Why electoral fraud persists in Nigeria, by Aniebonam

For NNPP as a political party, our expectation from the ongoing National Conference is not different from what other Nigerians expect. We have to look at it from the perspective of why did we go into the conference in the first place? It is our belief that the conference is very necessary because in a society made up of different people with diverse views, there is the need to come together and talk about the goings on in the country. We understand the importance of dialogue.

Even God who created the heavens and earth, and all that are in them always dialogue with his creatures. The Bible told us that after the creation of Adam, God usually came down in the evenings to dialogue with him, and God also says, ‘come let us reason together.’ If God who is above man by every standard can reason with man, we see no reason why we cannot reason among ourselves. Again, if you look at the situation in the country, you’ll agree with me that Nigerians, more than ever before, need the conference.

We hear statements, utterances; we see actions and inactions that show greatly that Nigerians are sharply opposed to one another. At the rate we are going in this country, if nothing is done and done urgently, the unexpected could happen. Whether rightly or wrongly- years back, there was a prediction that in the year 2015, Nigeria will break up- and if you look at happenings in the last two or three years, Nigeria seems to be dangerously dancing to that prediction. So, at this point, there’s a need for Nigerians to talk. Whether proper foundation was laid for the dialogue or not, we believe there’s need to talk. We in NNPP, as a political party, believe so much in one Nigeria. We had expressed some reservations about the representation at the Conference.

This is because when you are talking about democracy, you’re talking about political party, which is like a vehicle through which the people of Nigeria express their views, and we told the people in power that instead of restriction to only parties that have representation in the National Assembly, state Houses of Assembly or that have state governors, they should have extended the participation to all the parties, because no matter the size of a party, it still has its own followers. So, we believe that at that, those who drew the list did not get it right. Having said that, we expect the delegates to approach issues with open mind, and sincerity of purpose. They should perish their individual differences, parochial interest, religious and ethnic affiliations. They should divorce themselves from all primordial sentiments. For the discordant tunes and rancorous sessions they have been having, it shouldn’t take us by surprise. But we expect at this time that they should show more maturity in their manner of approaching issues.

We expect that the conference will arrive at the type of system suitable for Nigeria. Many Nigerians believe that the Presidential system of government being practised is very expensive. A situation where 70 percent of the annual budget goes to recurrent expenditure, that cannot lead to the development of the country. When you are looking at the percentage of the people collecting the money it is just about 1 percent of the total population of the country. So, we are thinking should we continue with the federal system of government? Nigerians are beginning to toy with the idea of going back to the parliamentary system of government that was practised in the First Republic. We should really look at how to return to the regional system where the regions develop at their own pace. Is the bicameral legislature we are operating beneficial; why not reduce it to unicameral? Do we need the large number of ministers in the President’s cabinet? Nigerians are looking at how to have an autonomous local government administration since it is the government that is very close to the people. These are the expectations of the Nigerian people, we know because we are very close to the people, and those are the things they told us.

The reported allowances are on the high side, especially when you look at what Nigerians go through every day. They are talking about removing fuel subsidy. We believe that if government should plug these avenues of wastages in the system they should be able to take care of things that benefit the people. We don’t see the sense in paying some people about N12million for sitting for three months to dialogue, whereas civil servants are going on strike for non-payment of a pittance called minimum wage of N18,000 per month. I think government got it wrong there.  Well, if the amount has been voted as it has, there should be no going back in the payment, to avoid a breach of the promise. I think what is paramount is that the delegates must be honourable enough to justify that huge taking by the quality of their work at the end of the day.

The level of insecurity is indeed disturbing and the bloodshed is condemnable. Expectation of Nigerians of General Gusau as the Defence minister is very high. From his wealth of experience and exposure, he will do well. Security is key to development. Nigerians are not happy the way things are going in terms of security. To attract foreign investment we must get our security right. The primary responsibility of government is to ensure the security of citizens. It is not just to be in power, the security of citizens must be paramount. The minister of Defence as an appointee of government must ensure that this objective is fulfilled. He has sworn to an oath to do so, and must be seen to be doing so.

 If we want to be sincere to ourselves, Nigeria is blessed with an INEC chairman that has credibility, especially going by what he has been able to do. We have seen electoral umpires in the past, and when we compare them with Professor Jega, there is a world of difference in terms of credibility. However, we must realise that INEC is not only about the chairman, there are resident electoral commissioners and others including the ad-hoc staff that the commission engages to work during elections. So, if you are calling on Jega, you must also call on all those under him, to be transparent and credible in their dealings. Jega came out to apologise for the poor outing in Anambra last year and has promised that it would not repeat itself. In every human endeavour, you do not expect perfection.

I will only advise Prof. Jega to properly scrutinise his staff and those to be engaged as ad-hoc staff, so that his work will not be destroyed at the end of the day. But beyond INEC my brother, we need to talk to the Nigerian politicians. The politicians are the problem with the elections not INEC. They are the people who bribe INEC officials and ad-hoc staff with huge sums of money to rig elections for them. Let them for once make our ballot box sacrosanct. Let them have faith in our ballot box, let them not do anything that will compromise the election. May be, this is where the government comes in. You may ask, all those people that had been caught for electoral offences, why is it that we have never heard about anybody that has been jailed as a result of his/her role in election rigging? I think if government, for once decides to punish electoral offenders, maybe we will be on our way to solving electoral problems.