All indicators point to the conclusion that the April 14 and 21 elections were rigged in favor of the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

         If Nigerians accept the result of this rigged election they are cowardly and, as such, contemptible.  They are not worthy of respect if they knowingly accept the result of an election that was rigged by the current administration. 

         They could only accept the result of the rigged election on one ground: fear. They are afraid that if they protest it and insist on a free and fair election that they could be arrested, jailed, harmed or killed. To avert harm they then accept the rigged election. That is to say that to live they are willing to ignore injustice and to do as the powerful that could harm them asked them to do. 

       If Nigerians choose to live under such blatant injustice they are contemptible slaves and are not worthy of any human being’s respect. They are fear driven people and, as such, ought to be treated as worthless animals.

       Democracy means the rule of the people by the people. Ideally, this means all the people gathering to make the rules that rule them. However, modern nation states are very large making it impossible for all the people to gather and make the rules that govern them. They, therefore, elect their representatives to go make the rules that govern them.

       Representative democracy means the rule of the people through their elected representatives. 

       If the rulers of the people were rigged into office it follows that they are not the representatives of he people. Therefore, the people are not ruled by themselves (via their agents). In which situation the people are ruled by impostors, by those who arbitrarily impose themselves on the people.  

       Democracy is a system of government that lays down a process for legitimizing the rulers of the polity. If the rulers follow that process their rule is legitimate and ought to be obeyed by the people. But if the process (procedure, in this case how rulers are elected) is not followed the rulers are not legitimate and ought not to be accepted. Adherence to accepted processes legitimizes rule in a democracy.

        Since the so-called incoming administration of Umar Musa Yaradua is predicated on a rigged election, if it is permitted to rule, it is not different from the rule of a military junta that employed military coup to impose itself on the people. This is not what democracy is all about.

      In a democracy the people elect their leaders. The act of electing them legitimizes their rule. The rulers exercise power legitimately and authoritatively because they are elected (mandated) by the people.

       If, on the other hand, those not legitimately elected by the people exercise power over them such power is not legitimate and authoritative. Such power is like the power a thug exercises on an individual when he points a gun at him and demands his money or his life.

         To rig an election is to behave like a thug and steal from the people their legitimate right to elect their rulers.

        If Nigerians permit this travesty of justice to prevail it follows that they are a fearful, cowardly people; they are not yet ready for liberty.

       Liberty requires people to stand up and fight for their freedom when it is threatened. If people are not ready to fight for their liberty they are not yet ready for democracy.  The price for liberty is willingness to fight and, if need be, die for it. 

      If Nigerians are willing to tolerate the rule of impostors jut because they are afraid of harm and death they are slaves. Slaves are persons intimidated into living as second class citizens by those who are willing to employ force to make them do as told to do. Slaves obey their masters out of fear of harm and death. Slaves are cowards hence no one wishes to be like them. No human being has respect for slaves; pity for slaves, may be, respect, no.

        (If one may ask: how come Nigerians so want to live that they are willing to tolerate others abuse?  Is life worth that much, being a slave just so one stays alive?  Africans permitted Arabs to enslave them; Africans permitted Europeans in the Americas to enslave them; they did so because they want to stay alive and do not want to fight for their liberty and die fighting like men. Now Africans permit some of their fellow Africans to enslave them just because they love life so much that they are not willing to fight and die for liberty. What manner of people are these Africans, anyway?  Haven’t they heard that liberty is always fought for, that power does not concede anything unless you make a demand and follow it up with decision to fight for your demand? What are Africans living for, just to be alive? A coward may live to be a hundred years but he lives miserably every minute of his life. Live courageously for just one day and die and that is good enough.)

        If Nigerians permit the fear of harm and or death to get them to accept rulers who were rigged into office one suggests that Western powers return and re-colonize Nigerians for they are cowards and not able to do what it takes to rule themselves: stand up for their freedom and their right to elect their own leaders. If Obasanjo and his thieving PDP crowd can intimidate Nigerians into accepting the rule of Yaradua I say that the West might as well return and re-colonize Nigerians. 

       It is reported that when the British ruled Nigeria that there was less corruption; so, at least, Nigerians would obtain a corruption free government if they are ruled by their former colonial masters.

       (At the conclusion of the Second World War, European powers: Britain , France and German were weak; they had exhausted themselves in that war. They needed American economic and military help to prevent Stalin’s Soviet Union from colonizing them. The American Marshal plan resurrected Europe . For our present purpose, Europe was so weak that it did not have the military to reassert its will in her colonies. Moreover, Europe’s new master, America , urged her to offload her colonies. Thus, Britain gave Nigeria independence. Nigerians obtained independence on the cheap, without fighting and dying for it. What is not struggled for is not valued. That is why Nigerians do not seem to cherish their liberty. If they had struggled for it they would have fought off those trying to abrogate it. Now, it is time for Nigerians to fight for their liberty so as to value it.)

      If Nigerians are willing to accept rule from whoever has the power to threaten them with harm it means that they are easily intimidated by terrorists.

       A terrorist is a person who understands that the people are fearful and want to live at all costs and, therefore, threatens to harm or kill them if they do not do as he asks them to do. Action speaks louder than words, so the terrorist shows that he means business by randomly killing some persons (random killing means that it could be any ones turn to be killed for no reason and that instills fear in the people and out of fear they do as told to do by the terrorist).

        Fearing harm and or death the threatened people kowtow to the will of the terrorist and enact into law his policy preferences.

       Obasanjo and his PDP possess the means to intimidate the people and have used it to rig the election and threaten those who refuse to abide by the result of their rigged election.

        Make no mistake about it; state terrorists are willing and do kill those who oppose them. A terrorist is willing to kill, so you must know who you are dealing with; we are not talking Sunday school affair, here; we are talking power politics. Politics is about power, power to decide who gets what part of the resources in a polity. (See Harold Lasswell’s writing on the nature of politics.)

       If Nigerians allow this terrorist gang that hijacked the Nigerian government and arbitrarily divide its national treasury among themselves to continue doing so it follows that Nigerians are fearful cowards and deserve to be ruled by the criminals of Abuja . They are slaves and deserve to be subjected to servitude. They are not courageous men and no one should respect them.

       If the rigged election stands, I call on the rest of the world to treat Nigerians with total contempt.

       (Let me make one thing crystal clear: one is not asking for an ideal democracy in Nigeria . There is no such thing as an ideal democracy any where in the world. In the United States , for example, the rich or their surrogates get elected to Congress. It costs about a million dollars to be elected to Congress and several millions to be elected to the presidency.  What obtains in the USA is, perhaps, best characterized as an oligarchy. Other countries are not much different. In Europe , mostly the well educated members of the upper class are elected to political offices. One is not naively expecting a participatory democracy in Nigeria , and even if that were possible, as Joseph Schumpeter reminds us, those with more information would participate more than those with less information. One is just asking for opportunity for people to be elected, albeit for those with certain advantages to be elected. In a free and fair election in Nigeria , perhaps, those with money to pay for their campaign would be elected and such is life. Realism is different from idealism, yet realism can be made palatable than the brazen thievery of elections we just witnessed in Nigeria .)

       Nigerians can show the world that they are courageous men and women by demanding a new election and refusing to abide by the result of this rigged election. If they do so and are willing to fight and, if need be, die for their decision they are respect worthy.

        In the adult world, respect is earned. You cannot be a fearful coward and expect other people to respect you; you are only respectable if when your liberty is threatened you stand up and fight for it.

      Nigerians are always asking people to respect them but do not seem to know that respect is earned. They are asking for respect when they masquerade as Alhaji, Chief, Professor and Dr this or that. They give themselves these empty titles because they want to be seen as very important persons.  Such childish behavior is not going to make them respected.

       What is going to make Nigerians respect by the rest of humanity is when they stand up for their rights and do the right thing, such as insist on a clean government that does not loot their national treasury. When Nigerians truly fight corruption and insist on legitimately elected governments they would be respected by all humanity. 

       Nigerians must start earning importance and respect by standing up for their liberty. This means insisting on having legitimately elected leaders. 

       To have legitimately elected leaders Nigerians must be willing to fight for them. But as long as the criminals of Abuja know that Nigerian would not stand up and fight, and know that they are easily intimidated by any one who exercises credible violence over them, they would attempt to do so.

      The thieves of Abuja would continue hiring the likes of Maurice Iwu, a totally amoral, opportunistic, unprincipled, unabashed and shameless crook to rig elections for them so that they seem to be legitimately elected hence deserve the people’s loyalty.

       The thieves of Abuja know that upon rigging the election that Nigerians would complain, may be for a week or two and then acquiesce to the incoming government, that like cowards and slaves accept their rotten fate. The Machiavellian leaders know that while Nigerians may make noise about how the election was rigged that they would be vying for positions in the new government.  Many are probably already submitting their resumes to the new powers that would be in the country. Nigerians are interested in been given high positions that gratify their vanity, that narcissism that disposes them to seek the appearance of worth rather than real worth earned through public service. We read in the papers of some defeated candidates already paying visits to the victors (presumably to beg for jobs and or a share of the loot).

       Nigerians can confound the supercilious assumptions of the thieves of Abuja by not permitting these rigged elections to stand. An illegitimate government should be removed by any means necessary, preferably through constitutional means, but if that fails, through violence.

Ozodi Thomas Osuji

April 28, 2007

Dr Osuji can be reached at ozodiosuji@gmail.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 var sbtitle4070=encodeURIComponent(If Nigerian...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 28.04.2007 12:32

aiksmart  Villager

# 2 =If Nigerians accept the result of this rigged election they are cowardly and, as such, contemptible... bla bla bla They could only accept the result of the rigged election on one ground: fear. They are afraid that if they protest it and insist on a free and fair election that they could be arrested, jailed, harmed or killed... If Nigerians choose to live under such blatant injustice they are contemptible slaves and are not worthy of any human being’s respect. They are fear driven people and, as such, ought to be treated as worthless animals. . Meanwhile Dr. Osuji is safely tucked away with is family somewhere in the USA or UK. Tisha, please don`t teach me nonsense. Posted by aiksmart| 28.04.2007 13:35

ithinkbetter  Villager

# 3 Contemptibility...hmmmmm..., wait a minute, we don't have that word in animal's Vocabulary / Dictionary...shame, outrage, despicability are within nigerian context too outlandish... ....abeg mak ich quickly go enjoy my Red Wein! ...have no time to busy myself with animal's behavioural Characteristicum...! Posted by ithinkbetter| 28.04.2007 13:52

overdryv  Villager

# 4 This articles sums up to what we have been saying all along, namely that Nigeria is a country of many nations with different aspirations. Nigeria is like an orphan with no one giving care. Noboy owes allegiance to Nigeria. The motto is: take as much as you can out of Nigeria. Nothing is given back. This is best exemplified by Obj. In his 8-year presidency, he sat on the oil resources from the Niger Delta. He could not entrust anyone with the oil sector, not even one of his classmates from Abeokuta. He made sure he alone supervises all the oil contract awards. Nobody can claim ignorance of what Obj gets from an oil bloc award. How can Nigerian fight a common cause when the Northern Union is already making subterrenean moves to reconcile Buhari, Atiku and Yar'adua? And what of the elders in Anambra who are already congratulating Uba for his hard 'earned' victory'? Added to this are the the few opposition governors who don't want the elections cancelled since it is their turn to 'chop'. The truth is that the present system is corrupting everybody. Its even difficult to know who is more corrupt- the leaders or the subjects. In a traditional african setting, what is happening in Nigeria today is impossible. A leader entrusted with the people's mandated never fails. There were no cases of dipping hand into the common purse. The Nigerian system is using divide and rule. It encourages the formation of private armies to protect its interests. It makes avalaible the instruments of coercion to push through its agenda. We have a clear case in Anambra state where the Uba brothers are given units of mobile police men to terrorise the people. As things are now, Nigeria is being prepared to assume the status of a rambo nation. Because of the many skelletons in Obj's cupboard, he doesnt want to retire quietly to his Otta farm. Why would a 70 year old man who has ruled the country three times want to assume the chairmanship of his party? From the past antecedents of Nigerians, he may likely have his way. Things have happened in the past that would bring a government down but not in Nigeria. When the 2003 elections were blatantly rigged, the Yoruba looked the other way. People even won election from prison . Like a friend said the other day, one has to really make a choice on Nigeria. It is either one resigns his fate to God or just simply blank all news from Nigeria. Posted by overdryv| 28.04.2007 13:52

Auspicious  Villager

# 5 I still cannot believe that Andy Uba will go ahead and become the Governor of Anambra. It is like a bad dream turned real..scary! Auspicious. Posted by Auspicious| 28.04.2007 14:02

BABA FOR LIFE  Villager

# 6 Whereas Yaradua assumes power come May Whereas Yaradua does a good job , builts roads, provides electricity provides water for the masses, curbs curruption provides the much needed leadership Nigeria's are craving for. Will the end justify the means. Will Baba still be vilified or will he be regarded as a true sage that he is? Leaves one to wonder. After all Baba handed over to Shagari in 1979 in a so call election that was deemed proper by western standarns and look at what happened after wards. Nigerians are by no means normal people and we all can bear witness to that. Difficult times call for difficult solutions . Me i say hooraah for Yaradua. Posted by BABA FOR LIFE| 28.04.2007 14:30

ithinkbetter  Villager

# 7 =Auspicious;172063>I still cannot believe that Andy Uba will go ahead and become the Governor of Anambra. It is like a bad dream turned real..scary! Auspicious. ....in addition, in Oyo State in 2007, the mighty godfather Adedibu has his son, grandson and son-in-law as winners in the elections.....:confused1 :confused1 :confused1 Posted by ithinkbetter| 28.04.2007 15:19

Auspicious  Villager

# 8 =ithinkbetter;172077>....in addition, in Oyo State in 2007, the mighty godfather Adedibu has his son, grandson and son-in-law as winners in the elections.....:confused1 :confused1 :confused1 True, and that bleached out pimp called Akala too. What manner of leaders! Gosh! When the whrilwind of Justice eventually decends on these people, The sons of men will wonder why they deserve such terrible retribution. So says the Oracle! Auspicious. Posted by Auspicious| 28.04.2007 15:25

No Smoking  Villager

# 9 Nigerians are smarter than to allow themselves to be blackmailed and pushed around by authors like Osuji. Abiola's clear mandate was stolen, and he later died in the thief's prison cell. The citizens did what they could do, and God did the rest. There's no reason to call our people "contemptible". The perpetrators of the electoral fraud did not descend from Jupiter. The well-meaning citizens only have to keep their wits around them and think through the relevant solutions. Posted by No Smoking| 28.04.2007 16:16

blondie  Villager

# 10 =ithinkbetter;172077>....in addition, in Oyo State in 2007, the mighty godfather Adedibu has his son, grandson and son-in-law as winners in the elections.....:confused1 :confused1 :confused1 Not just Andy Uba and Adedibu and his clan. The fact is that not one of the people who claim to have won was voted by the people. The magnitude of this charade still leaves me in shock. That man Iwu should be shot! Posted by blondie| 29.04.2007 07:13

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