Maurice Iwu, INEC Chairman was on TV again yesterday (16 October 2007) presenting what he called the “Report on 2007 Elections”.  It was an uncanny affair.  There he again scored himself and his Commission high and said further that the elections were “free and fair and credible”.  Yes, he surely did!  But typical of the man, he insisted that the pressmen present could only ask one question per person with no follow-up allowed.  He danced inelegantly around important questions.  In some instances, he turned logic on its pointy head.  Other times, he simply lied through his teeth.  When asked if he thought the elections were indeed credible and whether they could stand the test of time, he replied that credibility is a subjective assessment.  In other words, there are no standards for him to be measured against; no minimum threshold.  Without batting an eyelash, he also asserted that the elections would stand the test of time – despite the fact that the Electoral Tribunals are quite busy nullifying its results every week.  The man remained his smarmy and repulsive self.  Without any semblance of shame, he said if given the chance again, he would do exactly what he’s done and wouldn’t change a thing.  If he is not removed from his current post soon, this man will supervise those elections that have been cancelled and directed to be conducted again!!!

In any event, reproduced below unedited was my assessment of him first published 7 May 2007.

MAURICE IWU: DEFECATING IN A HOLY PLACE 

By Michael Egbejumi-David

From the very beginning of his leadership of INEC he crashed headlong from one avoidable blunder to the next, creating unnecessary crisis everywhere. He made sure everyone knows and understands what he recognizes his mission to be: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as represented by the Obasanjo’s executive is favourite son. Everything else revolves around that. Essentially, he put it out there that his was going to be a partial body. He never minced words, and now, he has faithfully accomplished his task. From his difficult to understand positions taken in the Anambra State governorship tussle between Chris Ngige, the PDP/Chris Uba, and Peter Obi; (during which when he is not joining the PDP in the suit against Ngige, he is proposing cancelling the entire election) to his refusal to present certificates of return to some duly elected candidates after the electoral tribunals have so pronounced.

The Senator Mantu’s recall referendum was another exercise where this man unabashedly chose to be partial. At one point he even wanted to declare vacant the seats of pro Governor Ladoja’s Oyo State Assembly legislators. However, nothing illustrates his depth of depravity than how he ensured Andy Uba becomes the governor of Anambra State. His complete devotion to that reprehensible enterprise at one point had Uba garnering 1.9 million votes alone! Please think about this; after their recent experience, 1.9 million Anambra citizens voted for a PDP candidate in that State! And this man is still walking around the place thumping his chest.

A “learned” man, Iwu in his job as the Chairman of INEC, whose sole mandate is to organise and conduct elections, decided to play the role of the nation’s judiciary. For some bizarre reasons, he conferred on himself the power to determine who can run for an elective post and who cannot. Rather than keep his head down and go about vetting his staff and weeding out the dubious ones, he engaged in matters beyond his station. He needlessly increased his profile and that of his office when his job is not about that.

As per our laws, the political Parties can field whomever they choose. His job is to ensure that those so fielded get on the ballot papers as appropriate unless the courts pronounced otherwise. But no, he wants to dictate to all of us. Where does he get off? I don’t know why he comes across so combative. Who is he fighting? He protests too much and too loudly – a sure sign of guilt. He has provided another compelling proof that “learned” people are not necessarily better than others in terms of application and efficacy. What happens instead is that because of their credentials, people justifiably expect more. And when they fail – as Iwu clearly did – a universal sense of a big let down becomes more palpable.

After his mangled 2007 elections, he deigned to score himself and his tarred and feathered organisation some 80% success mark. How he arrived at that figure would remain known only to him; but I rather suspect that like most figures announced and allocated to election “winners” nationwide, this figure was also simply made-up - some arbitrary number, without the benefit of proper deductive thought.

Every facet of the elections was – to be charitable to the man – terrible. Yet he thinks this is an 80% standard. When names of certain contestants were absent on ballot papers, it is Iwu’s fault. Delayed start of actual voting for whatever reason in any polling station is Iwu’s fault. Resident electoral commissioners announcing made-up figures that don’t add up is Iwu’s fault. That most citizens chose to stay home from subsequent elections after the 14th of April is Iwu’s fault. Can’t he see that? The ultimate responsibility for the elections rests with him. Not Obasanjo and not the PDP. That he decided to shirk that responsibility and hand the reigns over to those people is his greedy and unprincipled fault. If he couldn’t withstand the heat, he should have got the hell out of the kitchen. He had plenty of time to prepare for the elections organisationally; instead he expended most of his time and energy on legal matters that are outside of his domain. He now acts surprised when he discovered that even logistically, he failed. He is not a foreigner; he knows what obtains in Nigeria and should have made adequate preparations. No excuses. It is like some useless State governors who always claim that their people are too complex to manage as reasons for their ineptitude. If Donald Duke and Gbenga Daniel can deliver commendably to their people so should any other governor worth his salt. After all, the 1993 elections – 14 long years ago - were thought good enough by all.

If Iwu thinks that his recently supervised elections are credible, why are the people not out there celebrating? (The only time people trooped out in jubilation that I was aware of was when it was announced that the wife of the PDP chairman, Ali lost in the Delta State North Senatorial contest.) Why are armed soldiers and policemen on the streets across the land with orders to prevent people from truly expressing their outrage? Why haven’t I found a single article (local or international) praising his effort? Why this grieving pall cast over the nation after the elections? He knows the truth but he is continually pretending. The only people that have any good word for him are known sycophants (lay and clergy) and himself.

If you do not buy into his conduct of the recent shameful elections, he accuses you of being “shallow”. It is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. In this season, when it comes to shallowness, Iwu has got the market cornered all by himself. OBJ having conceded the Imo gubernatorial election to him as a reward for a job “well done”, Iwu proceeded to sell to the highest bidder; Orji Kalu at around N1.5bn hence the emergence of a PPA governor in that State. (That was how the real “election” was conducted folks! And you know where the first couple of month’s revenue allocation to that State is headed.) The empty feeling Iwu undoubtedly carries with him now will last a very long time. No amount of money covers up that kind of hole in a man’s life. There he is now, standing naked in the marketplace, all alone. He should go ask Tafa Balogun about his former friends.

His recent comments show a man devoid of honour who is already struggling with his inner self. An unprincipled man who was completely bought over and is now unsure how to step into the future. He knows that, truly, there were no elections in the real sense. He knows he cocked it up. And so, as typical of cornered animals, he’s decided to come out swinging. But even in doing this, he is adopting his time tested method. He is lashing out only at the opposition political Parties, not the PDP. That Party has not done anything wrong in his view. During his presentation to Yar’Adua, he sidled closer to the man than Mrs Yar’Adua ever did.

Maurice Iwu not only removed his trousers, squatted and defecated in a holy place; he went ahead and tore a page out of the sacred scripture to wipe his bum. He would have to live with that for the rest of his life.

demdem@hotmail.co.uk

Robot  Villager

# 1 Maurice Iwu, INEC Chairman was on TV again yesterday (16 October 2007) presenting what he called the...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 17.10.2007 12:30