This is the bane of
Nigeria where public officers never honourably resign from their
positions when shown to be inept and incompetent but must be forced
out. That the man is still in office is an aberration, unjustifiable
and a gaping hole in Yar’Adua’s flowing immaculate white electoral
reform garment. As long as one Maurice Iwu remains INEC Chief, many
Nigerians will never believe in the government’s honesty and sincerity
of purpose especially as it relates to his so-called electoral reform
agenda. Perhaps, he has to continue in order to complete the hatchet
job. Already, he is still the one overseeing the re-elections being
ordered by the jurists. This is a case of allowing a renowned rapist
to accompany his young beautiful victim home with only the two of them
on a lonely path just a few months after the latter was sexually
assaulted by the former. We all can guess the eventual outcome.
PROFESSOR MAURICE IWU’S REMOVAL FROM INEC IS
LONG OVER DUE. by
Joseph Ifeanyi Chikunie
There is a maxim,
which says that “rich people know how to insult people”. There is no
place where this holds true than on Nigerian roads. The type of
disdainful and earth-shaking insults hauled at other motorists by such
rich men and women are mind boggling. Some of them now carry horse
whips like pens, which they use to whip their fellow road-users into
line.
I witnessed one of
such interesting encounters in Lagos not quite long ago. An unlucky
motorist slightly defaced the car of a wealthy man. The driver of the
latter had abruptly stepped on the break pedal and the former had no
choice but to stop suddenly too. This resulted in a very minor
impact, which my driver described as a ‘kiss’, except that our rich
compatriot did not see things that way.
What followed was a
Rambo-like action by our rich brother; he did not utter a word as he
gently stepped down from his exotic vehicle. He menacingly walked
towards his unfortunate victim this time, who at the time was still
behind the car steering. He started whipping the poor lad with the
horse whip (koboko) repeatedly across the face and body. The victim
had to step out too and he only received more thorough thrashing in
the process. As a man, he could not tolerate the public assault and
his next move was a mistake.
As he advanced towards
the rich man, some scary, mean-looking, bespectacled young men
numbering four in black suit, pounced on the assaulted fellow. They
proceeded to inflict more bodily harm on him just as passers by and
even some policemen watched the free afternoon show. I decided to do
something about the situation and matched towards the men and their
rich benefactor. I introduced myself as a very important Nigerian (we
are all important but I needed to be assertive and authoritative), who
had witnessed the minor accident and what followed. I told them that
their actions were punishable in conformity with the laws of our land.
I waited but there was only the sound of panting and fiery eyes
surveying my average frame.
“Chief”, as his men
called him once again acted silently. He dipped his hands into his
pocket and brought out a bundle of naira notes, which I guessed was
twenty thousand naira. He hauled it at the bloody man and asked him to
go treat himself. I expected the victim to reject the sum and possibly
press charges but I was wrong in my thinking. He grabbed the bundle
and made for his car; walking very wobbly. He did not even bother to
offer me any appreciation (not that I expected any) and before you
could say ‘Robinson’, he was already hitting the road yet again. When
I turned, Chief and his men had vanished! Suddenly, I realized that I
was now the cynasure of all eyes. I had become the victim in a case I
was once an attorney. This is the irony of events and occurrences in
our beloved country, Nigeria.
By now, readers would
wonder how this story connects with the caption of this write up, I
plead for patience. In the West, when a powerful man or woman of high
standing in the society, fumbles or is enmeshed in a scandal or has
performed very abysmally, he or she apologizes, shows some remorse and
in almost all cases, resigns from his or her position.
In contrast, what
plays out in every part of Africa especially in Nigeria is that the
embattled public officer hardens his or her position, blames perceived
enemies and detractors and begins a schematic process of perpetuating
himself or herself in office. How many times have we witnessed so many
cases involving public officers, where the most honourable thing to do
would have been to resign but who had vehemently resisted any such
call and even proceeded to deride us (the citizenry) the more?
The practice is that
the public officer first denies any wrong doing, then blames nearly
every enemy seen and unseen before beginning a systematic insult of
our sensibility. It is ‘the rat that said that it is not annoyed that
the man hunted it down but that what it could not forgive is the way
he held it by the tail and flung it away’. Why must these public
officers continue to rub salt on our injury? Umaru Dikko did it to us
over his statement that we were not picking from the dust-bin yet,
David Mark once said that telephone is not for the poor, Obasanjo
himself (he has received so many blows already) told Lagosians that he
ought not to be at the scene of a bomb blast, his daughter, Iyabo
travelled to Ghana even when the scandal over the N10 million she
collected from the health ministry had become public knowledge.
Babangida has continued to play with words over his June 12, 1993
Presidential annulment, now Maurice Iwu has decided to join the fray
by defending an indefensible electoral body under him and in the
process, playing on our collective intelligence.
Despite the
nullification of so many elections conducted by Maurice Iwu and
sometimes the direct indictment of INEC by the tribunal, the man still
seats as the Chairman of that Nigerian Electoral body. Not less than
seven governors have lost their seats or are about to lose them, so
many parliamentarians at federal and state levels have since vacated
their positions and even the government has overtly acknowledged that
all was not well with the IWU elections, yet the man still maintains
his official capacity as Nigeria’s electoral umpire.
I wanted to watch the
entire drama unfold without any comment until the very end but in the
true Nigerian arrogant posture, Maurice Iwu will not just allow me.
First, just before the
conduct of the re-ran gubernatorial elections in Kogi State, the man
beat his chest and stated that now there was no pressure from any
quarter anymore and that he was now poised to deliver the goods by
conducting a free and fair election in that state. This statement is
self-condemning, a tacit indicted of Maurice Iwu by Maurice Iwu
himself and the height of the man’s insensibility.
We recall how our
confident professor had told us against all odds that his election
will be the best in Nigeria’s history. He also stated that INEC was
ready and capable of conducting a very free and fair election better
than June 12 elections in 1993. He did not stop there, he proceeded to
unilaterally ban some politicians from contesting the elections.
Anytime one tuned to the Television, Iwu was always there, assuring,
posturing, gesticulating and mesmerising. He won some over but the
wise ones knew that the man blew hot but was actually acting a script
written by powerful forces in Abuja. It was so clear then. He
somersaulted in Anambra state in a case involving Peter Obi, Chris
Ngige and yes of course, Chris Uba. The role Iwu’s INEC played in that
infamous case was shameful, nauseating and very ridiculous.
He proceeded to make
Atiku the central focus of his Presidential election. He became the
government’s spokesman as he posed the greatest challenge to Atiku’s
ambition. His posturing and language at the time convinced every right
thinking Nigerian that Maurice Iwu was nothing but Obasanjo’s Minister
of Electoral Affairs. Period.
The man was still
allowed to remain in office because he was simply acting a script. He
had to deliver the elections to PDP, come what may and nothing could
upset the apple cart. How he delivered when the die was cast and in a
very brazen and callous manner where many Nigerians including the then
sitting Senate President were disenfranchised, Iwu and his men
executed their job in a very frightening fashion.
But like the wealthy
motorist, Iwu has today become the culprit-turned attacker. His recent
views on that better-forgotten elections are irritating as they are
infuriating. Just listen to this dramatic professor as I examine his
defence critically. Apparently reacting to the
spate of nullification of governorship elections won by the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) across the country by the election petition
tribunals and appeal courts, chairman of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu, said the PDP was
paying for its sins of imposition of candidates during its primaries.
Now we can conduct elections without government interference, he
stated. Really? So the past government did interfere with the 2003
elections?
The
Professor has wide powers to reject any party’s candidate, who does
not qualify to stand for elections. I remember the hypocritical Prof.
warning political parties that should they produce ‘faulty candidates’
they risk losing the elections as such candidates will be disqualified
by INEC. It is one thing to impose a candidate, it is another to do
this in an illegitimate manner, which INEC would have rejected but
which the courts and tribunals are now exterminating. Iwu’s argument
therefore, holds no water.
Professor Iwu stated this while delivering a lecture entitled: “The
April 2007 Elections in Nigeria: What went right” at the University of
Ibadan. Even in the face of his appalling performance in office,
Maurice Iwu is still twisting and spinning realities. The topic of
that lecture ought to be: “The April 2007 Elections in Nigeria: What
went wrong”. But this is Nigeria where we are regularly told that
black is white and vice versa.
According to the INEC boss, “the commission’s proposal for a new
reasonable time frame for substituting of candidates by the political
parties gained legal backing in 2006 Electoral Act, and the commission
on its own part, was taking measures to promote and enforce internal
party democracy in the registered political parties to underscore the
point that democratic contrivance was ultimately counterproductive.”
This is very far from the truth. If Maurice Iwu and his henchmen and
women promoted anything under the Obasanjo administration especially,
it was the total and reckless enforcement of internal party
totalitarianism and godfatherism. Iwu barked when his masters wanted
him to and this simply explains why his commission sought to be joined
as a party in Peter Obi’s case after the man’s initial victory at the
tribunal. Acting a script, he relentlessly sought to conduct a fresh
election in that state as a worse case scenario just to pacify the
PDP.
Iwu
noted that “the nullification of about six governorship elections by
the tribunals are pointers to the fact that the Peoples Democratic
Party was paying for its electoral sins and such should not be placed
on the doorsteps of the commission.
“The party did not go through the normal process of picking its
candidates. It lacked internal democracy and when the offenders went
to court, the obvious happened.” Let someone please remind our short
memory Professor that as INEC Chairman he had and still has wide
powers to ensure that party candidates are normally produced. It is
part of his job description. If as he has admitted, PDP lacked
internal democracy, what steps did he take to ensure conformity? Which
statement can we ascribe to him then, which show his absolute
discomfort with PDP’s ways of producing candidates? How many meetings
were held between INEC and PDP to discuss this very important issue?
He
disclosed that “as if the existing problems of the political
environment did not present enough challenges in the preparation for
the 2007 elections, the ruling party, foisted a most unusual and
unprecedented crisis on the nation, an irreconcilable disputation that
resulted in the incumbent vice president parting ways with both the
government and the ruling party. To this I simply state that Maurice
Iwu would have been the Nigeria’s Man of the Year, 2007 if he had made
this statement then. Nigerians are so used to rulers and public
servants speaking like saints after the events, where as active
participants, they had acted very foolishly. After all, not too long
ago, Ahmadu Ali, the out gone PDP Chairman attacked godfatherism in
PDP as being damaging when we are all living witnesses to his
admonition to Governor Ladoja that Lamidi Adedibu is the garrison
commander of Oyo politics who must be obeyed. Most times, I do not
know what the likes of Ahmadu Ali and Maurice Iwu take us all for.
Maurice Iwu continued at the lecture by stating that “The unrelenting
assault on the electoral commission by some of the opposition
candidates and their parties in the 2007 election through most
uncharitable and illogical means can, perhaps, only find explanation
in the calculations by the parties of how best to gain the upper hand
in the spirited struggle for supremacy within the political elite,”.
Well, the opposition parties’ logic has now been proven at the
tribunals and the appeal courts. I disagree with the dribbling
Professor. He helped the PDP to crush and silence the opposition. His
body language all through the Obasanjo era betrayed his one-sided
approach. Even my four year old niece at that time remarked that “Iwu
is pursuing Atiku like Obasanjo’s police”.
Speaking further, Iwu stated that the commission decided to disqualify
some candidates based on the existing laws as at that time. We are no
fools. The spate of disqualifications was never balanced as it
affected members of the opposition more than the PDP in substance.
Those who had their ambitions snatched from them in PDP were simply
those not in the good book of Obasanjo and the hawks.
But
for all his faults, deceit and double talk, Iwu like the rich motorist
can continue his victimization of the common man. His INEC
disenfranchised millions of voters, could not prevent massive rigging
of the elections, allowed unqualified candidates to stand for
elections and ridiculously produced two results in certain states; yet
one Professor Maurice Iwu still retains his position as Nigeria‘s
Independent Electoral Commission boss. Like the passive passers-by, in
that mild drama in Lagos traffic, Nigerians remain mere on-lookers.
This is the bane of Nigeria where public officers never honourably
resign from their positions when shown to be inept and incompetent but
must be forced out. That the man is still in office is an aberration,
unjustifiable and a gaping hole in Yar’Adua’s flowing immaculate white
electoral reform garment. As long as one Maurice Iwu remains INEC
Chief, many Nigerians will never believe in the government’s honesty
and sincerity of purpose especially as it relates to his so-called
electoral reform agenda. Perhaps, he has to continue in order to
complete the hatchet job. Already, he is still the one overseeing the
re-elections being ordered by the jurists. This is a case of allowing
a renowned rapist to accompany his young beautiful victim home with
only the two of them on a lonely path just a few months after the
latter was sexually assaulted by the former. We all can guess the
eventual outcome.
