Symbolism, Murder of Nigeria’s  Democracy as INEC Breaks  Electoral Rules

FROM DR. DAVID NZEKWU (LAGOS)

The most important tenet of democracy is the idea that power emanates from and belongs to the people, and only the people can yield this power to representatives elected through a credible, free, and fair election. These representatives must stick to the fundamental principle of democracies: the rule of law, equality and basic human rights, freedom and liberty of expression, opinion, and belief, and a free and just judiciary. 

Democracies, no matter how imperfect, must have these elements to a greater degree. Any fundamental analysis of the structures and processes of leadership in Nigeria recently shows an aberration. Some of Nigeria’s nemesis is the stifling of opposing voices, judicial recklessness, bribery and corruption in high and low places, and the complete collapse of leadership. 

All these pale in significance compared with the complete breakdown of our electoral system in the last general elections. The elections were shambolic at best and fraught with violence and massive irregularities that, even by Nigerian standards, were low of the lows. 

This is most frustrating given the high hopes INEC inspired in people before and during the elections. The off-season elections in Anambra State and Ekiti States were examples of our electoral umpire’s new transparency and efficiency. 

The introduction of the BVAS and IREV technologies was icing on the cake and convinced people of the seriousness of INEC to conduct a credible election. People’s hopes were dashed – especially the youths who wanted to take back their country through the franchise for the first time. 

In some parts of the country, we witnessed an “Agberocracy” (leadership of touts and thugs for touts and thugs and by touts and thugs). There was a complete reign of impunity at all levels. INEC broke the electoral rules they made (no online upload of results from polling booths) and was very inefficient in managing the elections because voting started late in many polling booths, and many people could not vote because of time. 

Political party agents and thugs created a reign of terror in areas their candidates were not popular, using all forms of ethnic slurs and discrimination, violating every tenet of free and fair elections in the books. In high places, there are allegations of the inducement of INEC to rig the polls. 

I must confess that violence and public election rigging have never been elevated to the high state of political strategy in Nigerian elections. Some stakeholders planned from abinitio to rig the polls and damn the consequences. Little wonder the refrain after the elections is ‘if aggrieved, go to court’. 

A phrase that has resonated across the breadth and width of Nigeria, creating a fatalistic feeling of despondency and hopelessness given that perpetrators are urging victims to go to court. This anomaly has led to an unprecedented erosion of trust and faith in the election and our electoral system. 

There was a desecration of all democratic tenets when they weaponized religious and ethnic bigotry to pursue and grab power at all costs. The fair becomes foul, and foul becomes fair. Fairness and foulness became intertwined into a bitter mixture of the ghoul. They unleashed mayhem in an ethnically motivated brouhaha targeted at an ethnic group whose crime is that they live and ply their trade in a part of Nigeria that some think is not part of their own. 

Unfortunately, many people were disenfranchised, and their ‘Nigerianness’ call to question. It was even more frustrating that the state’s security apparatus stood aloof and watched the murder of democracy. Those whose responsibility was to maintain peace and security failed woefully and allowed the loss of innocent lives in the crucible of electoral struggle. The ethnic tension that is still on shows us that we are not too far from Rwanda and Burundi. 

If a Nigerian asked another Nigerian living in Nigeria to move out of a part of Nigeria and move to another part of Nigeria, and no one has been arrested or punished for such a crime, one wonders why Nigeria is the butt of jokes among the comity of nations. Thugs and touts seem to rule. They are above the law in states like Lagos and Rivers. They lord it over Nigerians with no fear of consequences. 

In Lagos state, the fusion of legitimate political leadership and non-state thugs baffles any sane person. Lagos runs like a fiefdom controlled by the state apparatus of power and de facto power group headed by Mc Oluomo. His position as the de facto king of the boys, with commanding power over life and death, is seen in his display of power openly within the state. His convoy and personal security are better than that of the governor. He told people from a particular ethnic group not to come out to vote, or they would be dealt with severely if they did. 

This threat he fulfilled during the elections, and he is still praised and hailed as a public figure and has arrogated to himself more power than before. Rivers State elections were like Lagos. Different political actors victimized their opponents, violence was a rift, and they rigged elections to a large proportion. This is the case in many other states in the presidential and governorship elections. The tension in the country is only a sign of the perplexed state of many Nigerians. 

A few supporters of the election winners had a subdued and infantile celebration. Many of the so-called winners of the election could not celebrate after being declared winners knowing that their mandate is not popular. Most Nigerians feel that the last elections were rigged, and their mandate was stolen. 

The INEC’s game of carrying on with presidential elections collation and announcing the president-elect in the wee hours of the night seems choreographed and intentional. The public outcry and pain that have followed these elections are the worse in recent memory of elections. Elections seem to be theatrical and just a semblance of democracy. 

These elections are symbols of democracy but lack the spirit of it. At the end of credible elections, as seen in many advanced democracies, winners are congratulated by the losers, and quickly the country rallies around the winning team, and everybody works hard to improve the quality of lives of citizens. But these last elections are rancorous and acrimonious, and it has left a sour taste in our collective consciousness. People are reacting in different ways to cope with the dilemma these failed elections have subjected them to. 

Since these elections have failed, this nation should rise above petty ethnicity and crass nepotism and stick to fairness and justice. The clamor is that all aggrieved parties must go to court, and court, they have gone. The ball is in the hands of the judiciary to salvage our democracy. Leaders are now decided and selected by the bench because of the failure of the electoral system. 

However, that is the only legitimate means of seeking justice in a country where most politicians are Machiavellian and have a win-at-all-cost ideology. Courts as the last hope of the ‘common man’ and should be the savior of our democracy. They must save our democracy from the abuse of the executive branch. It is a national duty for the Courts to install the rule of law and equity in the system. 

The Court should go to any extent to restore sanity in the system. If need be, they may cancel some of the elections, they should not rule off re-run in some areas, and perpetrators of election malpractice must receive the full wrath of the law. 

Election petitions have become a preoccupation of judges in Nigeria and around Africa and a defining process in public perception of the courts. In the past, they provided high forensic and judicial melodramas and dramas. 

However, they increasingly become performative rituals for sanctifying electoral burglary and celebrating judicial capture. The beneficiaries are the burglars and the judges. The best the victims can often expect to receive is a ‘timorous Pontius Pilate’ mistaken as a valiant judge. In 2023, Nigerian judges can sculpt a different narrative. What Nigeria’s Supreme Court does in 2023 will matter. Like the major parties, all actors in Nigeria’s election petition process have learned to build “structures”. 

The parties’ structures are in the infrastructure and monuments of election rigging and Kayode Fayemi called them the criminal network of “five gods and the godfather”, including the highest levels of INEC, the security services, thugs, and the judiciary. 

The symbolism of these failed elections is glaring. The first symbolism of this election is that if nothing serious is done to correct the anomaly of election rigging through violence, future elections will be small wars because all political actors will resort to violence and voter intimidation, inducement of INEC officials and voters. 

The second symbol is the hopelessness of the youths and the lack of trust in legitimate systems of securing power in a democracy. Young people are becoming disillusioned by the recklessness and uncertainty of the electoral system. 

They may resort to unconventional and restive ways to influence power, which will be disastrous. The third symbol is that this is an important opportunity for the courts to redeem their image in the public sphere, where their recent judgments have left many wondering whether they are indeed the last hope of the hopeless. 

The Supreme Court must not allow technicalities instead of the substance of the law to define their judgment. The world is watching. The last symbolism is that this must be a turning point and watershed in our democratic experiment. From now on, as a nation, we must get it right. 

We do not have another nation other than Nigeria. It is in our collective interest and for posterity that we build a great nation that we will all be proud of and become the beacon of hope for all black people in the world. Everybody is watching. Failure is not an option.