Maurice Iwu and those voodoo elections 

By Levi Obijiofor 

Friday, 14 December 2007 

Every time Maurice Iwu, chairperson of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), talks about the immaculate manner in which he conducted the 2007 general elections in Nigeria, he does not appear to be overawed by the overwhelming degree of pain he inflicted on the collective consciousness of a nation during those voodoo elections. Iwu’s latest claims about the credibility of this year’s national elections represent the characteristic features of a psychotic man – a man who maintains an unflinching belief on a subject even when reason or evidence does not support the basis for such a conviction.  

It is strange that, long after the high courts, appeal courts and election petitions’ tribunals began to dismantle the political mess perpetrated by Iwu and his INEC officials in the name of national elections, Iwu is still clutching (in a maniacal manner) to his conviction that the elections were successful and the results valid. Only a deluded man who perceives himself as right and the rest of humanity as wrong would argue that the 2007 elections were freer and fairer than the June 12, 1993 presidential election, as Iwu claimed in a recent interview.  

Across the nation, Iwu is depicted mockingly as a scarecrow, indeed a political spoilsport who has developed a bad reputation for impeding the progress of many politicians who believe that elections should be contested on the basis of fair rules. What happened before and during this year’s elections cannot stand the test of fairness or the scrutiny of local and international election observers.  

Why does Iwu often speak provocatively about the credibility of the 2007 elections when the nation is struggling to overcome the political wounds inflicted on us all by Iwu the charlatan and his agents? Iwu does not like to be ignored for too long. He loves publicity, especially negative publicity from which he draws energy and inspiration. This much he revealed in a recent interview. And he thrives in controversies too. Till date, he has refused to respond to damaging allegations about his academic qualifications. How does a nation handle such a man? Silence does not unnerve him. Hurling insults at him has proved to be ineffective. Engaging him in public or private debate is most wasteful. The man is incapable of stringing together reasonable and logical arguments, as we shall demonstrate shortly. Iwu is indeed an enigma.   

In an interview he granted to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and widely reported in the press on Monday and Tuesday this week, Iwu stunned the nation when he claimed the 2007 national elections were much freer and fairer than the June 12, 1993 presidential election that was annulled by military dictator Ibrahim Babangida. The plank for Iwu’s weird assessment was that this year’s elections marked the first time that Nigeria was able to move from one democratic government to another. How pathetic and selfish a commentary!  

Iwu’s argument is flawed on all counts. The credibility of an election in Nigeria or any part of the world is determined by the manner in which the election is conducted and not whether the election resulted in the handover of power to another government. Herein lies the absurdity of Iwu’s argument. An election could be conducted in a fraudulent mode and political power could still be handed over to the illegal winners of the election. In this context, the handing over of power to a set of fraudulent “winners” does not confer legitimacy on the election process. If Iwu is incapable of understanding simple logic, he should ask his assistants to check his arguments before he goes public.  

Although the mantle of leadership changed at state and federal levels after the 2007 elections, the elections that produced the so-called “new” leaders were fraught with widespread rigging and electoral malpractices such as intimidation of voters, audacious snatching of ballot boxes at polling stations, buying of ballot papers, and in some cases stuffing of ballot boxes well ahead of the actual polling date. These blatant acts of electoral malfeasance have significantly invalidated the outcomes of the elections. And this is why aggrieved candidates are beseeching the high courts and the election tribunals in order to correct the gross errors of injustice perpetrated by Iwu and INEC officials.  

Iwu must be the only Nigerian who is still convinced that the flawed and fraudulent elections of 2007 were more credible than the 1993 presidential election. Unfortunately for Iwu, national and international election observer teams have ruled the 2007 elections as a transgression of the basic rules for conducting democratic elections. For example, in August this year, four months after the April elections, the European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission produced a damning report which stated unambiguously that the 2007 elections conducted by Maurice Iwu’s INEC were tarnished by many irregularities. “The elections were marred by very poor organisation; lack of essential transparency; widespread and procedural irregularities; substantial evidence of fraud; widespread voter disenfranchisement; lack of equal conditions for political parties and candidates; and numerous incidents of violence.” 

The leader of the EU mission, Max van den Berg, told journalists in Abuja on August 23, 2007: “We feel extremely disappointed that things were worse in 2007 than they were in 2003. Nigerians feel de-motivated… Our report contains two clear messages. First, that the 2007 election process was not credible and, in view of the lack of transparency and evidence of fraud, there can be no confidence in the results. Second, that an urgent and comprehensive reform is required to improve the framework and conduct of future elections.”  

In light of independent assessments of the 2007 elections, why has Iwu opted to ignore verifiable evidence of flawed elections and chosen to glorify himself and INEC? As the general overseer of INEC, Iwu suffers from credibility problems essentially because of his antecedents leading up to the elections and also more because of the way he has been defending the conduct of the elections. For instance, where the rest of the nation perceives gross acts of injustice, Iwu sees nothing but fair play. Are Iwu’s eyes made of a special set of irises?  By his public statements before, during and after the elections, Iwu is incapable of acknowledging in a dispassionate way the acts of criminal misconduct perpetrated by INEC officials.  

When Iwu argued that the 2007 elections were legally defensible because the elections produced winners from the state assemblies to the presidency, he exposed himself to public ridicule. The best way to assess the fairness of the 2007 elections is to count the number of so-called winners whose elections have been nullified by the courts and the election tribunals. In the history of general elections in Nigeria, the 2007 elections have so far produced the largest number of farcical winners whose victories have been voided by appeal courts and the election tribunals. More of the election winners are expected to be declared losers. 

It is a measure of the credibility of the 2007 elections that no fewer than three state governors have had their victories overturned by the tribunals. The number will continue to rise. Indeed, the figure is much higher for politicians who contested seats at the state assembly level, as well as those who contested for the House of Representatives and Senate seats. Why is Iwu so upbeat about the “success” of the 2007 elections? When a man who failed outright in a public assignment continues to shout hallelujah when the rest of the country is spitting at him and his electoral commission, one must wonder what drives that man.  

Robot  Villager

# 1 Ojukwu’s Compelling Duty to History ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 14.12.2007 07:53

Adeola Aderounmu  Villager

# 2 Iwu's palaver is beyong human redemption. He has broken the scale of human sanity and he's cut off from reality in a permanent way. This is what happens when people sell their conscience for a plate of rice or even billions of naira. It's the same ill effect from so little and too much. Somebody on a global talk show will soon say that all Nigerians are mad if the likes of Iwu are allowed to continue to talk for us or on our behalf. Yes, that is how we invite collective insults to Nigeria, by the activity of an idi ot or a group of miscreants. The person or people who can remove Iwu but have not done so will permit that declaration eventually, that ALL Nigerians are talking like mad people. He is not the only problem AND our problems will not go with Iwu BUT he is an icon of evil, he should go NOW! Aderinola Posted by Adeola Aderounmu| 14.12.2007 08:46

ALORAINIDDEVIL  Villager

# 3 Maurice IWU is going MAD O!!… If you hear him talk, you will know that a MAD man is talking. I bet that very soon he will be in ARO Posted by ALORAINIDDEVIL| 14.12.2007 09:48

Onari  Villager

# 4 Truly, Iwu is a psychopath. He did not constitute a problem on just those who lost election, he also caused an unnecessary pain on even the winners of the election. If truly Nigeria is a country that follows the rule of law, Iwu should be asked to refund some of the money entrusted to him to conduct the election of April 2007. He even has the effrontery to present a supplementry budget and our national assembly is considering giving this man another money to waste. Prof Iwu wasted the time and money of the Nigerian people committing monumental fraud against them. He belongs to the Prison or psychiatric hospital and not to a INEC or any public office. It is time Iwu is booted out of office and bring a closure to the pains of April 2007 election. Posted by Onari| 14.12.2007 10:01

peterclaver2006  Villager

# 5 I have long given up on the crook called Maurice; a quintessential scammer that was relocated from the US where he was raving bankrupt by Andy Uba and the racketeering gangsters that dominate the Obasanjo government for the horrendous job he did in April. Because of the compromised outcome of that fraudulent April selection, the beneficiary has found it pretty hard to do what he ought to do with a plain fraudster like Iwu and that is why that i.d.i.o.t finds it expedient insulting the country at every time we want to force ourselves to forget the scandalous crime he committed in April. Wracked silly by his dark mind, assailed terribly by what remains of his conscience and so sure of what awaits him after the worldwide indictment for turning what should have been a historic election to a bizarre fraud, he believes he can buy reprieve by his present pastime of making wild and stupid statements that suggest that the entire world is wrong and he and the few reprobates that employed him for the nefarious job he shamelessly did are right. Iwu has turned a psychotic case, a man that has ran mad because of his deliberate actions and is now seeking to build a castle of folly where only him and the hirelings he is generously laundering in the Nigerian media presently to argue his amusing and wonky case will domicile. Iwu is desperately scavenging for a thousand lies to cover one truth and the futility of that stupid business is driving him stark mad. Iwu is a disgrace to his family, his village, his state, his country and wherever his name is mentioned even among generations yet unborn, the only constant reminder of what he represents if fraudulent election, if it is not fraudulent extortion from donor agencies for a phantom invention of cure for Ebola virus. Posted by peterclaver2006| 14.12.2007 10:23

Zanderlex  Villager

# 6 Why can't this crook Maurice Iwu just go and commit suicide and leave decent people alone? Posted by Zanderlex| 14.12.2007 12:28