IWU AND ELECTION RERUN

BUT for the judiciary, desperate politicians operating in cahoots with a compromised electoral umpire would have run Nigeria aground. The forthrightness of the judiciary in the adjudication of disputes arising from the wilfully mismanaged April 2007 elections has been the source of hope that the Nigerian situation can still be salvaged. In reversing the injustices brought before it by the aggrieved parties in Anambra and Rivers states, the Supreme Court had to make far-reaching pronouncements that brought about the emergence of new governors. The governors of Kebbi, Adamawa and Enugu states are still holding to their respective offices because their appeals are pending before the terminal point of adjudication - the Court of Appeal

IN many other states, the governors are waiting with bated breath for what the tribunals have in store for them. The agony of uncertainty of tenure has not been the exclusive portion of the occupiers of gubernatorial mansions. The election of many a state and federal legislator has been similarly voided. Even President Umaru Yar’Adua belongs to the category of elected officials whose fate in the offices they occupy still hangs in the balance. For a sizeable number of political office holders who were declared elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the April 2007 elections, it has been a period of intense anxiety and tension brought about by the desperation of the office seekers and an electoral umpire that lacks integrity.

THE large number of cases waiting to be decided signposts the fact that there will be many election reruns. It is in the light of this that we are refocusing attention on one cardinal issue that has been the subject of pointed and persistent discussion - the competence and credibility of Professor Maurice Iwu to handle the election reruns. The legislative, gubernatorial and presidential elections held in April 2007 were widely condemned. Observers - both local and international - saw the elections as the most fraudulent and indeed the worst in the electoral history of Nigeria.

THE National Democratic Institute, an observer group led by former United States Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, said the polls were “a step backward in the conduct of elections in Nigeria.” The group remarked in its report that the entire electoral process was a failure in a number of ways. The International Republican Institute in the course of its own observation discovered recurring incidents of underage voting, errors in voter registration lists, stuffed ballot boxes, party officials and policemen instructing individuals on whom to vote for, shortage of result sheets, and other materials, falsified result sheets etc.

IN its own final report, the European Union Election Observation Mission concluded that the elections fell far short of basic international and regional standards. It noted that in view of the lack of transparency and evidence of fraud, there could be no confidence in the results. It saw the elections as being hallmarked by “very poor organisation, widespread procedural irregularities, voter disenfranchisement, lack of equal conditions for political parties and candidates” etc. The mission advised that Nigeria should “begin the process of establishing an independent and capable election administration...”

THE local observer groups’ assessment was from very close quarters. According to them, Iwu devoted most of his energy to political battles instead of putting in place arrangements that would have guaranteed a smooth electoral process. They said the INEC chairman failed to appreciate the importance of his assignment and consequently failed to approach it with dignity and decorum. They saw Iwu as an umpire who was more interested in serving the interests of the ruling party than organising transparent and credible elections. The groups’ final conclusion was that the elections were an outright sham.

IT was not only the observer groups and shortchanged political parties that denounced Iwu. Individuals and groups both within and outside the country also expressed their disgust at his handling of the elections. The chairman of the Adamawa State election petitions tribunal, Justice Oluwole Akinwalere, could not but bare his soul while nullifying the election of Admiral Murtala Nyako as governor of the state. He said the grandstanding of INEC, in spite of its abysmal performance, was rather unfortunate. He expected the electoral body to have shown some remorse for the problem it caused and for the money it wasted. Even President Yar’Adua has publicly admitted that the election that brought him to power was flawed.

WHAT then can be the rationale or justification for the continued retention of Iwu as the chief electoral umpire? The man lacks sincerity and has demonstrated gross incompetence. He has unabashedly been indulging in self-adulation after making a hash of a vital and delicate assignment. He has in every material particular failed to give a good account of himself.

IWU is currently a litigant in the so many cases before the tribunals and the Court of Appeal. He is locked in legal battles with so many shortcharged candidates. An appreciable number of these cases will end up in election reruns. How far and justifiable will it be for him to conduct elections in which his opponents are candidates? Is the government expecting a magical turn-around from a remorseless official who listens only to himself and takes delight in glorifying failure? Is it that the government is looking forward to a repeat performance and further bastardisation of democracy? If there is one duty the Yar’Adua administration owes Nigeria and democracy, it is the immediate removal of Maurice Iwu and his band of election bunglers.

CLARENCE THE COWBOY

CHIEF Clarence Olafemi, acting governor of Kogi State, was not a soulful Clarence Carter when he spoke to journalists in his office last Friday. The sound of a gun is not sweet, is not melodious music. Chief Olafemi blazed away like a cornered cowboy. But the journalists, mercifully, were not his target.

HE told the pressmen: “Whosoever goes against me, I will fire. But if you are for me, there will be no problem.”

BODIES may soon litter the streets and lanes of Kogi State. Chief Olafemi was the speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly before he was sworn in as the acting governor of the state. Some people did not want him to be sworn in because a tribunal had nullified his election to the House, though Chief Olafemi had appealed against the judgment.

SO Chief Olafemi has many political enemies. Is he going to “fire” at them? The acting governor said only those who were for him would be allowed to enjoy peace. Is he a dictator masquerading as a democrat? Did he turn the Kogi House of Assembly into a barracks? Is the Kogi Government House now a cantonment?

THE acting governor said power had not gone to his head. He said he would like to be addressed as the Right Honourable and not as His Excellency.

CHIEF Olafemi spoke sense. He displayed gumption and not the ghastly grunts of a gun. His threat to “fire” at political opponents is not an excellent way to govern a state. The threat was not right.