People expected violence and rigging, and both occurred during last Saturday’s elections.  So what else is new?  What we are seeing again is a Darwinian contest where the fittest, the crudest and the most brutal survive. 

Few sides appear exempt from this national voyage into the dark side.  The PDP certainly has superior firepower so can do more damage to extract ‘victory’ in this sad tale. Welcome to Nigeria, the land of the bold, beautiful and ugly! 

That the elections took place at all offers a glimmer of hope.  Of course, things didn’t go smoothly because of INEC’s incompetence, or if you will, mischief.  Confusion, killings and abductions bedeviled the elections.  In spite of all the talks about a free and fair election, it is still business as usual unfortunately.

Senate President Ken Nnamani would agree: “There are some people who are saying that the election was free and fair, and yet their parents could not vote. One of them I know whose father is a traditional ruler. The man could not vote and his son went on air to impress it on people that the election was free and fair. We must tell ourselves the truth. After so many years, we should learn how to conduct elections and allow people to exercise their franchise freely," (The Guardian, 17 April 2007).

The ugliest aspects of last Saturday’s fracas were the killings.  When you steal people’s votes, there is a chance they could get it back.  They could vote again.  But when you steal people’s lives, it’s final.  You cannot take it back.  No amount of Supreme Court decisions will bring back the dead (except God).  They can never vote again!

Though expected the violence still shocks.  Reports indicate about 50 or more people died, including policemen.  There may be more ahead.  Who gets the blame?   The president must take a lot of it.  A do or die affair, he said.  And so it was.  What great moral leadership!  What foot soldiers could resist the general’s order?  Even then, everyone must account individually for whatever misdeeds they’ve committed. 

There is no excuse for killing people during elections, except you are talking self-defense.  Elections are supposed to facilitate peaceful change of governments!  Violence and elections shouldn’t mix.  We have turned a civil activity into a public display of brutishness!

What manner of contest is this?  What could drive people to this madness?  I guess you’d have to be in their shoes and experience their levels of desperation to understand.  It is so senseless!  Why kill some other person over a vote?

The loot, the payoff from the elections must be a huge causal factor in this dementia.  Despite the EFCC’s efforts, governmental revenue still represents the biggest ‘lottery’ in Nigeria. 

To win, many candidates buy support from regular voters and election riggers.  This ‘electoral investment’ must be recouped (with profit) when the ‘lottery’ is won.  That is life in Nigeria.  As long as enough people continue to benefit from this process, this is the way things will remain. 

The next elections will feature rigging and violence.  Unless, of course, enough Nigerians step up like one army commander did.  GOC Major-General Mohammed Sani Saleh reportedly intervened to stop electoral malpractices in Ibadan (Sunday Tribune, 14 April 2007). 

More Nigerians stepping up could make INEC less partisan.  It could push the EFCC to attack corruption with unbiased vigor.  Electoral corruption must be a prime target.  Stepping up would entail better political leadership. Professor Pat Utomi is providing such leadership. 

“I am the best choice for president but I will not fight for the Presidency at all costs,” Utomi told the Daily Champion (16 April 2007).  He added: “if, given objective criteria, some other candidate were to emerge, I will not let my ego stand in the way of the greater good.” 

Stepping up would compel us to defend the courts more intensely (see Defending the Courts).  The judiciary has done quite well for the country so far.  Its continued effectiveness and people’s respect for judicial decisions will help keep Nigeria standing. 

Above all, progress could come from enough Nigerians seeing their own individual mistakes and striving to do better.  It is not impossible!

(fredlintaz@yahoo.com)

Robot  Villager

# 1 People expected violence and rigging, and both occurred during last Saturday’s elections.&nb...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 17.04.2007 14:14

fowler55  JJC

# 2 why waste billions and billions of naira organising a sham of an election when the "winners" have been pre-determined by inec, the security forces and the incumbents. this monies could have been better spent on improving crumbling infracstructures. many nations of the world conduct elections without a whisper; in nigeria innocent blood have to be shed, ballot boxes snatched, electoral officials bribed and chaos rules the day. in the 80s there was WAR AGAINST INDISCIPLINE; the 90s saw WAR AGAINST INDISCIPLINE AND CORRUPTION; its about time WAR AGAINST INDISCIPLINE CORRUPTION AND CONFUSION be launched Posted by fowler55| 17.04.2007 19:09