Simeon Mpamugoh
The Serving Overseer, Rhema Deliverance Mission, South West Zone of Nigeria, Dr. Anenechukwu Nwachukwu has decried the militarisation, vote buying and manipulation of results that characterised the 2019 elections, saying that it did not inspire confidence in the democratic trajectory of the country.
Many public commentators are of the view that the general election did not inspire confidence in our democratic trajectory. What do you think?
The election was characterised by a lot of rigging, militarisation and intimidations. Nigerians trooped out en masse during the presidential and National Assembly elections, and exercised their franchise, even though some people were disenfranchised. But I can tell you that the outcome fall short of people’s expectation. And if you watched, between the presidential and governorship elections, you would discover that there was a serious voter apathy in the governorship and the state Assembly elections because the first election did not reflect the will of the people, so people were discouraged from going for the second election. Notwithstanding, this is the worse election ever conducted in Nigeria. Talking about military in our elections and the danger it portends for our democracy, I want to say that the military we know is a very professional organisation. But the kind of things we witnessed during the elections didn’t portray the body well because I have never seen where they use the military to conduct elections. In these elections, Nigerians would agree with me that the military didn’t behave well.
Were you disappointed in the way the election turned out?
Eighty percent of Nigerians were disappointed at the outcome of the poll because the results did not portray the exact will of the electorate. For instance, in Anambra State, the number of results we witnessed in the state is what you see in a local government election in other states. How can Anambra over 2,000 voted in the presidential election in Anambra, while Kano was having more than 1 million voters? We heard results of other states like Yobe where there is communal crisis having similar figure. And Borno, where Boko Haram doesn’t allow people to vote in the same rating. It looks belittling. These anomalies should be looked into because it leaves much to be desired. We need to look at these places where there are problems with a view to addressing them.
What do you think about Atiku’s challenge of the election at the tribunal?
Atiku going to court is not a bad move. He wants to clear his conscience so that the world would see the level of our judiciary system. And at the same time test the credibility of the judges. It is said that the court is the last hope of the common man and justice delayed is justice denied. So, Atiku Abubakar is in court to prove a point, and I think he did the right thing than bickering, and perhaps declaring himself the president. In the past, nothing substantially good came out of the court based on past records except in some few cases. Yet we still believe we have some credible men in the bench. So, let’s test the credibility and integrity of the judges with Atiku going to court. We know that this ‘war,’ of court started last year before the election with the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Walter Onnoghen, who was said to have been allegedly removed because government was already aware that the election would end up in court.
Barely two weeks to the presidential election, the CJN was removed with an acting CJN in the person of Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed sworn in, and electoral tribunal inaugurated under one week. All these raised suspicion. And looking at it, it seemed government was acting a script. Let me take you back to the decisions of the National Assembly in 2018 concerning the election. There was a bill that was sent to the president for assent; the electoral amendment bill 2018, which would see to it that the results from the polling booths were transmitted directly to INEC collation centres. But the president refused to sign it into Act of parliament. Also contained in the bill is that military are not permitted to be part of any election. But Buhari vetoed it. Yet we are preaching integrity. In law, it is said: ‘He who seeks equity must come with clean hands.’ Our president stoutly refused to sign the electoral bill into law, and the Senate kicked, saying that the president was not sincere. And if Buhari is ‘Mr. Integrity,’ and the electoral bill was signed into law, there wouldn’t have been anything like inconclusive elections because the results of the election would have been moved straight to INEC collation centres. And there wouldn’t be anything like a candidate ‘rushing’ to the collation centre to influence INEC Returning Officer to declare him a winner or manipulate figures. There wouldn’t be results by duress. The announcement of winners and losers would have been known electronically from the polling unites to INEC collating centres. And our votes would have counted.
Why shouldn’t we do something right?
In which part of the world have you seen this kind of thing we are seeing in Nigeria; where soldiers were shooting people who have come to exercise their civic responsibility? Have you ever seen anywhere where someone was bragging before the president of a country on a campaign podium, singing war song that ‘we are for war? Is election war? The president was there when Rotimi Amaechi was doing that with microphone in Port Harcourt that ‘Election Day was the D-day, and if you say, you are a man come out.’ The president should have taken the microphone and called him to order.
One thing I know is that Igbo proverbs say; ‘anybody holding what belongs to a child with his hands high up, when his hand becomes heavy, he bring it down. ‘I’m not a patron of any politician or governor, but one thing I know is that Nyesom Wike has done creditably well as a governor. I have been to Port Harcourt. I don’t know him personally but what I saw is that he is an exceptional governor.