Democracy

Nigeria:Election arrangement and a disjointed country

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Adeola Aderounmu

There was a court injunction issued recently in Nigeria that the Electoral Agency should rearrange the election time table to what it was pre-2003. That is the presidential election should be the last in the sequence of elections.

But INEC and PDP preferred it the Obasanjo way in which the presidential election is conducted before governorship election. Even common sense dictates that the biggest should be saved for the last.

The riots, violence and terrorism that trailed the presidential election of April 16th have now put the forthcoming governorship election into jeopardy.

In the North of Nigeria more than 48 000 people have been displaced. The real figures could be higher. Youth corpers that have been used as cheap labour for the last voting process have been murdered and the rest of them are unwilling to continue to take the inherent risk especially in terror-prone Northern Nigeria.

Prevention is always better than cure. INEC disregarded the court injunction and PDP preferred it this way. Now we are at this point where no one knows what is going to happen on the 26th of April 2011.

Already elections have been postponed by two days in Kaduna and Bauchi. What type of miracle will bring about accelerated changes that will ensure that elections can hold in these states where people have been slaughtered like lower animals?

The security of lives and property are not guaranteed and we want people to leave the comfort of their homes to go to the polling stations. It’s easy to predict a low turnout across many parts of the nation.

Those who voted for the PDP in the last elections were marked for extermination in Bauchi and Kaduna. Many were killed even by uniformed men who went from house to house to slaughter them.

One of the mysteries or myths of terrorism in Northern Nigeria is the role of real/ fake uniform men who raid homes and commit genocide. It will happen again.

Where do we go from here?

There are many questions and arguments on my mind.

When the season of elections are over Nigeria and Nigerians really have a lot of internal cleaning to do. It is time to scatter things and re-arrange them like we used to say.

It is certain that a substantial part of the North is against the Jonathan presidency. Why not give the north their North and their candidate? Must Jonathan or anyone for that matter be the president of Nigeria?

Let them have their groundnut pyramids to cater for their needs. Give them their region and their candidates so they can go back to their agriculture to sustain them. Give them their freedom so that they can stop killing my brothers and sisters.

What stops the East and the West from going back to their original life styles and means of sustenance? What is holding each region back? They should be set free again.

Nigeria had regions pre-1966, why is it impossible to go back to that arrangement?
These questions and many more are what the disjointed people of Nigeria should be seeking answers to when the dust is settled.

If Nigerians don’t answer these questions there are many more days of genocide ahead. Uncountable and unnecessary acts of terrorism will continue to be unleashed on innocent people especially the Christians and southerners living in the North.

Retaliations there in the North and elsewhere in the South may escalate to the point of a new civil war and Nigeria may eventually disintegrate in a violent manner even before the predicted 2015 date.

The level of ignorance and illiteracy in Northern Nigeria is a bad omen for one Nigeria. Why the rest of Nigerians shy away from these obvious facts beats me.

Nigeria will undergo Apoptosis if we want. But if the people of Nigeria disregard the situations and signs, Necrosis is a much fatal option. The signs of the last few weeks point to the latter and remind Nigerians of 1967.

Elections and Riots, It Is In Their Character

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Adeola Aderounmu

I still hold on to my views about how elections should be conducted in Nigeria. There is still a need to establish permanent workable electoral processes that will avoid wastage of funds, and on the side, lives, every four years.

Whether they like it or not Nigerians must establish electoral processes that will bring about unquestionable outcomes.

Riots in Northern Nigeria (Image from BBC Africa)

Until such a time that votes cast can be checked against a social security number or identity card numbers, Nigeria may never experience a peaceful electoral process. One of my friends called me naïve because he thought Nigeria is too complex for such ideas. How can any country be complex or complicated for progressive ideas?

Ten years ago, who could have thought that Nigerians would be using ATMs or VISA cards? But they are using them quite efficiently. So why would it be impossible to issue IDs and security numbers? It will take time but it is a course they must take. All their options and short cuts are resulting in arguments and waste of lives and property.

Many Nigerians will argue that the last presidential election was fair, free and peaceful. They have valid points. But to term the post-election violence as an expression of frustration is an understatement. There is no smoke without fire.

Some Facebook commentators have argued that the North can break away for all they care. It is not that simple and easy to solve the problems. Some people are arguing for regional governments, that even makes more sense.

Now to the just concluded presidential elections in Nigeria.

There are insinuations that the elections have been rigged.

It is one thing for elections to be free and fair. It is another thing entirely for the elections to be credible and to hold water. When results are counted at polling stations, they are usually in hundreds or a few thousands. But when they are announced by INEC, they are in millions.

The idea of register, vote and protect, in my opinion, remains meaningless if not senseless. The only thing that can be protected in any election anywhere in the world is the number of forensically identifiable individuals.

I know several Nigerians who are not voting this year. Those who have registered at “convenient venues” like places or work or familiar environment could not vote because they are not allowed to move outside their residential areas on election days.

One thing is that it is very primitive to restrict movement of people on election days. The other thing is that when Nigeria has adopted the system I suggested in previous essays people will be allowed to vote even before the real Election Day. In that case no one will be disenfranchised if restrictions to movement are enforced on the last day.

One of the commonest mistakes that election riggers make in Nigeria is that while they rigged election results, they usually forget the number of registered voters in some states or communities. The smallest of errors in an election outcome gives room for doubts and questions the integrity of the conductors. Sincerely, it does.

It is hard to believe that any particular candidate in the presidential election will gather more than 90% of votes in any state of the federation. But Jonathan got 99% of the votes in some states. This is a very obvious error on the part of the manipulators and riggers. That one candidate can gather between 90 – 99.6% in any state of the federation ought to be investigated and scrutinized closely. All the electoral materials from such states should be surrendered to independent panel for verification. But do they have anything that is independent in Nigeria?

Buhari said he is in possession of evidence that can prove that INEC computers were pre-programmed to deliver the winning ticket to the PDP. He also said he has some questions for INEC regarding some results.

No one can doubt that computers can be programmed or re-programmed. If truly Buhari has made this claim and if he has the evidence why not produced it/them immediately?

He should also be asking all his questions now using the appropriate medium/ media.

The situation in the North cannot be allowed to continue unabated.

Riots have broken out in Northern Nigeria, People are dying, houses, churches and offices are being torched and burnt down. Supporters of PDP are the targets and it is easy to predict that the next targets will be southerners living in the North.

The riots in Northern Nigeria are condemnable, and very unnecessary. It once again shows how divided Nigerians are and it gives more weight to the argument that Nigerians should divide the country and let every region goes its separate way. This is a complicated resolution and civil wars may break out in several regions. Nigeria remains a volatile country.

Nigerians don’t know yet who ordered these riots but they do know that the rulers or elders in the North are slack and slow. They are watching as their territories are set ablaze. How low are their mentalities? What is Buhari’s position concerning these riots? Can he go out on the streets and call his supporters and street gangsters to order?

There are ways to seek redress and he cannot allow the morons that are on the loose to destroy his reputation. They have already.

I looked at the table of election results and I conclude that though the elections were relatively free, they are far from being credible. 90% of votes in one state going to one candidate is suspicious, 99,6% is definitely a fabrication or a figment of someone’s imagination. The results justify the billions of naira that Mr. Jonathan had siphoned from the Nigerian economy to ensure that he wins.

Money remains the number one influence in Nigerian elections. Even INEC surprised itself and the bookmakers because I am in shock as to why Jega printed re-run papers. One day in Nigeria votes will be counted genuinely like we did in 1993 when MKO Abiola won the freest and fairest election ever in the history of Nigeria.

Meanwhile Jonathan and Sambo must stop the violence in the North. The celebrations are over and, as the rulers of Nigeria; they have a first major assignment on their hands.

Ghana As The True Rising Giant Of Africa

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Adeola Aderounmu

Ghana’s GDP has been reviewed upward (USD 31.5) representing a growth of 75%.

What is interesting is that the new figure reflected the contributions of both the service and agricultural sectors.

The Ghanaian government is looking into other areas of her economy where changes and development can be made.
Ghana recently started extracting oil. Ghana is preparing for a future full of hopes and abundant blessings. Three generations from now, the children of Ghana will be living the dreams of their fathers and mothers. What a beautiful people and country!

This means that Ghana is probably the real and true giant of Africa.

Democracy is working in Ghana. In Ghana there is a sense of collective nationalism and citizen responsibility. Ghanaians are building Ghana and making it not only the envy of West Africa but the continent as a whole.

In the 1980s the Nigerian Government chased the Ghanaian community out of Nigeria. The infamous “Ghana Must Go” was xenophobia of the highest order in which Nigerians falsely ascribed their economic misfortunes and rising unemployment rate to the presence of Ghanaians in Nigeria. It was a detestable political move.

Nigerians have no shame at all. Today a few decades after Ghanaians left Nigeria, Nigerians are now the ones hustling in Ghana. For several reasons majority of Nigerians have chosen Ghana as their favourite spot in Africa. Others prefer the so called SA.

There are thousands of Nigerian students in Ghanaian Universities not for exchange reasons but because the useless successive, corrupt governments in Nigeria have done almost nothing to improve education. Many Nigerian politicians send their children to school in Europe and America. Ghana has also been added to the fanciful list of options. They destroyed the system in Nigeria and send their children and families abroad to school.

Nigerians have also chosen Ghana as the hotspot for honeymoon. Several other Nigerians visit Ghana as part of their annual holidays. Nigerians are among the largest number of tourists in Ghana. We chased them out of Nigeria and now we are going to their country to admire them. What a failed country, Nigeria!

Nigerians should thank Ghana and Ghanaians for not being hostile. Ghanaians are not xenophobic like Nigerians. They welcome us while not even referring to how we humiliated them out of Nigeria in 1983. Ghanaians have a forgiving spirit which typical Nigerians lacks. The racism/tribalism Nigerians faced in Nigeria is worse than what they face in Europe and America. This is probably why some Nigerians living in Europe and America also find it more convenient to return to Ghana for holidays as well.

Nigerian businessmen are finding Ghana a more comfortable environment to do businesses. Electricity and other infrastructure are much better in Ghana. But not all Nigerians are doing clean businesses in Ghana. I have read and seen images of Nigerian fraudsters (419 guys) arrested in Ghana.

There is a near complete absence of electricity in Nigeria. The monies budgeted for electricity in Nigeria was stolen by all the government officials in Nigeria and individuals lIke Obasanjo and Abdulsalami are involved. They awarded themselves contract for electricity even though they knew they have no idea what electricity is or how it is produced, managed and distributed. But they are free men and mentors to late Yar Adua and Jonathan. Nigeria is ruled by crooks and thieves and so no real progress is seen nationally in the areas of infrastructure and basic amenities.

It is only in Nigeria that contracts for roads maintenance and repair are given to traditional rulers! In fact it doesn’t matter who gets the contract for Benin-Ore Road for example, the point is that the road is never repaired. Everyone who gets the contract just pocketed the money. Nigerians are dying in vain and hoping in extreme vain as all.

Ghana has her difficulties and like the rest of Africa remains a dumping ground for dangerous electronic items. There are potential dangers because the poor and the desperate are exposed to the harmful components in these electronic wastes. But the government of Ghana is responsible and well aware of the problems. There is a plan and a system that is working towards genuine eradication of poverty in Ghana.

In Nigeria the country is in the hands of gangsters largely aided by an irresponsible followership. In Nigeria the people do not understand the meaning of failure and they do not know what the essence of life is all about, therefore a corrupt party can produce any kind of candidate and still win a majority votes in elections that are usually rigged or manipulated.

The sense of nationalism and collective responsibility is reflected in all aspect of the Ghanaian life. The most obvious is in the area of sport. Ghana is now the most famous sporting nation in Africa courtesy of her exploits in football in South Africa in 2010.

Generally Ghanaians have shown that where there is a will, there is a way. Ghana has shown Africa that democracy can work and that there are dividends of democracy. In Ghana a few people are not looting to the detriment of the population like the way the PDP is championing looting in Nigeria. There is accountability and probity in the government of Ghana.

Ghanaians that have been abroad have been able to help transform Ghana right from the community level to the federal level. They have introduced some systems in Ghana that are adopted from the Swedish communal system. It is working and progress is being achieved.

Many Nigerians abroad are not suggesting how Nigeria can be improved; they are collecting bribes and stolen monies to support useless political parties and candidates.

Nigerian politicians and rulers only go abroad, open their mouths, admire structures, buildings, take tourist photos and return home to boast of their exploits. They have no sense of direction that they need to improve Nigeria to the level that they see and enjoy when they visit abroad. In several cases of stupidity they bring raw cash and buy properties abroad. Some individuals buy properties that could have been used to provide housing for an entire state in Nigeria. This is how stupid, senseless and idiotic some Nigerians are. Yet they have admirers and followers.

In recent time when Nigeria gave orders that Ivory Coast should be invaded, following as a puppet in the order of Sarkozy and Quattara, Ghana stood back as the father of Africa and opposed the invasion. War Crimes have been committed in Ivory Coast in the name of the United Nation, Nigeria and France. It took Ghanaians to bring the images of massacre to the world through a well-documented and organized protest.

Ghana knows what the future is all about and as a country she is preparing for it. Ghana since the days of Rawlings has never acted for the moment. Rawlings and Kuffour never acted for the moment. They love their country and acted for the future. This is what all Ghanaians are doing. A leader showed the way and they have never looked back since. They are imbibing the spirit of Nkrumah, one of Africa’s best known nationalists.

If Nigerians can look beyond the moment and make their institutions work, one day they will know that as far as this world is concern Nigeria is nowhere to the found on the map of nations/country with sense and purpose. We conduct questionable elections like they were done more than 2000 years ago. We vote or support a 12-year old failed party and we think it’s ok! We celebrate corruption and ill-gotten wealth in the name of God. Our institutions are dead and quality public education is totally absent. I can count in a thousand ways why Ghana, rather than Nigeria is the giant of Africa.

May the spirit of Ghana fill the whole of Africa.

Why Jega Should Resign and Why INEC will fail again!

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By Adeola Aderounmu

Electoral failures in 1959, 1979, 1983, 1993 (shame on you IBB), 1999, 2003, 2007 AND we are making the same mistakes in 2011. I thought people learn from their mistakes or from history. What a country!

In several essays I have called for transformation of the electoral process in Nigeria. By now Mr. Jega obviously has seen that it is impossible to conduct credible elections in Nigeria under the prevailing arrangements and circumstances.

I am convinced that the cancellation or the postponement of elections in Nigeria can never be due to non-availability of materials as claimed by Jega.

I believe more in what Jega said prior to the election date and on April 1st that all was set and ready for the elections on April 2nd than all the lies he is proclaiming now. What a Liar!

He is not telling the truth which may be related to the impossibility to conduct elections in 2011 using the process that was used during the time of the biblical Herod when people went to their home towns to be counted. Nigerians should be asking why all their looting politicians usually return to their homelands during census and elections. Why?

Jega was either taken by fear and the reality of the impossible tasks before him and INEC or he is executing a PDP agenda. This is a man who had ordered that people should be counted and accredited before 12noon and that voting should start at 1230. But when the day of election arrived Jega and his ill-prepared team saw that the time-scheduled election of their imaginations is a far cry from realities or the PDP agenda was unfolded to his face. Whichever!

Jega should resign because of the money he has wasted. That money would have provided jobs for thousands of jobless Nigerians. His lies and inconsistencies are too heavy to be accepted. He’s another sycophant in the making.

Jega has no more tasks to do as the boss of INEC. INEC itself should be disbanded with immediate effect.

I saw a video clip of one voting center in Lagos. There were several people who formed a crowd around the electoral officers. This is primitive and archaic. This is what will be repeated in the coming weeks. The process is wrong, too wrong.

There is no way a process that is more than 2 000 years old will work for 70m voters in the 21st century, never!

I warned about these things but Nigerians chose to ignore me. They deleted my articles and stories about Nigeria. I said that those who think elections in 2011 would be a success needs to get their heads examined. Even 24 hours to the election date I was still shouting on my blog that these elections are unnecessary.

We are repeating what we have done since 1959 that has always resulted in failure. Why are we repeating the same process again?

It doesn’t matter when or how INEC carries out these electoral processes, the point is that they will NEVER be free, credible or satisfactory. This is the truth that Jega should use the last layer of his fading dignity to address. On that one, Nigerians will believe him.

I have made suggestions on how Nigeria can carry out credible elections. What I have not mentioned is that if the people in Nigeria cannot understand and carry out my suggestions, there are people abroad-yes we can hire Europeans like Swedish people- who can help us organize our lives since we have failed to do it right since 1959.

Using simple forensic details, we can hire expatriates to help us count Nigerians once and for all. This will establish an everlasting process that generations yet unborn will enjoy and be grateful for.

Everybody gets an identity card and a social security number. All these details will be over in less than 12 months. It is not a function for INEC but the National Population Commission. They need help now and this is my candid suggestion.

The Nigerian Government should pally with the Swedish Embassy in Abuja. They should ask for help on how to have a successful and perfect head count in Nigeria once and for all. We have tried and we have failed, let’s get help we can afford. All the monies we have wasted conducting stupid and useless elections would have been enough to pay for these services that will be forever.

If the Nigerian government does not ask for help, I am already in the process of initiating one. I am sure that I will contact the Swedish embassy in Abuja officially in the days ahead. I owe my country all the help it can get to stop this international embarassment.

If we develop our postal system parallel to the forensic head count under the same period of time, everybody can receive his/her identity card and voter card at home by post. Alternatively we can create collection centers at all the local government offices for the IDs. The New Electoral body that will be formed will send out the voting cards/papers. It’s too easy.

I am convinced that citizen orientation and improved police and judicial institutions are necessary ingredients to the successful implementation of my suggestions. If criminals go to jail or get punished for wrong doings irrespective of how small or big the crimes are, a lot of things will be easier in Nigeria.

For the past 4 years I have written series of articles on how to count Nigerians and how to conduct credible elections.

Unless these things are done, Nigeria will NEVER have credible elections.

When it is season of election, the voting process should be flexible and people should be able to send in their votes by post. People should be able to go to voting centers even one month before the last day of voting. All these nonsense overcrowding on the days of election are archaic and primitive.

And on the last day of general voting all voting centers should be open between 8am and 6pm.

I have seen credible elections in Sweden as I have seen in several parts of the world. What is wrong with Nigeria and Nigerians? Are we daft?

The last counter argument I want to hear or read is that we are not matured for this process. Are we less intelligent than people who live in countries where peaceful elections are conducted? No!

Nigeria is using a voting process that is more than 2 000 years old.

Jega has fooled a whole country made up of over 150m people, an aggregation of the largest population of black people in the world. He should resign! He should also be ashamed of telling lies. I am so angry I can’t express my feelings about people like Jega.

If Jega is man enough, let him resign. Let him tell Nigerians the truth-that the elections will not be credible and that we need to go back to the drawing boards and find a more realistic way to conduct our elections so that we can have true democracy say 2 or 3 years from now.

Jega must not leave his position without apologizing to Nigerians. He fooled himself and he fooled us. Apparently this failure is not just about Jega, it is about a failed system. But an intellectual person like Jega owes us the truth.

Jega should give a full statement of accounts of how he has spent all the billons of naira that he has wasted in the last couple months. As much as possible he should refund to the national coffers whatever amount he can gather from everywhere he has wasted these funds. Someone somewhere in Nigeria must start doing something right. Why not Jega, a man whom much has been given in such a short time?

The greater challenge lies before all Nigerians. Is this how we want to continue with our lives? PDP is fooling us; the wicked party is fooling our family members, our friends and even our neighbours. In other parts of the world, a party like PDP would have been thrown into the dustbin. For how long will our consciences be bought with porridge and stolen funds?

No amount of postponements can solve the problems of elections in Nigeria. Without radical electoral reforms and a voting system based on credible processes that are supported by forensic facts and figures, Nigerians will continue to scream foul play for ever and ever.

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Nigeria needs no election in 2011

These Must Never Happen Again

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

In 1999, 2003 and 2007 PDP rigged elections in Nigeria. 2007 was the worst of them all. I have presented these facts before but it is election time and I should remind Nigerians that these things must never happen again.

In 2007 PDP chairmen in each state of Nigeria and in all the local governments across Nigeria supervised the biggest election scandal in the history of man.

PDP thugs and party members across Nigeria were armed to the teeth and they watched as the chairmen supervised the biggest and the most massive illegal thumb printing processes ever seen on planet earth.

These events took place across the length and breadth of Nigeria. It was the biggest charade known to man.

You can understand the frustration of Obasanjo that despite all the billions of naira spent on Lagos, the PDP lost to ACN.

Jonathan is the one now wasting federal funds just to capture Lagos.

ACN has also vowed that PDP will not capture Lagos for the next 50 years the same way that PDP boasted that it will be in power at the center for the next 60 years. Invariably this means that PDP has no intention of conceding power to any opposition party. Lagos and ACN is not going to do the same.

These acts of boasting put INEC on the spotlight. Just a few hours away, Nigerians will vote and history will have it on record if the votes tallied with the number of accredited voters or not. It will also be worthwhile if the votes counted are genuine.

We will see what it takes to protect our votes, blood or common civility.

The evil of 2007 perpetrated by Iwu, Ibori, and Obasanjo that brought in the third successive illegal civilian regimes now headed by Jonathan must be resisted by whatever means possible.