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By Daniel Kanu
Prof Remi Sonaiya, renowned educationist and writer was Nigeria’s only female presidential candidate in the 2015 presidential election under the platform of the KOWA Party.
In this encounter with Sunday Sun, she speaks on the 2023 presidential election and failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a transparent, and credible election, the challenge before in-coming president-elect and the problem with Nigeria, among other crucial issues. Excerpt:
Let’s know your view on the presidential election held on February 25, the controversies it has generated, especially on the perceived inability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a credible and transparent election. What is your response to the development?
There is no gainsaying the fact that what we saw was an indictment on INEC and the majority of Nigerians are in agreement with that. Most of the reports from election observers, international and local, have adjudged the election as not free, not fair, not really up to the expected standard, especially, based on the promises made to us (Nigerians) by the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu. INEC’s conduct of the election was embarrassing, and disappointing.
So, what do you think should be done?
Well, people are already in court, they are already contesting the result, so that should be pursued because we will like to know the truth of the matter. Whatever, we are able to retrieve from the BVAS and so on, it will be good for us to know what really happened at each polling unit, how many people showed up, how did they vote etc. This is necessary because the numbers that have been given to us are being contested. So, what I would like to see is the pursuit of the truth. Let’s get to know the truth about what really happened with the election, it should not be swept under the carpet and the performance of INEC itself needs to be re-examined. Should INEC just say because we could not conduct election that was credible and fair then we should forget it at that, no. Somebody must be held accountable for that misconduct of an election that held so much hope and expectation for Nigeria and for which huge sums of money were expended. So, we should not just allow the issue to go that way. We should not just move on rather we need to interrogate all that happened.
Most Nigerians are not in support of INEC’s decision to reconfigure the BVAS as they are of the view that evidence pertaining to the controversial presidential election result can be tampered with. What is your take on this?
I am not a specialist in the BVAS technology, I am not an IT expert either, but let them tell us what that configuration means. Some people are saying it could be used to conduct several elections without being re-configured. So, they should tell us what this re-configuration means, especially with the impression out there of INEC being suspect. Does it mean that the results of the conducted election (Presidential and National Assembly) have been uploaded to server so that the results are intact? What Nigerians are concerned about, I believe is the fact that we must be able to retrieve all the information on the BVAS for the election that has already been conducted. What INEC should tell us is that this reconfiguration that they want to do will not mean erasing the information that is in it or are they assuring us that the information has already been uploaded somewhere, where it is safe, where it will still be available for inspection. We should remember that the court has already granted the Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) permission to examine, to inspect the election materials. So, if the BVAS is part of the election document that they are going to look at, are they sure that the information in them may not have been tampered with? INEC at the moment, seem to have crisis of credibility and they must not continue to act in a way that will worsen its image or question its action the more. They must explain to Nigerians very clearly the implications, if any, of what the re-configuration is all about.
I know you must be aware of the upset recorded in the election where even some governors lost their senatorial election, some sitting senators, just like some of their counterparts at the House of Representatives also lost…?
(Cut’s in) It means that Nigerians are now wiser; they are getting better at determining the people that they want to represent them, or to conduct their affairs. For a long time we have had a dominant political class. You see the governors retiring in the Red Chamber (Senate) and all that, and the people are now saying or making a statement that this is not what they want. I can only hope that it gets better that we become more deliberate in choosing the people whom we want. Another reality of this election is the fact that people are not just voting one party in all the election. The voters are now voting for different individuals belonging to different political parties. They will vote for one party, for instance, for the presidency, and vote another for the Senate and another party for the House of Representatives. They are beginning to look more closely at individuals rather than voting blindly or bloc voting for political parties. I think that is a good development and maybe, what it will do is to lead us finally to having independent candidates. What it means is that voters are becoming more interested on individuals than just voting along party lines in bloc.
What is your agenda for or expectation from the incoming president?
The next president should set us on the right part. Personally, I will like us to institute a system that runs on merit because I think that is what will help us in the short-term because if we continue all this federal character, bringing one nominee or the other from different states as we have been doing before; it is not going to help us. Don’t forget that in this election, people have been talking more about the qualities that they want to see in our leaders: character, competence, capacity etc, and I think that, that is what we should do in all the appointments that are going to be made. Let us priorities the competence of the people, let’s bring in people who are knowledgeable in the areas in which we want them to serve us, so that we are not just putting incompetent people who do not know what to do, who are not up to date with the issues in the areas that they are supposed to be determining our affairs, and, of course, also people with character. All this stealing of money is enough. We are not lacking in qualified people, so I will expect a government that will priorities the qualities of the individuals that will be saddled with responsibilities.
Some political commentators have blamed Nigeria’s system, as the problem rather than the people managing it. That the leadership failure is as a result of bad political structure? Do you agree?
I am not sure it’s all about the system. I believe that the individuals matter greatly. I don’t see anywhere in our constitution that says people are allowed to steal, to be corrupt and get away with it. Even though, there may be flaws in our constitution, in our electoral law, we still need the right kind of people. You talk about the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. Bad people exploit the letter of the law because they are looking for loopholes, that is: if the law is not very clear or very specific on an issue they will exploit it to their advantage. It is a bad character that does that. But somebody who has a good character will not think of exploiting even loopholes. So, I think that the individuals, the kind we must be very intentional now should be those with character and capacity to deliver, not those with cases in court, people that have been charged with all kinds of crime. So many people who are running our affairs in this country are people with history of either criminal activity or whatever. Obviously, that is not helping us. Is it that we can’t find clean people among us? Definitely we can. We must look out for them, we need to change that system.
As things are today, do you have fears for Nigeria?
Not at all. I don’t have fears, I have hope for Nigeria (laughs). I believe that things will get better and indeed, I believe that God will help us. This whole period is going to come to an end, things will change, so, I am not fearful, I am hopeful for the future of Nigeria, why? Because I am praying for it and many others are also praying for the good of Nigeria and we believe that God will answer us. This too will pass.
