The National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in this interview with ADEWALE AJAYI and TERVER BENDEGA,  expressed doubt about the possibility of credible elections in 2011, just as he spoke on why AC wanted to change its name, among other issues. Excerpts:

MOST Nigerians, including your party have been expressing fears about the date set by INEC for the 2011 elections, what could have informed these fears?
Well, I don’t think INEC chose a date, INEC was met with what I call fait accompli. You see, the amendment of the constitution, especially sections 132 and 178 which say that elections must be conducted at least 150 or 170 days before the expiration of the tenure of the present administration, the tenure of the present administration will end on 29th of May therefore, the strict interpretation of these sections is that elections will either hold in December or January. The National Assembly has also said that constitution takes immediate effect as soon as the 2/3 State Houses of Assembly have returned and approved their amendment. All these factors have put INEC in a difficult situation, so it’s either the National Assembly would suspend the operation of those two provisions until after the 2011 elections, and  in addition amend sections 120 and I think 125 of the Electoral Act which talk about when registration should be stopped.

INEC would have no choice than to announce that they can only hold the elections not later than January.  

INEC found itself in a very tight corner and this is why we have come out to say that National Assembly should take a step, even if it means invoking a doctrine of necessity which it had done before, to make sure that the two provisions which in sections 132 and 178 must not become operational until after the 2011 elections. And in addition, the National Assembly must also amend the other provisions of the Electoral Act to allow for more time for regisration and compilation of a new register.

Coming to your question, why are we uncomfortable with the January date,  for few reasons, first and foremost, we are uncomfortable with the date because we believe that without a fresh voters’ register being compiled, it will be impossible to talk about a free and fair or credible election.

The January date might not give INEC sufficient time to compile the voters register or even display it, take objection and revise it before the elections. Secondly, we are of the belief that the level of preparation of INEC so far with the new INEC chairman just finding his seat and being asked to conduct elections in less than five months, is like setting him up to fail.

Lastly, what I call the arranged delay in the amendment of the constitution, even political parties could be caught unawares, they might not be ready for election in January because we are talking about participatory democracy and we all agree that no matter how prepared INEC is, if there is no internal democracy within the parties, we will not have a free and fair election. If elections will hold in January, we may not have a free and fair election if that amendment is to be followed, that means that political parties would be expected to submit the names of their candidates by October.

According to the various provisions of the existing electoral law, it would appear that if the election is going to be in January, then sixty days before that election, INEC must have had the names of the candidates who are going to contest the election, then another 30 days for substitution. How feasible is that given that we are already in August? Most parties have not even had their conventions not to talk of their primaries, these are what we are asking the National Assembly to do; one,  suspend the operation of sections 132 and 170 until after this election to give more time for compilation of register, amend section 120 and 125 of the electoral act to give more time for the registration, then we are also asking the presidency to make available to INEC the N72 billion and whatever they need to be able to compile new voters’ register, and also conduct a free and fair election. The various amendment of the constitution and the electoral act would also give more time even for parties to put their houses  in order.

Do you think all these things you suggested, if they are made available, can bring about a credible election?
At least we would have done what is needful. I think about four days ago Professor (Attahiru) Jega came out to say these were what he needed to conduct credible elections, he agreed that the current voters register is grossly inadequate, that it is unreliable and that it cannot be the basis for conducting credible elections. However we would need between N55 and N72 billion naira to buy the machine and compile a new register, he would also need to work within the legal framework  and therefore, various provisions of the constitution and the Electoral Act should be amended or suspended, if  that’s what we need and you can see from our position, we believe that a billion dollars  even is too small a price to pay for democracy because without a free and fair election you can’t have a stable  democracy. For a country that has N37 billion in foreign reserve and has about three billion in excess crude oil account, why can’t we just take one billion out of this and use it for election, if after that Jega is unable to conduct a free and fair election then we would know where to direct the blame.

What if it becomes difficult for all these conditions stipulated to be met?
We do not see any reason why it will be difficult to meet any of these conditions, incidentally, this morning one of the newspapers actually reported that President Jonathan has agreed to make available N72 billion for voters register, so all that is necessary to do now is for the National Assembly to rise above petty and selfish interest and amend the relevant provision of the electoral laws and also suspend the operation of section 172. We do not see anything that is difficult to be done, unless the will is not there.

Sir,  the way things are  now, definitely Nigeria is almost  a one-party state ,but don’t you think there should be  the need for stakeholders to seriously  address this issue of cross-carpeting?
I have told you, as far as the National Assembly does not make it an offence punishable there will continue to be defection, that is the problem and why I think the National Assembly refused to outlaw  issue of defection or make it a punishable offence, is because they want to benefit from this same criminal activity.

Many of them are thinking that ,they might  not win the ticket of their political party, so they would be able to cross over to another party and get their ticket, it is self-serving ,the easiest way to stop this is by outlawing it. Look , if there are a thousand stakeholders meeting without the constitution being amended to that effect, it is a waste of time.

We are aware that AC is about to have  a new name, with the short time left, when is it likely for AC to announce its new name and what is responsible for the delay?
AC is not just about to change its name, AC is  certainly re-branding and re-inventing itself, that is why we have been advertising the criteria for anybody that wants to contest election, anybody who wants to contest elections on the platform of the party and I think about 20 or 21 criteria have been given, such as high level of integrity, ability to think outside the box, broad acceptance from every part of Nigeria, religious tolerance and so on. I want to say that we are the first political party in this country  to come out and say this is the kind of candidate we want and we received tremendous encouragement from the feedback we have got from people.

What is your take on the issue of zoning, a party affair which has been turned to a national issue?
It is part of the arrogance or ignorance of the PDP. You see, the PDP equates itself as if it is Nigeria, it is supposed to be an internal affair of the party and it has so much distracted the president and the government, serious people like Mr. President who should be busy tackling serious issues of insecurity, poverty, lack of infrastructure  are now being bogged down with the   issue of zoning or no zoning. I read in the papers  that the Northern governors would be meeting again to decide which stance they are going to take. It’s so sad because they have now abandoned governance to the extent that even members of this government are being used to set up various campaign committees for Mr. President or against him and they are being paid with tax-payers’ money. So, I agree with you. A party that cannot even conduct its own affairs properly is the one that wants to be in power for so many years, I think Nigerians should take heed, it is like a man who cannot run his family yet he wants to be the head of a town.