27 Feb 2009 |
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2007 Poll: Iwu As Scapegoat By Amajama Ipole There is a new frenzy that bothers on the absurd and ridiculous: that one single individual is responsible for the flaws inherent in the 2007 election. This fevered and febrile preoccupation of a disaffected segment of the Nigerian society is predicated on the bias that once the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, wins an election, something untoward must have happened to give the party victory. And that ‘something’ more or less has to have the complicity of the chairman of the INEC, Prof Maurice Iwu. Somebody should please give me a break. The serial Iwu bashing by a fringe segment of the Nigerian press has nothing to do with the mass of the Nigerian people rather the agenda of their owners who are mostly politicians seeking to ‘capture’ power like those they gleefully point accusing fingers of having colluded with Iwu to circumvent the peoples will. It is more worrying when the press that is supposed to serve as an agenda setter, an impartial arbiter and monitor of governance on behalf of the people begin to unwittingly take sides in the misleading sense of protecting the ‘common interest.’ What common interest one might ask? There is no gainsaying that those who lost out in the internal politics of their party, their small party, hoped to get power at whatever level when they are not even the popular wish. For instance, the AC and its megaphone of National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed cannot possibly say, in all honesty, that Prof. Iwu was responsible for the failure of Atiku to win the 2007 presidential election when the party was at best present in only a handful states during the electioneering process of last year. And this besides the notorious fact that whatever political damage that was done to Atiku was by a combination of Obasanjo, PDP, Ribadu and El-Rufai. Iwu had no hand in it. If anything, the Professor was only enforcing the law as it was before the Supreme Court otherwise. It is pertinent to point out that while Iwu’s INEC was busy and still makes the argument for internal party democracy, parties like the AC, the crisis-ridden APGA and the portfolio political parties were busy foisting their designated candidates for the various elective positions even within the offices in their own parties. If the offices were not taken by hook and crook by the so-called founders and chairmen or by whatever designation they go by, they were breaking away from where they were to become lords and sovereigns of their own parties. Take for instance the case of the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar who left the PDP to start his own party, AC. Is it, conjecturally, possible that they were other persons interested in seeking the presidential ticket of the AC but were barred from doing so because the Turakin Adamawa had the sole right to it? These are cogent issues that are not given thought to but are pertinent to the democratic development of our country. Elections in Nigeria have been structurally defective to now argue that one single individual is responsible for almost five decades of electoral malaise is sheer poppycock. One may then query was Iwu, Ovie Whiskey in 1979? Or it is his incarnation that conducted last year’s poll? Was it Iwu that conducted the 1983 election that led to Buhari/Idiagbon/IBB to take over government? One cannot help but agree with Alhaji Hamisu Adamu’s argument in the Daily Trust of Monday, February 23, 2009 where he argued that ‘ours is a system that has perfected the act of sacrificing those who fail to do the bidding of those in power, or even those with ulterior motives, often embedded within the system….” There must be a fall guy for every failure and in the instance of the 2007 election it is Prof Iwu who has suddenly become Omniscient and Omnipresent that he was virtually at every polling station altering results, hypnotizing electoral officials to do his bidding. This Iwu can as well decree himself into office as the President of the Republic while we cry wolf after the deed must have been done. How interesting! It is common knowledge that the average Nigerian politician is a desperate fellow. For him, the gaining of political office is the gateway to riches, national recognition and the spoils of war which the national treasury has become. To this end, he spares nothing to get into office. It does not matter if he has to maim, kill, steal ballot papers in the glare of all, bribe and corrupt security operatives and electoral officials to have his way. Yet it is Iwu that takes the fall. How convenient! It is time each and every one of us takes an introspective look into our souls and actions and asks ourselves these germane questions like Adamu. “The question to ask, which every objective Nigerian should ask is, has there ever been proof of direct and knowing rigging of the ballot by Iwu in favour of any of the candidates in the previous elections? Is it possible for an electoral officer on the field to do Iwu’s bidding in favour of a candidate without first of all being compromised? Or has any electoral officer come out publicly to accuse Iwu or resigned on account of being forced to favour Iwu’s preferred candidate in an election?” If anything, none of these allegations has been laid at the foot of Iwu squarely save for the jaundiced and misleading “popular” scapegoat accusations. Besides, for those of us in the humanities especially those that are literary inclined, we understand that the “popular” is not ennobling, it does not aspire to the sublime and with time fades like the fad that it is. In the same vein, the serial bashing of Iwu would soon give way to a new fancy and like the Ostrich, those behind the unwarranted assault owing to their bruised aspirations which no doubt is antithetical to the Nigerian people will leave their behinds in the open while they bury their heads in ignominy.
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