INEC: Why the silence over Zakari’s acting position?
THE recent squabble between Governor Adams Oshiomole
and ex-governor Sylva in the Bayelsa APC primary which
was cancelled and rescheduled has vividly made clear to
even the most undiscerning, the dangers of structural
capture in deciding electoral victory in present electoral
process.
Sylva’s alleged capture of the Bayelsa APC election
accreditation/nomination process brought to the fore the
important question of ; why electoral opponents should feel
secure if elections will be conducted under INEC, by a woman
who is known to be a relative of the President.
That Governor Oshiomole, needed the services of the
Defence Headquarters, IGP and several top Security agencies
to leave Sylva’s electoral enclave, brings home the thorny
issue of, if electoral opponents including those within his
party, the APC are cornered by the President, under his
relative’s supervised election, where can such opponents
turn to?
Will they be rescued by the Department of State Security
(DSS), the National Security Adviser (NSA), or the Police?
Given the fragile political relations even amongst the ruling
party and other political parties, would it not be in the best
interest of the nation is prevent the possible disaster that
awaits us in the 2019 elections?
Apart from The Guardian, Vanguard, Punch and Tribune
newspapers that have written very strong editorials on this
matter, Civil rights advocates and election monitoring groups
have accepted, and willing to make excuses for, or condone
the appointment of an individual, confirmed to have grown up
in the same home as the president, as the chief Electoral
umpire?
Until this writer logged on toYoutube..
(inecchairrelationshipwithbuhari)that has gone viral now on
the internet, no one could believe that such a development is
possible in this country.
The less than ten minutes interview clip of Alhaji Tanko
Yakassai on Channelstv revealed that a relationship indeed
exists between Mr.President and Mrs. Amina Zakari. Since
this information was made public, it is sad to note that no
one has spoken up about Mrs. Zakari’s appointment as
acting INEC chairman.
So loud is the silence on the matter that one is tempted to
assume a spell has been cast on Nigerians. Or how else can
one describe this silence in the face of a situation that spells
doom for future elections in the country.
Several decades ago, Alexander Pope ago declared that
“political corruption is the worst beginning of all other forms
of corruption in a society”. The present scenario raises a
moral question: that a man who is a beneficiary of an
electoral process midwifed by a sitting president who
appointed an INEC chairman of the calibre of Prof.Attahiru
Jega and others totally out of the circle of his family, friends,
political party and even outside his geo-political zone of the
South-south that made it possible for Buhari to win the 2015
general election on the fourth attempt can allow this
illegality.
It is shocking that the same beneficiary could turn-around
after victory to now appoint a relative as “Acting chairman”
of INEC and worst still, unconstitutionally in total disregard to
the mandatory consultation with the Council of State and
more importantly the confirmation of such appointment by
the Senate.
What would have been the fate of the 2015 presidential
election if Chief Orubebe who is not related to President
Jonathan except that he is an ljaw from South south was
appointed INEC chairman ? Is Nigeria under a spell of some
sort ?
This is not only bad because it offers one party an
advantage, it is bad for all and wrought with dangers a multi-
party democracy. We recall prior to the 2015 elections when
there were speculations that ex-President Jonathan was
contemplating a replacement for Professor Jega, to replace
him with Professor Mimiko,there was intense anxiety, several
advertorials, TV programmes and radio discussions on why
Jega’s replacement was unacceptable, President Jonathan
had to speak on the matter both to national and international
media and the international community on the need for the
Electoral Commission to be Independent.
Without prevarications, it is difficult to see how INEC can
gain the confidence of political actors if the president a
participant in elections directly or indirectly as the leader of a
political party as the presiding officer of such elections. This
is the dilemma that INEC must live with as long as INEC has
Mrs.
Zakari as the Chairperson, because under her all elections
conducted by INEC will carry a taint of partisanship, an
egregious flaw for an independent Electoral management
body. Whether Nigerians are under a spell to accept this
arrangement, or sympathisers of the President are paid to
spin romantic spiels to make such arrangement look
acceptable, this arrangement is a disaster waiting to happen
for future elections in Nigeria.
Dr. Adewale Adebisi, a member of the Yoruba Study Group,
wrote from Ibadan, Oyo State.
and ex-governor Sylva in the Bayelsa APC primary which
was cancelled and rescheduled has vividly made clear to
even the most undiscerning, the dangers of structural
capture in deciding electoral victory in present electoral
process.
Sylva’s alleged capture of the Bayelsa APC election
accreditation/nomination process brought to the fore the
important question of ; why electoral opponents should feel
secure if elections will be conducted under INEC, by a woman
who is known to be a relative of the President.
That Governor Oshiomole, needed the services of the
Defence Headquarters, IGP and several top Security agencies
to leave Sylva’s electoral enclave, brings home the thorny
issue of, if electoral opponents including those within his
party, the APC are cornered by the President, under his
relative’s supervised election, where can such opponents
turn to?
Will they be rescued by the Department of State Security
(DSS), the National Security Adviser (NSA), or the Police?
Given the fragile political relations even amongst the ruling
party and other political parties, would it not be in the best
interest of the nation is prevent the possible disaster that
awaits us in the 2019 elections?
Apart from The Guardian, Vanguard, Punch and Tribune
newspapers that have written very strong editorials on this
matter, Civil rights advocates and election monitoring groups
have accepted, and willing to make excuses for, or condone
the appointment of an individual, confirmed to have grown up
in the same home as the president, as the chief Electoral
umpire?
Until this writer logged on toYoutube..
(inecchairrelationshipwithbuhari)that has gone viral now on
the internet, no one could believe that such a development is
possible in this country.
The less than ten minutes interview clip of Alhaji Tanko
Yakassai on Channelstv revealed that a relationship indeed
exists between Mr.President and Mrs. Amina Zakari. Since
this information was made public, it is sad to note that no
one has spoken up about Mrs. Zakari’s appointment as
acting INEC chairman.
So loud is the silence on the matter that one is tempted to
assume a spell has been cast on Nigerians. Or how else can
one describe this silence in the face of a situation that spells
doom for future elections in the country.
Several decades ago, Alexander Pope ago declared that
“political corruption is the worst beginning of all other forms
of corruption in a society”. The present scenario raises a
moral question: that a man who is a beneficiary of an
electoral process midwifed by a sitting president who
appointed an INEC chairman of the calibre of Prof.Attahiru
Jega and others totally out of the circle of his family, friends,
political party and even outside his geo-political zone of the
South-south that made it possible for Buhari to win the 2015
general election on the fourth attempt can allow this
illegality.
It is shocking that the same beneficiary could turn-around
after victory to now appoint a relative as “Acting chairman”
of INEC and worst still, unconstitutionally in total disregard to
the mandatory consultation with the Council of State and
more importantly the confirmation of such appointment by
the Senate.
What would have been the fate of the 2015 presidential
election if Chief Orubebe who is not related to President
Jonathan except that he is an ljaw from South south was
appointed INEC chairman ? Is Nigeria under a spell of some
sort ?
This is not only bad because it offers one party an
advantage, it is bad for all and wrought with dangers a multi-
party democracy. We recall prior to the 2015 elections when
there were speculations that ex-President Jonathan was
contemplating a replacement for Professor Jega, to replace
him with Professor Mimiko,there was intense anxiety, several
advertorials, TV programmes and radio discussions on why
Jega’s replacement was unacceptable, President Jonathan
had to speak on the matter both to national and international
media and the international community on the need for the
Electoral Commission to be Independent.
Without prevarications, it is difficult to see how INEC can
gain the confidence of political actors if the president a
participant in elections directly or indirectly as the leader of a
political party as the presiding officer of such elections. This
is the dilemma that INEC must live with as long as INEC has
Mrs.
Zakari as the Chairperson, because under her all elections
conducted by INEC will carry a taint of partisanship, an
egregious flaw for an independent Electoral management
body. Whether Nigerians are under a spell to accept this
arrangement, or sympathisers of the President are paid to
spin romantic spiels to make such arrangement look
acceptable, this arrangement is a disaster waiting to happen
for future elections in Nigeria.
Dr. Adewale Adebisi, a member of the Yoruba Study Group,
wrote from Ibadan, Oyo State.
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