Reasons Why Maurice Iwu Must Stay - Nigerian Village Square

Mar

2009

Reasons Why Maurice Iwu Must Stay

By Aloy Ejimakor

REASONS WHY MAURICE IWU MUST STAY

By: Aloy Ejimakor

It is becoming clear that for some of our politicians, contest for power in Nigeria is driven most by the unbridled desire to control the resources of the country. By contrast, if a politician is truly driven by the desire for public service, he will follow the path of honor, like Al Gore did when he waived his right of petition (or attrition - as applied in Nigeria) and conceded the presidency of the United States to Gorge Bush, even when he (Al Gore) was leading on the manual recount. It is therefore a truism that the spate of litigations that trailed the 2007 elections in Nigeria was fed more by a rising level of desperation on the part of some politicians and less by any institutional flaws in the conduct of the elections. Add the fact that, for the first time in Nigeria, we saw a quantum leap in the number of political parties and contestants for power. More parties and contestants meant many more sour losers who headed to court with the singsong that it was Professor Iwu that robbed them of victory. And I dare say that there is also a new level of misplaced judicial activism that is largely targeted at a PDP that has been successfully portrayed in the media as the sole party that rigs elections in Nigeria. A few of the verdicts too, like that of Amaechi and Ngige appear to be retaliatory rulings against an Obasanjo the judiciary is intent on settling scores with. Unluckily (and unfairly) for Maurice Iwu, he has come to represent the poster-boy for all manners of people who have an axe to grind with Obasanjo and the system he left behind.

Talking of sour losers, there are some who now pass off as activists, pretending to be fighting INEC (read: Iwu) on behalf of Nigerians. Femi Falana has gone to court to secure a mandamus against Iwu yet he downplays the fact that his animus is largely driven by the fact that he contested for and lost the governorship of his state under the nomination of a party (NCP) that did not even win a seat in the House of Assembly. That party has never been heard of since after the election. And then you have Alhaji Balarabe Musa, who is joining up with Femi Falana to fight Iwu because his party failed to win any elections even in his home state of Kaduna. There, the PDP and ANPP won them all. So, it appears that Musa is miffed that Iwu and INEC entered into some sort of tripartite conspiracy to deliver Kaduna State to a hue of joint co-conspirators from the ranks of PDP and ANPP. How do you reconcile this with the mantra that the Iwu is beholden to PDP only?

This whole over-concentration of attacks on Maurice Iwu ignores the glaring truths that also count for him and INEC. Begin with the near zero violence in the federal elections Iwu conducted which clearly and unarguably contrasted with the carnage of Kano and Jos LGA elections. Iwu did not conduct those elections that sadly brought such mayhem. Then we have vast numbers of Governors throughout the federation who are too cowed to conduct their LGA elections almost two years into their term, including a Peter Obi who someone found the false guts to take on an Iwu who delivered on a greater national burden and on schedule too. Now the federal government has vindicated Iwu by proposing to abolish SIECs and have LGA elections conducted by the same national INEC that some people love to belittle. Professor Iwu was the very first to complain about the manner of INEC funding. The Electoral Reform Committee concurred by proposing a first-line charge to fund INEC. That also counts for the Professor.

Additionally, I have come to believe that the problem of organizing elections in Nigeria goes beyond INEC as a single institution amongst the many others like the police and the SSS that are also deployed to critical functions on election-day. The citizenry also carries some of the blame. So, if we decide that nobody is going to interdict our ballot boxes; that election-day law enforcement will rise to deal with instant electoral offenses; that our politicians will refrain from engaging thugs to cause electoral mayhem; and that everybody else comes together to say: for once we are going to have the most credible elections of all time, it will happen and all the ‘omnipresent’ Iwus and INECs of this world cannot frustrate that desire. But if we decide that we are going to be mired in election malpractices just like exam malpractices and other sharp practices that are rife in this country, the most pious assemblage of umpires headed by the Pope himself will not succeed in giving us an election anywhere near being credible. In other words, it is our dubious ways as a people and the mindset that we must win by hook or crook that give us marred elections. Professor Iwu (and those that will succeed him) and our current and future INECs are just the fall guys for what I like to call “embedded societal proclivity to beating the system”. And like the mendacious woman in Solomon’s famous judgment, if some people cannot beat the system, they resort to decimating it. Falana’s frivolous lawsuit to force EFCC’s hand on Iwu appears to be directed at sowing some instability in the polity in the run-up to preparations for 2011. So, in effect, his actions are also targeted against a President Yar’Adua they have reckoned to be the soft underbelly to prevailing on their designs to cause political disorders in the system – to achieve the same ends they sought by calling for no elections in 2007.

And lest we forget, Maurice Iwu did not just fall from the sky and conducted the elections within the best of political and legal climates, such as obtained in Ghana and the United States, both of which have been (unfairly) compared to Nigeria. There were flurries of indictments, ill-prepared opposition politicians, inadequate legal order and the specter of Third Term that nearly sailed through the parliament. The aggressive pursuit of Third Term and the forces arrayed against it wrought untold distractions on Iwu, INEC and the larger Nigerian society in terms of concentrating on the transition. Keep in mind that the ‘transition’ election that brought Yar’Adua required a different mindset from one in which Obasanjo was universally expected to succeed himself. Consider also that entire pluralities of the national and state Assemblies joined in supporting third term, not to talk of the aid and comfort coming from cash-flush corporate Nigeria, the blessing received from various Nigerian religious/traditional leaders for third term to prevail and the easy acquiescence of a conniving citizenry.

When third term failed, grand Nigerian conspiracies were unleashed on INEC to intimidate it away from carrying through with the elections. Recall that vast numbers of prominent Nigerian politicians were calling for interim national government, meaning that they did not want the elections to hold, mostly because they figured they were sure to lose. Some analysts have charged that the call for interim national government was also clever cover for the secret desire for the military to come back, in the hope that it will recruit its appointees from opposition ranks. Therefore, it should not be surprising that the same clique of politicians who never wanted the elections to hold back in 2007 will continue to harass a Maurice Iwu they blame for losing a contest they would not have won anyway. Now, their actions have come to be a double strike of sorts – first, as retaliation against Iwu for daring to hold the 2007 elections; and second, as a strategy to scuttle the 2011 elections they have figured that they are again poised to lose to the more disciplined, better organized PDP.

Ejimakor is an attorney and analyst. alloylaw@yahoo.com

Your Comments

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Robot

# 1 | 14.03.2009 10:29

	REASONS WHY MAURICE IWU MUST STAY By: Aloy Ejimakor It is becoming clear that for some of our politicians, contest for power in Nigeria is driven most by the unbridled desire to control the resources of the country. By contrast, if a politician is truly driven by the desire for public service, he will follow the path of honor, like Al Gore did when he waived his right of petition (or attrition - as applied in Nigeria) and conceded the presidency of the United States to Gorge Bush, even when he (Al Gore) was leading on the manual recount. It is therefore a truism that the spate of litigations that trailed the 2007 elections in Nigeria was fed more by a rising level of desperation on the part of some politicians and less by any institutional flaws in the conduct of the elections. Add the fact that, for the first time in Nigeria, we saw a quantum leap in the number of political parties and contestants for power. More parties and contestants meant man...Read the full article.

sagas

# 2 | 14.03.2009 11:06

	If you have nothing better to say,why dont you keep quiet.With the number of cancelled elections I feel Maurice Iwu and his apologists like you should be ashamed to come out not to talk of raising issues with Nigerians.In the better climes he would have quietely resigned because it is the right thing to do but in Nigeria where you have sit tight syndrome.No way!!!!!!!Please let us have peace.Let him stay on and continue to make mockery of DEMOCRACY.

daaloy daaloy is offline

# 3 | 14.03.2009 12:01

	=sagas;336939>If you have nothing better to say,why dont you keep quiet.With the number of cancelled elections I feel Maurice Iwu and his apologists like you should be ashamed to come out not to talk of raising issues with Nigerians.In the better climes he would have quietely resigned because it is the right thing to do but in Nigeria where you have sit tight syndrome.No way!!!!!!!Please let us have peace.Let him stay on and continue to make mockery of DEMOCRACY. Aloy You are a biased observer. Iwu is your client and entiltled to defend him at all levels. But your support for Iwu is insulting to Nigerians and someone like you should keep yourself out of the debate because of conflict of interest. You sighted Al Core, yet you endorsed Iwu continuation as head of electoral commission. Where is is your priority? Are you for a democratized Nigeria or a selection of a few well connected like yourself to continue ruinning our country? Why are you afraid of opposition if your hands are as clean as you and your client assumed? If dignity is what you and your clients asserts, the best way to have it is a glorious exit.

Ajo Anu Ajo Anu is offline

# 4 | 14.03.2009 12:35

	Aloy, How much for this one?

aguabata aguabata is offline

# 5 | 14.03.2009 12:51

	this guy is fair in his analysis only that he claims Iwu is the fall guy. Iwu is part of the corrupt system, just like anyother Nigerian leading any public institution in Nigeria. The person is effectively running a corrupt, inept and inefficient system. Which public institution is better than INEC? Is it Customs? Health ministry? Police? Education ministry?Judiciary?civil service? replace Iwu with anybody and elections will still be rigged. However no sane person should defend Iwu except this author who is allegedly his lawyer.

Gongo-aso Gongo-aso is offline

# 6 | 14.03.2009 14:00

	There will BE NO SANE REASON for Iwu or Ewu to stay. Reading this article will be a waste of time for anyone. Nigerians will and can justify anything in this world.

chima Ezike chima Ezike is offline

# 7 | 14.03.2009 17:02

	Aloy Iwu manifested that he is more of a partisan politician politician than a supposedly independent umpire. We agree that all that has to do with electoral chaos in Nigeria cannot be totally traced to his inadequacies as the INEC chairman, but he overplayed his game. If you do not know it, by clandenstinely seeking to be rewarded by Nigerians with the creation of a state in the Southeast in his domain (Igboezue or Ugwuaka) contrary to common sense and the aspirations of the majority of the people in the Southeast (an aspiration you lent your full support) is weighing heavily against him. He lost his base in the process. He needs to learn to remain and be seen by the opposition as an independent umpire in electoral matters if he is to serve out his tenure.

Kabikala Kabikala is offline

# 8 | 15.03.2009 16:43

	Mr. Aloy, Please read the article below featured on the back page of today's (March 15, 2009) ThisDay newspaper and authored by Simon Kolawole. Compare it with your own piece. Let me know what you think. Iwu is a Terminal Disease Simon Live Email:simonkolawole@thisdayonline.com, 03.15.2009 Professor Maurice Iwu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is an incurable disease. He should be booted out of that seat now. There is no question about that. Anybody who wishes democracy well, anybody who wants our children to inherit a sane, orderly and democratic society will never support the nonsense Iwu has been perpetrating and propagating since he was appointed chairman of the electoral commission in 2005. He has not only demonstrated spectacular incompetence, he has been an embarrassment to this country with his pronouncements and actions in an age when other countries are making progress. Who should sack Iwu? I won’t beat about the bush: President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. I repeat: President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. He should sack Iwu as quick as possible. How? You’re asking me how? What do you mean how? How did Yar’Adua sack Nuhu Ribadu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)? The law setting up the EFCC spelt out in clear terms how the EFCC chairman may be removed. Yar’Adua did not follow a single letter of the law. Ribadu’s tenure was still valid when he was sent on compulsory leave and eventually removed. So that is about that. Oh, Kolawole, you don’t know what you’re saying! The constitution says only the Senate can remove the INEC chairman! Simon, two-thirds majority of Senate will have to do the job, not President Yar’Adua! Agreed, that is what the constitution says. God bless the constitution. However, the same formula that Yar’Adua adopted in getting the Senate to confirm the appointment of Mrs Farida Waziri as Ribadu’s replacement can also be adopted! If it could be done for Ribadu and Waziri in the era of rule of law, it can be done for Iwu too. It is just a matter of where the President’s interest lies. Let’s face it: if Yar’Adua sends a letter to the Senate tomorrow calling for the sack of Iwu because of “incompetence”, all it takes is a few hours of meeting with the leadership and the next minute Iwu would be gone. Yar’Adua knows this very well. I mean, if you were in Nigeria when Ribadu was removed as EFCC chairman, you would agree with me that if Yar’Adua is really interested in getting something done, he would do it, no matter the obstacle. He has proved it again and again that he can get what he wants. So I don’t believe in this story that Iwu cannot be sacked by the President. But does Yar’Adua want Iwu removed? That is the question. Let’s stop beating about the bush. Yar’Adua has not done anything so far to suggest that he is displeased with Iwu. You may argue that since it was Iwu who presided over the “wuru wuru” elections that produced Yar’Adua, he owes Iwu one. I won’t fault that argument. However, we thought that Yar’Adua kept Iwu in INEC because of the election litigations, so that the umpire could defend his acts up to the Supreme Court. We thought Yar’Adua did not want Iwu to spoil the show by working for the opposition in the courts, so he kept the professor there waiting for the appropriate time to kick him out, constitutionally. Well, Yar’Adua is not thinking what we are thinking. What is my grouse with Iwu? I have three major grouses. One, Iwu is the most openly partisan electoral umpire Nigeria has ever had. Others did not openly display their biases – Iwu has been all too glad to go to town with his. He heaped praises on PDP while defending the nonsense called presidential election in April 2007. He said other parties did not even print posters, so how did they hope to win elections? I’m yet to come across the constitutional provision that makes printing posters a prerequisite for winning elections. We should also remember that Iwu nearly scuttled the elections by constantly appealing court judgments that sought to contain his highhandedness in disqualifying candidates. Iwu kept appealing and appealing, creating the impression that he had an aim to achieve. He was working to an answer, sure. But it has boomeranged and we’re still paying the price today. Two, Iwu demonstrated gross incompetence. Election materials did not get to some stations until late at night. This was the same man who said he had created warehouses in the six geo-political zones of the country to make for easy logistics. He said within hours, all the polling centres would get materials all over the country. It was a ruse. From state to national elections, it was shabbiness all the way. Also, Iwu said he was conducting electronic voters registration. Billions of naira was pumped into this (remember the “direct capture” saga). At a stage it almost became a constitutional matter as he kept extending registration deadlines. But on election days, many intending voters were disenfranchised as they could still not find their names in the register. Electronic registration indeed! (By the way, where are those 10,000 laptops?) My third grouse with Iwu was the outright manipulation of the elections by INEC under his watch. When the governorship and assembly elections were held (April 14, 2007), I was out there on the field. THISDAY sent reporters all over the country. I must have spent a hell of money on phone calls that day. I was calling from state to state, trying to find out the situation on the ground. INEC was a disgrace in most instances. In Edo, Adams Oshiomhole was thoroughly cheated as INEC manipulated the figures to suit the desires of Iwu’s master, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. It was a shame. The same thing happened in Ondo, Ekiti and several other states. I monitored Imo and Abia consistently, like I did Kano, Lagos, Delta, Kebbi and Borno. But for people’s resistance in some states, INEC would have had its way completely. And Iwu defended all that fraud. In Imo, an election that was clearly won by APGA’s Martin Agbaso was annulled by INEC. The same electoral officers who signed the result sheets of House of Assembly also signed those of governorship at every polling booth. Suddenly, one was marred with violence and the other was “clean”. I’m sure the candidates still have the authenticated copies of their result sheets which hopefully they will tender at the Appeal Court or Supreme Court. That was how Peter Obi won his case in Anambra – he presented signed and authenticated results. Does INEC have the power to annul a legal election? Unsurprisingly, Iwu’s daughter became a PA or SA to the governor he later installed in Imo through a ridiculously stage-managed fresh election. Iwu’s brother also became Secretary to the State Government. Of course, these were “thank you” gifts to the professor for annulling the April 14 governorship election. I have no doubt in my mind that justice will still be done in Imo. Futile attempts are being made to blackmail the judges and cast aspersions on journalists and election monitors who witnessed the charade. Let’s see how far that can go. Sometimes, it is not too difficult to “prophesy” on the outcomes of election petitions because truth is constant. Blue is blue, black is black. You can hardly alter that. The judiciary has been very forthright in rubbishing Obasanjo’s unholy communion of rigging and manipulation, administered by Iwu, his high priest. Honestly, Iwu is a terminal disease. But Iwu is not the only disease. This is where I depart from the anti-Iwu argument. Sacking him is just one of the various steps we have to take to cleanse our system. I don’t believe his removal will solve all our electoral problems. We still have the police and desperate politicians to deal with. Most importantly, we need to reform our win-at-all-cost mentality. However, while sacking Iwu may not solve our problem, it will send the right signal that Yar’Adua really wants to carry out electoral reform. We will never have a perfect INEC chairman since no human being is perfect. But we can have a competent chairman who cares about his name, who has respect for fair play and justice, who will see himself more as an umpire rather than an active participant. Iwu just does not make the cut. He has done enough damage to our democracy. He has no capacity to be fair. Let’s be honest. Anyway, I don’t expect Yar’Adua to move for the sack of Iwu. Most politicians in power love Iwu. He did them a lot of favours in 2007. Some “distinguished” Senators, who care nothing about the Nigeria they want their children to inherit, have rushed to endorse Iwu. Some governors are endorsing him one after the other. Now, pro-Iwu groups are springing up all over the country. Who’s financing them? Who’s organising them? Is it that they love Iwu so much? What has happened to shame in Nigeria? I believe this travesty will come to an end one day. One day.