THE NORTHEAST AND ELECTIONS

We have just a few hours left out of our six week postponement. The 28th of March 2015 will be Election Day and the whole country is frozen in anticipation of what may happen. I cast my mind back to five weeks ago when the decision was made to postpone these elections, primarily because of the security situation in the North East and the fact that, according to our government, the citizens there deserve to also have the opportunity to vote.

I have been well impressed with the advances that the army has made in this short time but feel somewhat alarmed that the whole focus of the country as well as the media is the ability of the citizens of this area to vote. It has all been about voting, about numbers and where the PDP feel that they can make gains against the opposition. The whole effort to me is an indictment on the government. The people of the North East like the rest of us are mere political pawns.

I must use this opportunity to thank all the charitable organisations, NGOs and private sector bodies that have been galvanized by the cruelty, suffering and trauma that their fellow brothers and sisters have been exposed to and are still suffering in this zone and have arranged all manner of relief materials, etc. We have IDPs, (internally displaced persons) camps all over the country and you really want to take a visit to these camps to see the appalling neglect that these people endure.

But I cannot be all negative, because as a people, I feel proud to be Nigerian; it fills my heart with joy when I see how the communities, the villagers, poor people who are scraping to get by, have opened up their hearts to these fellow Nigerians. They have made semi-completed buildings, grain stores and even their living rooms available to anyone from these zones. They have provided them with security, a place to lay down in peace and have a secure nights sleep, no matter how uncomfortable.

We hear everyday of ethnicity and discrimination, but I was in Lagos last week and there were many refugees from the north being given any kind of work available, so they could send money back home and to Cameroon and Chad to assist their families in their plight. It is heartwarming to know that though the politicians come from amongst us, they are a breed apart from us and act like colonial masters, here to get what they can from an open hearted but defenseless land. I grew up in Lagos but have lived in Abuja now for the last 15 years. I do not feel ownership for the place. I still feel like I felt when the military were in power and we were second class citizens, ‘mere civilians’; the politicians have done the same to us again.

By the time some of you read this, the Presidential election at least would have taken place already. It is the most closely contested election that we have ever had. This means that we are making progress and depending on how it goes, some will feel that they have lost and the situation is hopeless but I say to you that we may have lost this battle but the fight goes on and we will win the war. Our futures and our lives depend on it.

We should all be aware that a huge responsibility rests on our shoulders. Whether we like it or not, Nigeria is the giant of Africa. A sick giant, but, nevertheless, the giant. The success, the inspiration of the black race all over the world rests with us. We cannot get it wrong and must lift peoples who live in the Americas who have only experienced negativity all their lives out of the doldrums. We must psychologically assist them in casting off those shackles, otherwise we as a people will keep on wallowing in the backward mediocre situation that we find ourselves and let down the rest of humanity as a result.

By the way, we still have the responsibility to further secure our votes and make sure that through a viable opposition, we can call the politicians to order and that way ensure our progress. People may see it differently, but if you have your desired governor, change is even more imminent than having your desired president because your governor is closer to you. Nigerians, effect positive change wherever and however you can!

YOU CAN’T TREAT ME ANYHOW ANYMORE

When the self-styled Islamic State (IS or ISIS) released a video showing the gruesome murder of a Jordanian pilot in its captivity, Jordan’s response as a government and people did not fall short of expectations. King Abdullah cut short his trip to the USA to mourn and show solidarity with his countrymen. His wife, Queen Rania, led the campaign for justice (pretty much similar to what the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners are doing here, only that our government sees them as enemies). The official statement from the Jordanian government was: “We will avenge every strand of hair on the late pilot’s head!” And that is what they are doing. 

We have seen the response of Britain and the US to similar Kidnappings and murders of their citizens by ISIS.  “Jihadi John”, for instance, a British citizen in the ranks of ISIS has been unveiled. The British government did not rest until it tracked down the identity of Mohammed Emwazi and placed a name and face to his voice. Now he is exposed and the intelligence dragnet, you can rest assured, will do everything possible to neutralize such threats in the future. This is a government!

                                                            

In our case, the government was not sure of what information to disseminate in the wake of the kidnapping of 200+ Chibok school girls. Their first response was to deny the incident, claiming that it was fabricated to embarrass the government of President Goodluck Jonathan. Can you imagine? They have just done this again with the fuel scarcity. Then, the Theris-God-o video of the president’s wife’s show of shame went viral. Lest we forget, there is also the grilling given ex-minister of information, Labaran Maku, by CNN’s Isha Sesay. Do our leaders look as if they care or know what they are doing?

Thanks to the effort of the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners (may God continue to bless you all), the issue attracted global attention and the Nigerian government suddenly had to be seen to be doing something. Yet, almost 365 days after, we haven’t heard anything. We have no information on their status, whether they are dead or alive, where they are. We do not have any intelligence on the kidnappers. Rather than profile prominent members of the terrorist group, all we do is kill Shekau three times and want him alive the fourth time! Is there no intelligence about Boko Haram, who they are and what makes them tick?

My conclusion is that our lives are not worth much in the eyes of our leaders. Around the world, many are beginning to realize that our government cannot protect us; that our lives mean nothing. Thank God for Niger, Chad and Cameroun. The Chadian president has stated unequivocally that a lot more could have been done a lot earlier, if the Nigerian government had allowed it, hadn’t deliberately put impediments in their way. What has changed?

They have come to the realization that they can lose the elections unless something positive is done. But are we deceived? Yesterday, the Vice president in a desperate bid, called for the elections to be conducted without using the card reader. This is the device produced at great expense to the tax payer, to authenticate the PVC holder. The card reader will ensure that the holder and the card are genuine and will negate or reduce the instance of rigging. The PDP have been slow to appreciate that INEC has actually made giant strides since the last elections to stop as much as possible the incidence of rigging.

After 54 years of our independence, it is possible at last for change to be effected, not violently by the military in a coup d’état but with people power through the ballot box, with real votes counted, yours and mine. We can for the first time actually achieve free and fair elections and have a say over who leads us. We cannot allow for anybody to tell us that authenticating who a citizen is constitutes electronic voting. The accreditation exercise does not allow for anyone to rig the votes counted and renders useless any PVCs that have been stolen.

We are important and can vote in or remove anyone that is not securing our lives and welfare. This can change the way business is done in Nigeria forever. It is for this reason that suddenly the Northeast has become a Mecca of sorts for the president and his officials. Closed-door meetings at the Villa with parents of the Chibok girls are now frequent, just because elections are around the corner.  

But a leopard never changes its spots and the fact that they have just forced through Obanikoro, a man fingered for election fraud, to the position of minister is just a forerunner of what we are to expect.

LACK OF PLANNING

We are the fire brigade, who did not check that we have a reservoir of water when racing to put out the fire, even though this is our primary function. This is what keeps us regressing and allows opportunists to exploit us and does untold damage to our union.  We are not prepared for the general elections, the most important date in a democratic dispensation and had to postpone the elections! Who has lost his head or his mandate? Nobody.

Who are these people that rule us, cloud our eyes for their own gain and give us only snippets of information, ill conceived, poorly prepared and as a result allows for poor emergency response mechanisms, which they get away with and in fact profit from.  We just are not process-driven to enable us get a clear understanding of what is required to tackle our issues head on. And now, how do we explain the long queues that have returned to petrol stations?

Exactly this time last year, we were in a similar dilemma. The most disturbing and fearful thing about a disease is when its cause cannot be ascertained. No one can categorically state why the queues have returned to our filling stations. When this round of fuel scarcity first reared its head, the Federal Government, or should we say the PDP (because we can rarely tell the difference these days) said it was the opposition APC that engineered it to discredit Mr President. Later, the government’s position was that the long queues at filling stations were as a result of panic buying and hoarding. However, the scarcity persists.

Petroleum marketers have responded to the allegation that their members are hoarding the commodity. One source stated what the government of President Goodluck Jonathan should seriously ponder on: “We cannot hoard what we don’t have, government should avoid fire brigade approach to importation of petroleum products since we do not refine petrol in Nigeria.” The government has, as a panic measure, started shelling out huge sums of money owed to the marketers, to temporarily alleviate the situation by panic importing the product. Fire brigade!

Whilst we queue for a product our nation produces, INEC is sweating out the “are-you-ready-or-not-question.” The strategy is to reincarnate the Devil’s advocate called the Association for Better Nigeria, headed by the infamous Arthur Nzeribe used to scuttle June 12. This time, the agenda is to either force Jega to proceed on terminal leave or compel him to ditch the use of card readers or both. This way, the credibility of the March 28 presidential election – or its lack of it – will rest on the ruling Peoples Democratic Party. Already, many PDP satellite parties have started championing both courses. The card reader is a biometric device that does not allow for rigging, as it identifies the owner both facially and with a thumbprint. One would have thought that this would be the best way to safe guard our democracy and ensure that the people choose whom they want to rule them. It is a security device. The matter has been taken to court at this late stage, just to fuel even more uncertainty in our polity. There is talk of further delays. Who is responsible for this uncertainly? Who?

On the frontline, the Chadian president, Idriss Deby, seems to have combined his role as his country’s commander-in-chief with ours. He obviously has more information on Boko Haram and Shekau than our president and has given ultimatums to the group and its leader. It is amazing and a shame that our security agencies do not see the shame that would make a country like Chad call for the surrender of a terrorist whose operation base is in Nigeria and has terrorised and killed more Nigerians than Chadians. If by now the Nigerian government does not know that it is operating in the shadows of its Chadian counterpart, then something must be wrong with the swagger that comes with being “the” regional power. Are we happy to rely on Chadian troops and intelligence to liberate our towns and villages without taking to account, the kind of implications it has on our national security.

“Abubakar Shekau must surrender. We know where he is. If he doesn’t give himself up he will suffer the same fate as his compatriots. “He (Shekau) was in Dikwa two days ago. He managed to get away but we know where he is. It’s in his interests to surrender.” If I were a Boko Haram member, I would take these threats seriously. Unfortunately, they are not from our own president. They are from the president of a “small” friendly neighbour of ours called Chad, a country of just over 10 million people and a total GDP of $15.986 billion.

This is the kind of organised leadership we need.

TO MILITARISE OR NOT TO MILITARISE?

The government seems to be gradually but assuredly trading our hard-earned democracy for totalitarianism. A very dangerous precedent. The rule of law must be strictly adhered to if we are to secure our democracy. The Court of Appeal in Abuja, a court of competent jurisdiction in a democratic country, recently pronounced the use of Armed Forces in the conduct of elections as a violation of Section 217(2)(c) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 1 of the Armed Forces Act. The court went further to bar the use of the Armed Forces in the conduct of future elections (including the coming election on March 28) in the country as such constituted a violation of both the constitution and the Electoral Act. But our government has insisted that it will ignore the Judiciary.

Why do we like to turn the normal on its head in Nigeria? Why does President Goodluck Jonathan feel that the army should be deployed? The prospect of militarizing our democracy is a very scary one, especially when being initiated by a president who is a beneficiary of civil proceedings.

 May I remind the president that at a Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship campaign in February 2012, he spoke with magisterial candour and confidence about how his administration had adopted the one-man-one-vote policy on the sanctity of elections conducted without gun-wielding security personnel? Mr President, you made this promise: "God willing before 2015, we would conduct election without security carrying guns to follow us. We know we have disciplined people.”

Soon after the president made this promise, he broke it by deploying armed security personnel in Cross Rivers State in an election. In fact, weeks before that, over 100,000 policemen were deployed to the president’s home state of Bayelsa during the state’s governorship election. In Sokoto State that same year, an 8,000-man military force, marched on the streets to guard the polls.  

Having experimented with deploying the military on flimsy grounds during the protests against the removal of fuel subsidy, our president seems to have fallen in love with this dangerous pastime. More recently, we witnessed how the deployment of military during the governorship elections in Ekiti, Osun and Anambra states led to serious violations of citizens’ rights. The ruling party especially in Ekiti also used the military as an instrument. We have a Police Force whose responsibility it is to secure us from within while the military’s constitutional role is to defend our territorial integrity. What do we need men trained to fight wars for at a polling station, especially when we are dealing with terrorists in the northeast?

The President should understand that his acts only serve to damage our economic and political stability. There is terrorism going on in the North East of the nation. We start to see the results of a concerted effort. Kudos must be given to the army for the advances that they are now making. But we wonder why this level of seriousness was not applied right from the start. If the government had been so effective ab initio, all the political games he now has to play to sway the undecided would not have been necessary.  The fact that they show today that when there is sincerity of purpose, they can protect us makes the President look really bad. He is now visiting areas affected by the kidnappings and bombings only for political gain. It is a shame that government feel that we are so worthless that they can play politics with our lives. Shekau is suddenly alive again even though the same army had killed him before.

May I remind the government that elections went on unabated during the long years of the IRA in the UK, the Red Brigade in Greece and ETA in Spain. Afghanistan and Pakistan have conduct elections regularly even in the face of terrorism on scales larger than ours.     

It is truly a shame that the elections were cancelled. Again this was on the advice of a partisan military. It is clear that the opposing party is struggling for funds as all their ad campaigns have ceased. We should be mindful that we need a viable opposition for our democracy to flourish. Winning should not be at all costs and referees should be apolitical.

 Plotting a new path by the country’s political leadership to deepen and guide a more efficient and meaningful national journey is our greatest challenge.  The focus area should be the restoration of the legitimate dream of Nigerians and the re-invention of a social contract in tatters. This can only happen through transitional democracy by means of the ballot box, conducted under a free, fair, credible and open atmosphere devoid of intimidation.