Much Ado About Nothing

When the federal government of Nigeria declared a two free working days for Nigerians in readiness for the forthcoming governorship and Houses of Assemblies Saturday 14 April elections, there were a lot of arguments. In my office yesterday and today (CBN and I think, they said other Financial Institutions were exempted from the government order! the aruements trailing this can form a long discourse on its own), some people argued that the government order was because the Supreme Court will deliver a judgment on the Obasanjo-Atiku cum Atiku’s aspiration (to vie for the office of the presidency) fracas. The judgment was to be today, Thursday 12, 2007. They speculated that the judgment was likely going to be in favor of Atiku – thanks to democracy, thanks to our judiciary. So to truncate (at least for the time being), the judgment, they argued, the federal government declared Thursday and Friday a free working days. True to their argument, the judgment could not be delivered…

Many others argued that it is a calculated attempt to rig the election. Early this morning on KAAKAKI, an AIT program, a man that was being interviewed queried, why did he (president Obasanjo) not give free working days during the voters registration periods…My answer is: what if the idea just got into the head of the government political calculators!

For instance, refer to J’s Blog “Only in Nigeria” where “armed robbers” stole our ballot boxes and papers. What the... Imagine this happening now! What is one to think?A lot of people’s arguments centers around rigging in the forthcoming elections.

Yes, political rigging is not only peculiar to Nigeria alone; they are a prominent feature in the most celebrated democracies of USA, Canada, and India etc. Does it mean I am in support of rigging? I am saying let the status quo be? Far from it.

My point is: I see no reason why people should be talking about things they cannot voice out publicly, things they cannot write to the media for publication (for those having the means, things they will chiken out when asked to be interviewed, things, things...; or spreading news in a mischievous ways while trying to discredit some personalities in the political race. This is more so, when those stories spread does not have a recipe to “kill” the “much” anticipated rigging. Just like it is in other democracies, we know who the rigging machines are. Earlier I wrote that there are many "political machines" that are being put in place to rig elections. They are the electoral bodies (the INEC in the case of Nigeria, including NEPA-PHCN), the Judiciary, the Police, Armies, the financial institutions, hoodlums, composing a great part of the youth – of course government likes and in some case sustains the existence of hoodlums – I know the list is countless. It is far more worst if the government is at the centre of the whole rigging process. Government, the world over, uses every possible means to rig election. In reality, electoral “armed robbers” are the rigging machines of the government. While I may be wrong here, I doubt if I am really far from the truth. For instance, I remember in the 2003 general election for local government Chairmanship: Elections were rounded up as early as 6.00 am Nigerian time in my local government!

Rigging or no rigging, we know that, on the one hand, a lot of people would be disappointed in this 2007 general election. On the other hand, we should thank God that the government, (unlike in countries like Zimbabwe etc what the government says, good or bad stands) only use ‘tactical” means to suppress the governed.

While this should not be a cause for complacency, I support opposition parties to streaming their stand to challenge the incumbent. I also support the opposition parties to “constructively” challenge the government after elections so as to make our democracy beneficial to the generality of Nigerians. The existence of a relatively free press, combined with a history of self – criticism – in journalism are promising indications of the awareness and public debate required for change and adaptive response to Nigeria’s political, social and economic problems. We in Nigeria should learn how to take advantage of change. This is because, when criticism is intense, illocal and bogus, it may leads to the postponement of election. If it happens, nobody benefits but the incumbent.