Election Tribunals: We May Be Getting Some Wrong
An old man once said that, “It was only a fool that puts two legs into
the water when trying to ascertain the depth of the water”.
Ironically in my country we not only test with our legs, we infact test
with our two hands, we bend down and do not care about our behind.
Sometimes when we blame leadership for all our woes I have asked that
who makes this leadership after all, certainly people, not just people
but us. You and I make up leadership, either in our small homes, wards,
local councils, states, and the so-called Abuja.
Unfortunately it is impossible for a man or a people to rise above their
knowledge, we cannot get more than we ask for, and if we do, that would
be simply luck or a miracle. Take soccer for example; I recall we asked
for a world class coach, they gave us Berti Vogts, despite his abysmal
performance in Scotland he was given the job in Naijaland and today we
are all witnesses of how the journey has been.
This is not about the Nations Cup, Berti Voigts, Yar’Adua or anyone but
Nigeria, like everything Nigerian we learn in a slow motion and forget
at the pace of lightening, nothing learnt, no intent and no purpose
I am more than ever, concerned with the recent rate at which the
tribunals are churning out the whole nullification thing. And before I
get crucified, let me state very quickly that I have no grouse with the
verdicts in theory but practically there are inherent problems we have
chosen to turn a blind eye to, and they are the reason I ask ‘are we
getting some wrong?’
We berated the tribunals initially for their slow pace, we asked if they
had not been compromised, like in Asaba, Delta state where the tribunal
has only just began work, or in Benue where David Mark has contrived to
stop judgment. By and large they slowly but steadily started the job,
indeed it was slow and at first insignificant, until they started going
to the Gubernatorial, Senatorial, and only Almighty Allah knows…
Now that these verdicts are being upheld by the appellant court, I
wonder if Professor Iwu could be humble enough to tell us he goofed.
With all these fresh elections scattered all over the place, can someone
tell me that it would be organized free, no logistics, and no expenses
whatsoever.
I can say with a proof of certainty that there are several million naira
worth of election materials hidden in places, so the deeds of April 14th
and 21st 2007 will continue to remain an illusionary part of our
history, this is so because no effort has been made to look at the
issues, not all this ‘no DPP logo’ judgments. I am equally concerned
about the status report from the South African end regarding ballot
papers that were paid for and were not delivered.
As we celebrate these ‘victories’ on behalf of democracy, at what cost
is it to us as a nation, is it really worth the hassle, are we learning
anything, when a roll call is made will Nigeria be part of those that
have been there, saw, survived and actually conquered.
All the tribunals have so far done is to look for shelter in one
technicality or the other, infact rather than face the issues of
mindboggling rigging, inflation of figures, announcement of results even
before actual votes were counted, we are jubilating verdicts based on
parties that could not win a ward even if they had their logo, name,
wife’s name and pictures of their entire family on the ballot paper.
My apologies, no offence meant, in the Senate President’s place Chiefs
carried ballot boxes like thieves, in Yar’Adua’s homestead, I saw
underage voting, a scenario of boys turned man. I know of a clear case
where a sitting Governor’s temporary voters’ card surfaced in another
state completely, and still the Governor cast his vote in front of
cameras.
I begin to think sometimes that ours is a case of a people that do not
know what they want than that of a nation that is a patient with bad
leadership. I read in the papers the other day as Lawyers in Diaspora
asked the tribunal to thread softly in this nullification matter.
Priests are now scared and are warning the Tribunals to thread softly,
and I wonder what do we really want?
But these are the same Nigerians that had earlier harped on the need for
the right thing to be done, but now we do not have the guts to stomach
the attendant results. Surely because we did not know what we were
asking for, we just asked without a clear sense of cause and effect.
How much would it have cost us if we had done one proper election in
Kogi, as against the waste of resources that will occur in the name of
fresh elections come March 29th? I question the fresh elections to be
conducted by Iwu and some of his men, or the one to be monitored by same
security personnel or the one that would be contested by the same
crooks.
The Kogi experience shocks me, but the fact is that most things in
Nigeria are shocking and when they are not, we deliberately add the
shock factor into it. Only months, no one wanted to hear Abubakar Audu
but today he is a frontrunner in the forthcoming elections, same man
that was arraigned for stealing ‘once in a while’ when his governor.
I wonder if the Kogi people remember how EFCC accosted him in Jos in
commando like fashion.
When we want to do our own things, we do the overkill, like former Chief
Justice Belgore had said we do everything either our way or the wrong
way, often; we blame others for the way we deliberately choose. At a
function he had to remind his audience that the Americans whom we tend
to copy have not had an impeachment in decades, but in our case, you
just don’t like a man’s face you commence impeachment process.
Still someone there lacks the sense of duty to see that Iwu can, should
and must not only be impeached but prosecuted if found culpable.
Really there are times we do not know what we want, now after all the
billions that was stolen and is still being stolen we are blaming
immunity for it, immunity is about an office, not an individual, a man
will still steal with or without it. And t is in this light I think that
we have a problem that is way above us.
I was privileged to be on Obasanjo’s campaign train, and it often beats
me that all he promised is, what he denied us, he sold refineries to his
cronies, after wasting billions in rehabilitating same, from turn
around, turn forward and look back maintenance and in the end we know
better whose pockets was being maintained.
We have given the likes of IBB the honour of a comparative analysis, and
we forget that two same side of a coin is always worth nothing. In the
final analysis what will be the productivity rate of the tribunals, have
they added value to our democratic crawling.
Now every crook hails the judiciary, but with executive lawlessness and
legislative laxity not much can be achieved or can change. The positives
of the tribunal basically are the fear it sends down the spines of our
politicians and how it is helping shape our federal status but given the
same circumstances our political class have shown they will do same
again and again.
The tribunals have tried, but have we shown signs that we are willing to
try, elections are one fundamental aspect of democracy, and flawed ones
are equally one recipe for bad governance and an eventual collapse of
the system. We are doing something wrong, the tribunals can be
celebrated but if we miss the basic, we are bound to get something
wrong. May the Almighty Allah help us learn from our mistakes of the
past election.
Afterthought In the next forty eight hours or so the Presidential
election tribunal will deliver its verdict, David Mark has suffered the
hammer blow, whichever way the pendulum swings, this again will pose as
a litmus test for Nigeria and Nigerians.
By Prince Charles Dickson
pcdbooks@yahoo.com
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pcdbooks@hotmail.com
Abuja, Nigeria
Prince Charles Dickson
Group News Editor
Leadership Newspapers Group
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