Election matters

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.

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

A Big Liar Called Jega and A Country Without Shame

/ Adeola / 6 Comments

Adeola Aderounmu

24 Hours before Nigeria’s Parliamentary Elections Jega came out to tell the world that all is set and ready.

The Elections schedule for April 2 2011 has now been cancelled. Jega said that it will now hold on Monday the 4th.

Jega is now singing a new tune that Election materials did not arrive. The same song that Maurice Iwu sang in 2007. We have now gone from wuruwuru to jagajaga. But why didn’t he say that the day before? Why did he wait until Nigerians have trooped out to election centers and some voters have even been accredited and were waiting to cast their votes?

In 2007 election materials did not arrive from South Africa. The Natural disaster in Japan has now been blamed for the man-made disaster in Nigeria. Japanese will be shocked and probably angry to know that the natural disaster that put them in mourning is the song on the lips of INEC and Jega.

One of my friends said he is investigating the real cause of the postponement. I am sure this postponement is connected to fraudulent activities. With time the bigger picture will emerge.

I argued in august 2010 that Nigeria does not need any elections in 2011. I stand firmly by my opinions in that article that we still don’t need any election in 2011. Anyone who wants to know what we need should read the article.

By the way, how foolish are the Nigerian government and INEC? Why can’t Election papers be printed in Nigeria?

That is just one question out of the thousands of questions that we are now asking.

These Must Never Happen Again

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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.

I Agree That Only Fools and Idiots Will Vote for PDP

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Adeola Aderounmu

For the past 12 years, this party called PDP has ruined Nigeria.

Lately, Jonathan has emptied the national treasury and external reserves by making himself comfortable on a number of presidential jets and funding the most wasteful presidential campaign in the history of Nigeria.

Let us not forget that it is these same prodigal children who spent 20 billion naira in one day celebrating 50 years of monumental failures.

Jonathan, Sambo and their wives have just concluded the most wasteful campaign in the history of African dirty politics.

They spent as they like because they didn’t have to work for the money and they lack human compassion and sensitivity to the plights of the common people. More than 90m Nigerians are living hopelessly, almost not having anything from hand to mouth.

The money spent by this gang so far this season could have been used to provide jobs for more than more than 1 million Nigerians who remain jobless, hopeless and shamefully pauperized. There is no way to put value and effects on the amount of monies that have been stolen, looted and wasted since 1999.

Some Nigerians have been deceived into this company of looters. It saddens me to see Nigerian women across Nigeria rallying around Mrs. Jonathan for temporary moments of ecstasy. It is the same for Mr. Jonathan. These people use Nigeria’s money to deceive gullible and thoughtless Nigerians into believing in falsehood. Millions of Nigerians have short memories and myopic opinions about politics. And they have no one to tell them about their shame. They lack both sense of history and direction.

Those who rally round PDP are obviously beneficiaries of the senseless government and senseless looting that have been in progress since 1999 and before.

This does not mean that I have an endorsement for any political party in Nigeria either.

I hate Nigerian politics and Nigerian politicians. I think 99.9% of the politicians should be rotting in jail across Nigeria-starting from the presidency to the local government levels. The PDP is just the worse because for 12-13 years all they have done after rigging their way into power since 1999 is talk and promise. Nigerians still rank among the poorest people on earth. The other parties have not even told us how they can bring about reforms in Nigeria both in the electoral process and how we govern ourselves.

I can’t quantify my dislike for the thieves in the house of assembly and House of Representatives. How many times do we have to remind those robbers that taking 25% of Nigeria’s money amount to massive looting of the highest order?

In a country of 150m people those crooks do not even deserve 1% of the country’s wealth. It’s simple mathematics! If they have something in their cerebral hemispheres they would realize that they are stupid!

I am shocked that Nigerians have not stormed that useless assembly to chase these thieves away to their villages or direct to exile. I am shocked that several weeks and months after the revelation, they have not refunded the money that they have stolen since 1999 or 2003 or 2007.

And it is so because there is a Nigerian mentality that everyone in politics must steal or eat something. What a tragedy!

This country may never make it.

Only fools and idiots will vote for PDP. I have no confidence in these April Elections. I am too convinced that the death tolls from Ibadan and Akwa Ibom are child’s play based on my previous predictions that people will die like chickens. I will not forget that I have stated that Nigerians don’t need these elections. We have no structures and there are no institutions to back up the process leading to the nonsense elections.

It doesn’t take witchcraft to know that Nigeria remains volatile because of the system of governance. More people will die leading to the election and the violence that may accompany the actual elections may be unprecedented in Nigeria’s history. The foundations are very shaky. We continue to use cosmetic approaches to push the bubble forward. One day it will burst, in an uncontrollable manner.

Already the useless IG has said that Nigerians are not allowed to attend polls with mobile and communication devices.

This means that Jonathan does not want the rigging process to be documentd. He does not want the violence to be spread with mobile devices around the world. Go figure my friends; this government is the worst dictatorship in Nigeria’s history.

Vital information and truth about the reality of life and situation in Nigeria are not even known to millions of Nigerians largely because they are living in constant darkness and partly because media houses are very unreliable. Now Jonathan is preventing the use of media devices. Rather than show Nigeria the truth, the ever-stupid NTA has decided that all its news content will be dedicated to Jonathan. NTA remains without doubts the most useless channel not only in Africa but globally.

Let me continue to express my unlimited and unhindered freedom of expressions that I hate all those PDP supporters that have lost their senses of reasoning because of the financial reward that the PDP is doling out for the disgusting things that they have been saying.

I want to state also that I hate all the idiots that have travelled from Europe and America to make 30 seconds appearances on Jonathan Television Authority (JTA) showing their disgusting and shameful support for a political party that has spread hopelessness, poverty and penury in the last 12 years or so.

Nigerians in diaspora who have travelled to Nigeria to support poverty, penury, looting and senselessness in government are morons who should be avoided. And they should be ashamed of their 30s of glory on JTA.

My source of anger is simple. This country is rich. The people are scandalously poor. I continue to remind those who think otherwise that if more than 90m people are hopeless it is the greatest tragedy of modern era. Those in power are senseless and insensitive. Majority of the people are opportunists and it pains me to be a part of this race and generation that cannot do things right in the most populous black nation. I am angry because my heart is bleeding every single day of my life. My anger is because the situation in Nigeria is an insult to the intelligence of the black race.

Since I cannot stop my fellow follow-follow Nigerians from voting, what I have left to say is that whatever happens, they must ensure that PDP, and all these looters on rampage regardless of their affiliation, are ejected out of the system without delay. One of my friends has stated that the umblela of shame will be removed soon.

If it happens or not, the cost will still be high. Go figure what cost!