*Elections must hold, northern elders insist as INEC pledges not to postpone polls
*Reveals over 70% of non-sensitive materials deployed
*US government has full confidence in Nigeria’s electoral body, envoy declares
Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
Some eminent Nigerians and stakeholders in Nigeria’s electioneering process have unanimously declared that the presidential candidates in next month’s elections have only promised to solve the nation’s challenges without convincing Nigerians about how they would go about it
The eminent Nigerians spoke yesterday at the 20th Daily Trust Dialogue, with the theme, “Interrogating The 2023 Presidential Agenda,” held in Abuja.
The panelists included, the Emeritus Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan; Former Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika; Professor of Political Science, Jibrin Ibrahim; a lecturer at the Lagos Business School, Dr. Yetunde Anibaba; a Human Capacity Development Specialist, Dr. Eugene Enahoro and the Sarkin Karshi, Abuja, Alhaji Ismaila Mohammed.
The presidential candidates including, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party; Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress; Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party and Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party, could not attend the event physically, but they sent in a five -minute video recording each of what they wanted to achieve in their first 100 days in office.
They all pledged to tackle the problems of insecurity, economic crises, rising inflation, poverty, infrastructure decay, out of school children, inadequate funding of the education sector, disunity and poor access to quality and affordable healthcare if elected.
After careful observations of their submissions, the panelists admitted that the frontline presidential candidates had successfully identified the problems confronting Nigerians, but noted that none of them sufficiently convinced the electorate, how they would address them.
Awosika said, “All the candidates attempting to rule Nigeria have identified the problems confronting the country, but none explained the strategy they would adopt to solve them.
“Candidates should tell us what they would do with the available resources to solve the problems within their first 100 days in office.”
On his part, Ibrahim noted that all the candidates have genuine intentions, but wondered how they would realise their plans with the current political and economic structure which concentrates too much powers at the federal level.
He said, “We agree that they have genuine intentions but the current dysfunctional structure in the public sector was not designed to fight corruption and wastage and none of the candidate have not told us what they would do about it.
“Also the leadership structure of the political parties is made up of mostly party leaders whose interest is how to make money for themselves through patronage”
In his contribution, Enahoro noted that the National Assembly and other institutions currently in place if not restructured would easily frustrate any government from performing.
He said, “Candidates should tell us how they would restructure the polity in a way that would ensure an effective power devolution to all the federating units.”
Also, Anibaba said addressing the issue of structure by the candidates would take more time and expressed fears if any of them could achieve their objectives in their first 100 days in office.
In his submission, Onaiyekan, who was the Chairman of the occasion, wondered if the forthcoming election would bring about a meaningful change for the better for our Nigeria.
He said, “A relatively small group of professional political elite have been running the affairs of the Nation, mainly freely between two major political parties with no specific ideological identity but mainly structures for capturing power for rather selfish personal and group interests.
“If things are to change for the better, it cannot be business as usual. There is need for a drastic change of orientation, especially in the concept and practice of political power, characterised by politics as sincere and honest service of the common good, and not as ways and means of capturing power for self-interest.
“Such a change will come from two by no means mutually exclusive directions: A total change of heart by our professional political elite and a new group of concerned elite citizens ready to drive the new agenda of politics for service.
“They would also be ready to pay the cost of involvement. Will the forthcoming elections bring this about? That is the question to interrogate! Can we hope that the 2023 elections will not be “business as usual”, an attitude that has not been moving the nation any way forward?”
A former Minister of State for Defence, Mallam Lawal Batagarawa, however caused a stir at the event when he expressed doubts about the possibility of having a peaceful election based on the current insecurity and economic crises confronting the country.
Batagarawa said, “It will be a tragedy for Nigerians if the elections do not hold. The current cashless arrangement and fuel scarcity is a huge challenge.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria has refused to extend the deadline for the change of old naira notes to new ones. How do you want Nigerians to concentrate on election when they are having challenge with how to change their currency to new ones while the fuel situation is biting harder?”
However, the spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum, Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed warned that the north would resist any attempt to either stop the election or plan any unconstitutional means to put a new government in place after Buhari.
Baba-Ahmed said, ” Election must hold. From the way things are, it is not funny. Nigeria must have elections in February and March.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is not doing us a favour. It is his job to ensure that elections hold. Nigerians should insist that elections must hold.
“The president must ensure that there is security to enable INEC officials move their equipment and also to allow Nigerians to vote peacefully.
“The challenge now is for Nigerians to raise their voices. Buhari, the military and other security agencies must improve the security environment in such a manner and they must relieve the public of some of the stress they are living under.
“There is nothing to provoke them. You cannot have a credible election in a problematic and angry environment. Government cannot just sit back and watch these problems accumulating in a manner that it is threatening the conduct of the elections.”
Speaking further, he said: “It is not acceptable and Nigerians will not accept to live under any leadership unless it is democratically elected.
“We are advocating for anything that will reduce the stress of Nigerians relating to the exchange of money.
“You lead Nigerians, why don’t you listen to Nigerians, if your plans are inconsistent with what you have done. If there is enough new money people will not suffer. You want people to move from fuel queues to go and vote?”
“We will resist any attempt to jettison the constitutional means of changing the government.
“In case anybody is contemplating another means of changing the current government different from the current democratic arrangement that is ongoing in the country now. Anybody thinking of something else should stop.”
He stressed that there must be a credible election, such that a winner would be elected.
“Anybody who loses election has a choice. They will either go to court and challenge it or accept the outcome of the polls.
“We will not tolerate anybody who causes problems because he does not accept that he had contested and lost a contest in a democratic setting,” he said.
Meanwhile, INEC once more reassured Nigerians at the forum that it had perfected all arrangements to conduct free, fair and credible elections.
INEC National Commissioner in Charge of Voter Education and Enlightenment, Mr. Festus Okoye, who stated this at the event, said the commission does not have it in its agenda to either postpone or reschedule any of the forthcoming elections.
Okoye said, “When I was leaving the office, the Chairman of INEC (Professor Mahmood Yakubu) did not give me the mandate to speak, but I am going to speak and then inform him that I assumed the mandate to speak.
“The Commission is preparing and preparing very well for this election. Our mandate and our remit is to organise, undertake and supervise elections. And that is exactly what we are doing and what we are going to do,
“As of today, we have deployed over 70 per cent of the non-sensitive materials required for the conduct of this election.
“As of today, we have taken delivery of all the technological devices we are going to deploy for this particular election.
“We have also started training of the Corps members and other elections staff to be deployed for the conduct of this election.
“We recognise the fact that security is a huge challenge and a huge concern both to election workers, to the Nigerian people and also to the Commission.
“We are consulting almost on a daily basis now with the various security agencies in relation to the security of our staff, security of the Corps members that will be deployed for the elections and also the security of the voters.
“So we want to assure Nigerians that this Commission is committed to conducting free, fair, transparent, verifiable and inclusive elections and that the dates that we have fixed for these election remains fixed and firm and we are not going to depart from it,” he said.
The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, said the American Government has full confidence in INEC’s preparedness to conduct a free fair and credible elections in Nigeria.
She said, “I will start by expressing clearly my government’s view on the important elections that are our focus today:
“The United States supports transparent and credible elections, that reflect the will of the people, in a process that is conducted peacefully.
“The 2023 elections are a pivotal opportunity for Nigeria – Africa’s most populous country and its largest economy – to solidify its place as a democratic leader in Africa. We favor no candidate; we favor that open, transparent, and peaceful process.
“President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are personally committed to strengthening democracy in the United States and around the world. “At the invitation of the Nigerian government, the Biden Administration is advancing our longstanding partnership with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Nigerian civil society organizations.
“Through USAID, the US is providing nearly $45 million in elections-related support to Nigeria.
“The United States has full confidence in INEC and its ability to organise and conduct credible and transparent elections,” she said.
Furthermore, the envoy said: “We saw INEC’s capabilities on display during successfully concluded off-cycle elections in Ekiti and Osun, and we look forward to seeing that success extended nationwide during the February and March general elections.
“Our confidence stems in part from last year’s signing by President Buhari and other elected leaders of the Electoral Act of 2022. This key legislation strengthened Nigeria’s electoral system, for example, through the use of the -3-
“Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) for voter accreditation, and the electronic transmission of results. These are proven methods to improve transparency and drastically reduce the potential for vote tampering.
“As election day nears, we urge those political parties to adhere to their peace commitment and the September 2022 pledge.
“The candidates will soon have another opportunity to affirm their commitment to the democratic process, by signing the pre-election day peace accord, and accepting the results of the February 25 election.
“The United States stands firm with Nigerian voters’ demand and desire for complete transparency and electoral integrity.
“Individuals who undercut or undermine the democratic process in any way, including through intimidation and violence, may be found ineligible for visas to travel to the United States.
“We took steps in the past to impose US visa restrictions against anyone complicit in undermining the electoral process, and we will similarly deny or cancel visas for those who try to undermine the upcoming elections.
“Visa records are confidential, so we don’t announce the identities of those subject to visa sanctions. But I can tell you I am personally aware of people whose travel to the US was blocked on these grounds.
“We look to all Nigerians to speak out against the use of violence or inflammatory rhetoric.
“Politicians and candidates have every right to challenge their opponents’ stance on issues, but the use of inflammatory rhetoric and intimidation, and irresponsible incitements to violence, are extremely harmful to the country and to public faith in elections.
“It is also essential that candidates and their parties and supporters do not make brash predictions of victory or instantly claim fraud if they lose at the ballot box. Candidates and parties that seek to run for public office must accept one fundamental truth-that losing is always possible.
“If a candidate is not willing to accept the possibility that he or she might be defeated, then they should not be running for office in the first place.”
She added: “There is no true democratic election in which the outcome is foretold. In the US, for example, we have seen numerous contests in which a particular candidate seemed certain to win, based on popular opinion or pre-election polling data, only for the votes to prove otherwise.
“In many political races, voting outcomes are really tough to predict and the very unexpected happens on Election Day.
“Everyone needs to remember that the only polls that really matter are the ones INEC will count in late February and March.
“President Biden remarked at the December 2021 Summit for Democracy that democracy is hard and must be renewed at every step.
“As members of a global community for we are invested in supporting other democratic nations,” Leonard added.
The Chairman, Board of Directors, Media Trust Group, Malam Kabiru A. Yusuf, said this year’s Dialogue was special.
He said, “Five weeks from the 2023 general elections. It gives opportunity for some crystal gazing, for which I will seize a quick chance, before our panel of experts.
“First, are we going to have peaceful and credible elections? There are sober voices, warning, of flashing red lights ahead.
“The government and its security agencies must be aware, that in hundreds of towns and villages across the north- west and north-east of the country, banditry and kidnappings have made normal life impossible. It remains to be seen if people faced with such existential threats, can patiently queue to do their civic duty.
“In the south-east, violent agitation by IPOB, mostly directed against Police and INEC facilities and personnel, might put off whole communities from voting. This deliberate disenfranchisement will feed into the separatist agenda and become self-fulfilling prophecy.”
