Notes On Nigeria's Elections (5)
By Reuben Abati

Analyzing Nigeria's elections in 2007 through the prism of issues and outcomes could rob us of the more human and social aspects of the entire experience. There were quite a few of these which draw attention afresh to the character of the Nigerian people, both for good and ill. On April 14, the day of the Governorship and Houses of Assembly elections, I had gone onto the streets to observe the elections and reach my own independent conclusions. There were soldiers everywhere on the main streets.

They insisted on stopping every vehicle and checking the boot of one's car. I ran into one of those military checkpoints, constructed out of logs of wood placed at contrasting and winding distances to slow down the movement of traffic. I slowed down. One soldier came to the side of the car after checking the boot of the car directly in front. He must have seen even if he was suffering from short-sightedness that I was driving a car with the sign "Press" written all over it, which could only mean that I was as much on duty as he was. I had more right to be on the road in fact; Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution having given me, my colleagues and the institution that we represent, the licence to monitor all governmental operations and society itself; whereas the military in a subsisting court decision had been advised to stay out of political matters.

"Oga how now?", the soldier greeted. He looked very stern.

"We dey o thank you", I responded.

"What is happening?"

"P-R-E-S-S. I am on duty just like you. I am a journalist. I am monitoring today's elections."

"How do you see our operation?" he asked.

"I see that soldiers are everywhere."

"I think you can see that our operation is air-tight"

"I can see that."

"It is air-tight o. I have been on the road for the past one week, so that Nigerians can have democracy. Look if anybody misbehaves in this Lagos, I say anybody, we will deal with that person squarely." He sounded convincing.

" I can see, " I said. I definitely could see. His colleagues kept a close eye on us, their hands on the trigger of their menacing guns..

"O ya oga, come and open your boot."

Having been told that the army will deal with any person at all squarely, you need to imagine the swiftness with which I removed my seat belt and sprang out of the car. This was about the same hour when reports were already filtering out that some partisan agents were stealing ballot boxes or that voting materials were being hijacked. The solider looked into the boot of the car. There were no ballot boxes, no voting materials, the closet thing that could be found linking me with the elections was a copy of the Electoral Act 2006, the same document that was being trampled upon with impunity. He shut the boot.

"Oga, all correct. Barka da election," He said, now smiling broadly. Just then some of the other soldiers became friendly. One of them who had been pointing his gun in our direction announced my name: "It's Reuben Abati. I see him on television." Another soldier corroborated this. So they knew me all along? The entire stretch of the road was deserted. I was alone with these gun-wielding election monitors. I don't need to tell you what I did to prove that I am truly a gentleman and a law-abiding citizen. I was hailed off the scene. But I didn't leave the matter at that. I told them:

"I beg o. I am going to the office, but later in the day, I am going to pass through here on my way home." I have young children at home. I try not to argue with Nigerian uniformed officials. They have killed so many over useless arguments.

"All correct editor, carry on", I was told. This was not the only place where I ran into soldiers and I had to open the boot of the car, at every occasion, I was very respectful.

There were other kinds of experiences in the course of the elections. In Delta state, one of the more memorable incidents was the reported protest by a group of women in Warri. The women decided to go naked to show displeasure with the electoral process. They took to the streets as they insisted that some fraud had taken place. One elderly woman was said to have gone completely naked.

A friend who witnessed the drama said the gawking crowd that soon gathered was not so much interested in the point that the women were making about Nigeria's democracy, but the spectacle of flesh that was on display, especially in the upper anterior region. Decorum will not permit me to offer a description of the architecture of mammary glands that my informant observed, the subtle differentiations in the geography of female flesh according to age and the excitement that this caused among an over-enthusiastic male audience. The bigger issue however is how Nigeria's 2007 elections drove people to desperate means, including the abandonment of clothes, to show how naked and vulnerable the Nigerian people had become.

On election day, there were reports not just of ballot box theft but of otherwise respectable men and women in society taking the laws into their hands and physically moving ballot materials. These persons included senior legal practitioners, lawmakers, commissioners, and public figures who resorted to sheer self help. Their conduct has not been fully reported in the media but even the eye witnesses who saw them in action are not in any way outraged. In Nigeria, it is generally assumed that the Heavens help only those who help themselves, and to allow an opponent to beat you at the ballot box, all in the name of democracy would be the height of sleeping on one's duty. The result is that many of the so-called winners of the past elections are plain thugs or accessories before, during and after the criminal act of election fraud. They will soon be sworn into office and they will assume the airs of office. Politics in Nigeria is not for gentlemen and ladies. "We have not reached that stage yet," someone said.

Among ordinary people, many tales are being told as well. A friend's wife was sitting in front of her shop in the expectation that some people in the neighbourhood may have need for pure water sachets and phone recharge cards, when she was accosted by a fellow who asked her if she had a voter's card. She answered in the affirmative and her guest offered to pay her N2, 000 if she would agree to vote for a particular candidate. My wife's friend felt scandalized. She was being asked to vote for a candidate she did not like because of N2, 000. She rejected the money, I was told. The agent who was buying up votes did not take any offence, he moved on to other buildings in the neighbourhood. Nobody reported him to the police. Nobody talked about his violation of the law.

When this particular friend's wife later got to the polling booth, some fellows went round the long queue that had been formed and offered money to lobby people to go back home. "Don't worry you don't need to vote, everything will be taken care of", they were told. In 1999, election observers drew up a list of about 30-something rigging methods; by 2003, the list had gone up to about 55; in the intervening years, Nigerians had become far more creative; in the last elections, no one is yet to tabulate the number of rigging methods, but a preliminary observation is that the strategies have become more advanced and brazen. If what we have on our hands is a developing trend, then the elections of 2011 will be worse.

In the midst of it all, what amuses me is the capacity of Nigerians to laugh at their own foibles. If you live among the people, you are bound to hear tales about how the elections were in fact rigged: the use of the palaces of traditional rulers, hotels, school classrooms, and how the entire process had been pre-determined. Those who are planning to protest and troop to the streets on May 1 are already being told that they should accept the results the way they are because no one would have been able to rig if God did not allow it! They are beginning to drag God and religion into it. Every act of omission on the part of Nigerians, they drag God into it. We are after all a very religious nation, and to close every argument, all you need to do is talk about God. Whoever opposes you is accused of blasphemy. In elections 2007, we have witnessed nothing else but serial blackmail.

You may not have seen some of the jokes making the rounds on the internet, but there is an interesting one which defines the nature of Nigeria's democracy. It goes thus:

A group of technologists were showcasing their nations' prowess in the Cebit technology fair recently and the German stood up and said his nation is the best in technology. 'We are so good, if we conduct elections today we'll get the results tomorrow'.

The Japanese rose and said they were definitely better; 'We are so good, we get results of elections immediately after the elections. Our elections are monitored online, real time'.

The Nigeria needn't stand up to speak, he made his speech while seated. 'And you all call that technology? In Nigeria we already know the results of elections before they are conducted'!

And this is true, largely. The nature of the elections did not surprise Nigerians, what shocked them was the scale of the electoral irregularities and malpractice. Yesterday, make up elections were held in 27 states, but Nigerians chose to stay at home. A few persons who were interviewed on television protested that there was no point taking part in an election in which their choices would not count. But Nigerians are resilient, as former US Secretary of State, Madeline Albright has observed. She has also accused the INEC Chairman of ":delusional mentality". The Economist of April 26 talks about "Big men, big fraud and big trouble".

What this means is that we, Nigerians, still have a long way to go. It is like starting all over again. In terms of the culture and standards of democratic conduct, we are back to 1999. In eight years we have learnt nothing. Persons in public life do not know their limits. Nigeria is a country of mini-Abachas, closet dictators who are only interested in how to use the country to climb and fulfil their own private desires. They will use anything at their disposal to get whatever they want. Whoever attempts a criticism of their actions, they will try to crush, blackmail, intimidate or assault.

And sadly, these are the same people who get rewarded, agents and converts of a growing Mafia of power that has no regard whatsoever for the people. Nigeria is a country that is desperately in need of good men and women, who can stand up and stop the current drift, or at least remind a crazy country of first principles. In face of a rampaging system and a covetous political elite, the people are so vulnerable. These same people have been discounted in the April 2007 elections; they are also handicapped by their constructive alienation from both state and nation.

Robot  # 1 | 29.04.2007 09:00

Analyzing Nigeria's elections in 2007 through the prism of issues and outcomes c...Read the full article.

Auspicious  # 2 | 29.04.2007 09:39

In 1999, election observers drew up a list of about 30-something rigging methods; by 2003, the list had gone up to about 55; in the intervening years, Nigerians had become far more creative; in the last elections, no one is yet to tabulate the number of rigging methods, but a preliminary observation is that the strategies have become more advanced and brazen. If what we have on our hands is a developing trend, then the elections of 2011 will be worse. Folks, will there ever be a change in this trend for the better? Auspicious.

Abraxas  # 3 | 29.04.2007 10:01

Hi, Auspicious! Please help me resolve this slight dilemma that I find staring at me: Of what use is it, for any one to bother to either (a) snatch ballot boxes, or (b) foment trouble at the polling station, or (c) falsely thumb-print ballots, say, in a party chieftains home, prior to, or after elections, if all that it takes is for Professor Emeritus Maurice Iwu to casually and nonchalantly take a sip of strong Sri Lankan tea, suitably laced with herbs suspected to be of South Eastern origin, take a shot or two of Camus Grand V.S.O.P. brandy, diluted with one big bottle of Guinness stout, and gently input any random set of numbers, comprising up to 8 or less digits, into the INEC election 2007 database, and (Hey, Presto!) that becomes the official results of the 2007 general elections? So, why do thugs, and so-called party stalwarts, waste their time, and also risk their lives, when the "rate-controlling step" in elections is definitely outside of their reach? I just do not understand.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :eek: Muchas gracias. Don Juan-Carlos ABRAXAS(III)

Auspicious  # 4 | 29.04.2007 11:51

=Abraxas;172191> So, why do thugs, and so-called party stalwarts, waste their time, and also risk their lives, when the "rate-controlling step" in elections is definitely outside of their reach? I just do not understand.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :eek: Muchas gracias. Don Juan-Carlos ABRAXAS(III) Hi, Abraxas! Remember that Fela song? One of his many 'Beck and Call' hits.. Where after every line of the Song, The chorus "Ignorance" followed? It is in that Song you'd find the Answer to your Question! Feel free to share the lyrics of that song with us if you have it - as usual. Thank you, My Bruda! Auspicious.

DaBishop  # 5 | 29.04.2007 12:17

I had in one of my submissions before the elders here written as if prophetically: Across the globe, democratically elected regimes, often ones that have been re-elected or re-affirmed through referenda, are routinely ignoring constitutional limits on their power and depriving their citizens of basic rights. This disturbing phenomenon " visible from Peru to Palestinian territories, from Ghana to Venezuela" could be called "illiberal democracy". Zakaria postulates that in order to practice the pure form of democracy which is a representative government for the majority, constitutions for ˜transitional countries" like Nigeria must be creative and imaginative to forestall the accumulation of power and abuse of office by the power elite. This is an area that needs further study.

blackscorpion  # 6 | 29.04.2007 12:49

http://hometown.aol.com/__121b_+/40b2FfFsQmY2umPm5OjTxsfTRXvpqn1AK/sw+YgYc=

akuluouno  # 7 | 29.04.2007 13:38

Given that the will of the people was not properly reflected in both 414 and 412 elections, is it not possible to infer that on 529, whatever will be installed may be a coup by other means? I say this without prejudice to the fact that we need to move on quicklyooo. :cool: :cool: :cool: Meanwhile Iyabo Obj wins Ogun Senatorial Seat, Ikedi Ohakim PPA wins Imo guber and Sullivan Chime PDP wins Enugu Guber.

blackscorpion  # 8 | 29.04.2007 14:43

Auspy, U can get some Fela lyrics via this link

blackscorpion  # 9 | 29.04.2007 14:44

Auspy, Fela lyrics on link below, Kunle http://hometown.aol.com/__121b_+/40b2FfFsQmY2umPm5OjTxsfTRXvpqn1AK/sw+YgYc=

calist  # 10 | 30.04.2007 05:59

=Auspicious;172188>Folks, will there ever be a change in this trend for the better? Auspicious. Hi all, Auspicious, bearing in mind that CHANGE is the only constant thing in life, honestly I’m sure the trend will change; but talking about this change for the better or not, that I’m not sure of, only the future can tell. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: