts have struck down laws and government policies simply because key stakeholders were not consulted. Yet, President Buhari believes that only those in partisan politics can advocate change, such as restructuring. He is wrong. In a democracy, non-state actors are as important as state actors; there can be no state without society!
Well, Buhari sees “democratic culture” in yet another way. For him, partisan politics isn’t just a condition for governance, it’s also a condition for governing. Thus, he surrounds himself with officials and aides who are politically partisan. All the president’s aides are paid with public funds to give him professional advice. But they are not only deeply loyal to him – they call themselves “Buharists” – they are also politically partisan. But they are not paid by the State to engage in partisan political activities.
For instance, when Femi Adesina, Buhari’s senior media adviser, recently wrote a piece titled “Why I never liked the PDP” or when he lambasted and abused former President Olusegun Obasanjo in another article, is that what he’s paid with public funds to do? Or is Garba Shehu, another media aide of the president, paid with public funds to insult state governors and leaders of Nigeria’s ethnic groups? In a civilised democracy, they won’t be allowed to play partisan politics while paid with public funds.
In the US, the Hatch Act of 1939, as amended, prohibits employees in the executive branch of the Federal Government, except the President and the Vice President, from engaging in partisan politics. The Act is enforced by the Office of Special Counsel, OSC. During the presidency of Donald Trump, who, like Buhari, obeyed only his own rules, the OSC called for the sacking of some of his aides for violating the Hatch Act. A few of them left voluntarily!
Nigeria needs the equivalent of the Hatch Act. If that law exists here, many of Buhari’s aides, notably Adesina, Shehu and Onochie, would have long been sacked for engaging in partisan political activities while being paid with public funds. If they want to play partisan politics while on duty, they should work at the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress, APC, the ruling party, not in the presidency. But the truth is that President Buhari demands and enjoys absolute loyalty, partisanship and sycophancy from his aides, and he rewards them for their obsequiousness
All of which brings us back to Onochie’s nomination as INEC commissioner. For the avoidance of doubt, INEC means Independent National Electoral Commission. The emphasis is on the word “independent”. In their book, Political Systems of the World, Denis and Ian Derbyshire count an “impartial electoral body” as one of the basic criteria for credible elections. It is, indeed, a critical condition of a credible electoral system that an election umpire is not only independent and impartial but also seen to be so. How does making Onochie, a deeply partisan party apparatchik, an INEC commissioner tick that box?
But leaving aside the insights from world-class scholars, what about the Nigerian Constitution? Section 14(2a) of the Third Schedule says: “A member of the Commission shall be non-partisan and a person of unquestionable integrity.” How on earth would President Buhari describe Onochie as “non-partisan” when sheso conspicuously wears her partisanship on her sleeve?
As Buhari’s media assistant on social media, Onochie is known for her utterly strident and partisan views in defence of President Buhari and the APC. Can she say on oath that she is not a member of the APC? And if she is, how does she then meet the Constitutional requirement that an INEC member “shall be non-partisan”?
But the truth is that President Buhari doesn’t care. The Times of London once wrote that dictators who become “democrats” tend to “operate according to their own rules.” And, truth is, Buhari, a dictator turned “democrat”operates according to his own rules. But the question is: Would the Senate do his bidding?
The main opposition party, People’s Democratic Party, rejects Onochie’s nomination; the Nigerian Bar Association opposes her nomination; civil society organisations are against it. The Senate cannot ignore the widespread opposition and approve Onochie’s nomination on a partisan basis, with only APC Senators’ votes. If it does, it would have colluded with Buhari to undermine Nigeria’s electoral system.
Truth is, Lauretta Onochie is too politically partisan to be an impartial election umpire. The Senate must reject her nomination!
