Daily Sun Opinion
By Melvin Olali
February 19, 2008 

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/opinion/2008/feb/19/opinion-19-02-2008-002.htm

He is a cynic one who never sees any good in another. He sees nothing but faults and acknowledges nothing but lapses, most times such slip-ups are created in his prejudiced imagination. Okey Ndibe, the bard who pretends to see the inside of a house better than those who live in it does exactly this.
He has turned a professional critic and cynic and like Henry Beecher, the late American preacher once said “he never sees a good quality in a man, and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin and never seeing noble game”.

Ndibe had often been accused as a hireling by his critics especially in his persistent criticism of former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. He never saw any good in Obasanjo in spite of the latter’s landmark reforms in telecoms, banking and in racking up a respectable external reserve which he resisted the temptation of frittering in a wild orgy of last minute looting with his cabinet members as has been the case in the past. Ndibe deliberately did not see any good in such success. Instead he was blinded by his commitment and avowal to doing damage to persons of renown. He ought to be told that fine writing does not come by a mental siege to insult, assault and slur your subject. Fine writing, the type recognised in journalism, seeks to appraise within the bounds of reason and offer superior advice that would ultimately beget solution.

Ndibe does not tread this path. He seemed eternally inclined to devious spins and literary stunts laced with fabrications and incongruent submissions that are at best out of sync with prevailing marketplace paradigms and atmospheric parameters. This was exactly what he did in his essay published in The Sun last Tuesday. He urged Nigerians to mass into the streets with banners bearing the solitary message, Away with Iwu – Now! His argument was premised on the fact that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under Professor Maurice Iwu conducted a flawed election last April. He crowned his position with a copious show of ignorance. He said the verdicts from the tribunals point to the fraud perpetrated by INEC. He did not stop at that. In the most brazen and cavalier manner, he urged the Justice James Ogebe tribunal to waste no time in “trashing the exercise in barefaced electoral robbery of last April”. He wrote further “may Ogebe and his judicial colleagues rise to the challenge of restoring the basic right of Nigerians to choose their leaders in elections that are beyond reproach, and are seen to be so”.

This simply flies in the face of reason. For a matter in which the various parties had finished their submissions before a tribunal and are awaiting the verdict of the learned minds at the tribunal, this is subjudice. It is prejudicial for a writer or columnist no matter how privileged to stampede the judiciary into taking a decision that suits the writer’s caprice or that which appeals to the whims of his pay masters.

It is clear motor park journalism and an act that verges on professional indecency for any writer to assume the powers of a tribunal. Ndibe does not have the capacity, professional or intellectual, to order around the Justices of the Court of Appeal. He may be an internet blogger, a columnist who drifts from one newspaper to the other but that does not make him a repository of knowledge especially knowledge bordering on judicial exegesis or an all-knowing specie of Homo Sapiens, a trait he has often accused Obasanjo of pretentiously laying claim to.

By conclusively writing the letters of the judgement well ahead of the tribunal, Ndibe has shown where he belongs: to a small crowd of blighted and anathematized critics of the April poll who seek to grab attention by their skewed and morbidly senseless portrayal of the poll as flawed

Ndibe needs to be reminded that Nigerians just as the Americans during the 2000 presidential election have not given their verdict on the election.

They trust the judiciary to bring the election to a point of “closure”, to borrow the word of President Bush’s adviser James Baker. To presume that Nigerians have given their verdict on the election is a product of the weird imagination of a fugitive writer. Ndibe is not resident in Nigeria, does not visit malls and markets, is not seen in banking halls and at public forums neither is he known to possess the psychic power to ghost around town with omni-presence gusto yet he concludes that Nigerians in Kano, Abia, Lagos, in the creeks of Bayelsa and everywhere have dismissed the poll as repugnant. The reality of life is that long after a man leaves home and is disconnected from his kinsmen, he suffers a fatigue, the variant that makes one see his kinsmen from the perspective of his new abode. He experiences severe disconnect from the nuances and mannerisms of his people and sees them only from the prism of his new landlords.

This is what has afflicted Ndibe. He sees Nigeria only from what he reads on the internet and from what the so-called international election monitors tell him. Yet he fails to realise that most of the international monitors never stepped out of their hotel rooms on election day. They cannot tell a street in Abia State , in Kano or in Sokoto. But they monitored the election all the same with the eyes of their jaundiced imagination and the likes of Ndibe feast from their diary of distorted reports. What a pity!

If there is any verdict of Nigerians, it is this: that all elections in Nigeria since 1959 had been disputed. Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais, former Chief Justice of Nigeria and currently the Chairman of the Presidential Electoral Reform Committee has said this severally. His voice had been accentuated by no less a person than President Umaru Yar’Adua who also underscored the fact that all elections in post-Independence Nigeria had been subject of disputation.

Several outspoken politicians have also absolved INEC of any wrong doing insisting that if there was fraud in the electoral process, it was due to the antics of the politicians not the incompetence of the umpire. Did Iwu conduct all these elections since 1959? Did he conduct the 1983 poll in which the NPN won by a margin yet to be equaled? What about the 1999 and 2003 elections. Did Iwu also conduct the last local government elections which was characterised by blood-letting and brigandage? Did such elections meet Ndibe’s standard?

By blaming Iwu, Yar’Adua, National Assembly and Obasanjo for the imperfections of the poll, Ndibe displayed a huge ignorance of the undercurrents that hallmarked the election. Again by calling on Nigerians to do away with Iwu, Ndibe is wittingly or unwittingly playing a tune that would serenade the souls of those who hate Iwu’s gut and fervent boldness that propelled him to conduct an election they never wanted to happen in the first place. Ndibe by his prescription is making melody in the ears of those who could not compromise Iwu.

Perhaps the election would have met Ndibe’s cockeyed standard if Iwu had succumbed to the bait of cash dangled at him in the dark hours of night by those who strut our streets at day as heroes of democracy and the purveyors of the rule of law.

But no matter how much he tries to influence the judiciary, Ndibe and his ilk should know that when the 2000 US presidential election moved to the Supreme Court after the Florida certification failed to close the matter, no American writer from Washington Post to New York Times urged the court to dismiss the case filed by the Democrats, neither did they commandeer the court to uphold the victory of the Republicans. That is journalism that promotes national interest and that ought to engage Okey Ndibe and not his interminable imprisonment in the belly of jejune criticism.

Olali writes from Yenagoa

Robot  # 1 | 20.02.2008 22:51

Daily Sun Opinion By Melvin Olali February 19, 2008 ...Read the full article.

philipikita  # 2 | 21.02.2008 01:41

Melvin Olali...? Olali? Who is this one? He wants attention? or he's paid to do this for Iwu?:frown::confused:

slay  # 3 | 21.02.2008 02:10

melvin, because people like you exist, nigeria suffers! now go pick up your "ghana must go" of blood tainted naira and get ready for the next assignment. until our nation gets rid of sycophants like you, we are doomed. unfortunately for the looters, the doers are gradually taking over our society. it is an inevitable occurence that shall not be subjugated by "paid character assasins". do you, melvin, believe that iwu did a good job with the elections? if you do, you reside alone in a planet different from that of a majority of nigerians. how many election results have been overturned by the tribunals? how many crooks and ex-cons do we habor in our legislative bodies?iwu did his job? please! for every melvin in our lot, there are a hundred ndibe's ready to fight for the truth. "the truth shall set us free".

calist  # 4 | 21.02.2008 03:11

Melvin, I understand your stand clearly; We can’t all be seeing things from the same perspective When it does not put food on your table A man got to do what a man got to do Keep up the good work; We can always differentiate an objective view/article from a song of praise.

tanibaba  # 5 | 21.02.2008 03:32

Thank you Melvin for this piece. It is not only rich, very rich in the use of language, it is also rich in terms of persuading a sane mind to adopt/accept your views. I am proud of you, Talking about the last elections. While it is true that it was not perfect, INEC performed wonderfully well under the circumstances that she found herself. I have often argued that the success of any election depends on several factors outside the control of INEC; the most critical being the behaviour and attitude of politicians. And majority of our politicians make you remember Fela Anikulapo Kuti all the time. They have conspired to confirm that what we are practicing is “demonstration of craze” and not democracy. Democracy at this point in our country is just about violence and access to the looting of the treasury. Yes INEC recorded some lapses but was it INEC that snatched ballot boxes or caused commotion at the various polling stations. Was it INEC that made it impossible for parties to have their representatives at both the polling and counting centres? What about the behaviour of Nigerians to work generally, including electoral assignment? What level of commitment do we show to our work and how far can we go in being objective in the face of the brown envelope. There are serious systemic problems that have continued to negatively affect us and keep us underdeveloped; the electoral process inclusive. So as you can see only a man who can think, a man who is truly educated that can understand these things. To the uninitiated, to the educated illiterate Prof. Iwu is the problem with Nigeria. Lastly, is it too much to expect from our columnist a quantitative analysis of the fall out of the last elections. How many elections did INEC conduct, how many were taken to court, how many were upheld , how many were not challenged and how many were upturned. Melvin I want to assure you that the ordinary Nigerian on the street is not stupid and so no one will follow the undertaker by carrying a placard saying “Iwu must go”. The dirty guy will have to do that job all by himself so that he can realize that his opinion doesn’t count in the general assembly of Nigerians. Once again thank you for a beautiful piece. taslim

dem  # 6 | 21.02.2008 05:31

What beautiful piece? I beg:rolleyes::rolleyes: And we like to think the reason Nigeria doesn't work is because of the other person. Look how people are denuding themselves here and making specious excuses for a clamorous failure. When you have a few inebriated people coming forth to offer support, what chance has the country? Come here and pontificate smelly rubbish. Iwu is not to blame. Yeah right. Did Iwu just drop from the skies? Was he not aware what obtains in Nigeria before he took the job? (That is if some miscreants chose to forget that he was specially hand picked for the job by Andy Uba). Did he not bust our eardrums hollering that he would deliver a free and fair elections even if it cost his life? Look, don't annoy me o! Flagrant craziness. Rubbish.

datuouwadaberechi  # 7 | 21.02.2008 05:42

its hard to believe that any nigerian alive and with blood running through their veins would expouse the kinds of views found in melvin's article. well, to everyone, his own. it might be true that iwu wasnt single-handedly responsible for the WHOLE mess of the (s)elections that took place in April. but he gets a large chunk of the blame. after all, when u agree to direct and produce a movie and the film flops!!!! (badly), possibly becos u chose the wrong actors and the wrong script and the wrong set and the wrong filming gear and wrong planning (etc,etc), who gets the blame???? he promised nigeria credible elections...he claimed repeatedly that he could pull it off... HE DIDNT!!! ... the least he could do is admit this. and since he was unable to deliver, he should move over and give someone else a chance. HE FAILED. (assuming these were exams, no one wants to know if NEPA took the light and he couldnt study, or HE got questions that he didnt expect). the fact remains that HE FAILED. that is d outcome of the test. i dont even want to go into the WASTE, the total and crushing WASTE of resources...is it the so-called electronic voting machines that were not used???? is it the fact that many states didnt even get the voting materials??? is it the millions of ballot papers that were left in south africa, is it the lack of proper registration of voters???? which one will i speak of??? next INEC chairman should please go for OPTION A4. thats one way of reducing rigging knowing our kind of society....(this is for the benefit of melvin who would accuse critics of not offering a suggestive solution). NOW if iwu had truly planned to succeed (i mean success for nigerians and not success for his employer OBJ and the People Deceive People Party), he would have known that Option A4 would have been a much cheaper and much more effective method of polling in nigeria. AWAY WITH IWU!!!!!!!!!!!!. i concur. i know he wasnt totally and ALONE to blame, but he took the office, he bears the responsibility. HE MUST OWN UP TO IT BY RESIGNING SINCE HE OBVIOUSLY FAILED and as far as i'm concerned, the justices would be well within their rights and duties to TOTALLY ANNUL THESE FAILED ELECTIONS. especially that one that has now been underhandedly offered appointment to the supreme court. nigeria is an amazing country.....judge-tampering in broad day light!!!!!

Skyblue  # 8 | 21.02.2008 05:49

I really don't even know how to react. Is this piece really aimed at excusing the complete and utter disgrace that was the Nigerian election last year? Are we really trying to have this debate? This just reminds me of the excuse that Lucky Igbenidion's father used when lucky was going for a second term. Apparently to answer his son's critics who were complaining about the incompetence of Lucky Igbenidion, Lucky's father had this to say "Lucky fail, Lucky fail, abeg make i hear word. If una pikin fail exam una no go make am take the exam again"? And now after two terms with Lucky, look at Edo state. How can we make an excuse for evil. To criticise Ndibe is one thing, but to try to defend last years elections to me is simply appalling. Defending PDP thugs who made sure elections did not even occur in some states? Defending some INEC officials who actually took part in the rigging? Defending thuggery and violence? Maurice Iwu should not be allowed to run the new elections. Why do some people plant thorns and expect oranges at harvest? Maurice Iwu has already run re-elections of some local governments and it has been marked again with violence and thuggery and rigging. If he re-runs the re-elections, should we really be surprised when we are back to square one? The i am sure some will say he tried and that he should re-re-run the re-re-elections. God Have mercy on us

RAYNOSA  # 9 | 21.02.2008 06:07

=Robot;4294990370>Daily Sun Opinion By Melvin Olali February 19, 2008 Attn Admin, My candid advise /opinion is to take this article off and return to sender. Not in full peice but in shreads/peices. What the writter has confirmed is that IWU is not the problem and even if IWU is sacked their are a MILLION and ONE IWU'S out there ready to do the same job including himself.

ariteni  # 10 | 21.02.2008 06:18

Melvin, Excellent piece! Objective analysis of the elections and comments on Professor Okey Ndibe. My point of disagreement is on the "sub-judice" part. Okey Ndibe and his cheer boys have been begging the Presidential Tribunal to void the Presidential election. They should be free to! Sonala, too begged them in his recent article. The reality is that, Nigerian courts do not accede but are guided by different considerations. If the elections are sustained, the "beggars" will condemn the Tribunal "well, well". Their scape-goat Prof Iwu would have escaped! (and would now collect his own National Honour denied him because of current litigation) In Ndibe's context, Yar'adua is a nice man "drafted" for the job by "evil" Obasanjo using Iwu to perfect the job. (Igbo-man is always an easy target but "minorities" get away with murder in Nigeria so, forget the fact that 2003 and 1999 elections under the same constitution were also disputed.) The beggars guarantee to Nigerians that once Iwu is removed, free and fair elections would occur in Nigeria. (remember, they said corruption would vanish once third term is killed and - of course- Obasanjo did nothing for Nigeria but Okonjo Iweala, Dora Akunyili, Nasir ElRufai Nuhu Ribadu Soludo and Atiku did a lot.) But you know what, Nigeria is marching on inspite of iconoclasts like Okey who want us to be going in circles just because they reside overseas. Prof Soyinka and others have said that President Yar'adua is a good man for the job. But Okey and his friends are going into "prayer and fasting" to get rid of the good man even though Professor Okey's mentor His Excellency Rt Dr Orji Uzor Kalu has relented and is now working hard for President Yar'adua through PPA party. It is only a matter of time for them too, to fall in. If the elections are repeated today, it would not result in victory for Atiku, Utomi or Kalu. The Presidency has been zoned just like we zoned it to Yoruba in 1999 to pacify them for Abiola's murder. So for argument's sake, let the tribunal void it so we can repeat the election just to convince the skeptics like Okey Ndibe and to have a "well organised" free and fair election but same outcome. Some people are going to develop hypertension if they fail to remove him "Anambra style" and Professor Iwu serves his full Constitutional Term but they really don't mind Yar'Adua as President. That is what really matters. I hope Okey's would favour Uwais Electoral Reform Committee with his brilliant ideas about electoral matters in order to "move Nigeria forward"!:sad:

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