ASUU: Electoral malpractices and scapegoat syndrome

By Andrew A. Erakhrumen

It is commonplace, now, for some persons to publicly accuse the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of participating in compromising elections for politicians. This may be because of ignorance, misconception or outright mischief of searching for whom to hang for the offence of others. Indeed, we are ashamed to hear about some vices in universities that make them look more or less a mirror image of the warped society that they are compulsorily situated in. Nevertheless, this should not be blamed on ASUU as a body; even as we acknowledge the fact that members of this Union are humans that are not from any celestial realm. Yes, there are grim condemnable acts in these universities but it is wrong to tar all lecturers with the same brush. Doing this is unfair and wicked. Hence, any wrong narrative should be tackled before it takes a firm footing. To be sincere, as a finger-pointing society such as Nigeria, it should not be surprising that certain persons are now increasingly engaging in this thoughtless, erroneous, and sadistic claim that ASUU is involved in electoral malpractices or frauds that bring politicians to power.

This fallacy of hasty over-generalisation is unfair and must be unrelentingly corrected because it is clear to us, and we want others with clear mind to know, that this narrative is partly developed for ridiculous mud-slinging. Understandably but painfully, a large number of these persons are oppressed and frustrated; they are unable, and/or unwilling, to put blame where it really belongs. This is what we simply term, here, as “scapegoatism syndrome”. We will come back to this coined phrase later. As we said in the past, ASUU did issue a bulletin, in January, 2019, signed by its then-President, ’Biodun Ogunyemi, to inform the public that “…..In accordance with the ASUU’s longstanding position, ASUU as a Union will not participate in the conduct of 2019 general elections although, members may voluntarily participate in the conduct of the elections…..” Thenceforth, the Union has continuously distanced itself from all general and off-cycle election duties in Nigeria. For the purpose of reiteration, participations by professors and lecturers, from universities, in all these election duties are voluntary and devoid of ASUU’s endorsement!

Yet, what we have always noticed among (un)informed public commentators is that they only listen to themselves without listening to others. They visibly enjoy listening to their own baseless conjectures deliberately concocted to slight ASUU. This Union appears to be a problem to them. To refresh the reader’s mind, an interview granted by ASUU’s immediate past president – Emmanuel Osodeke – was published in The Punch of May 1, 2022. We will quote Osodeke copiously: “…..ASUU participated [in election duties] during the period of [Prof. Attahiru] Jega and since then, we have decided we are not participating as a Union in any election process because it is fraudulent. We requested that they should allow us participate in all the segments of the election, from the polling booth, to the collation to announcement. But they refused and so we withdrew as a Union. And in the last [2019] election, we were very clear, we announced openly that we are not participating in 2019 election, that any of our member who is going, is going as a person, not as an ASUU member which they are entitled to. So (in 2023), we are not going to tell our members anything. Anyone who wants to go is doing so on his [or her] own.”

In the interview partly quoted above, Osodeke further states that “…..when you are going, don’t wear anything that has ASUU [insignia], either its name or anything. You are going as a person; you are not going because you are a member of ASUU. During Jega (era), he asked us [ASUU] to nominate, which we did. Although, at the upper collation level, we were able to control it, at the polling booth where they do the rigging, we were not allowed access to it, so we left…..the Vice Chancellors who took part as Returning Officers have no influence but to announce results which have already been written.” For a sincere public analyst/commentator, is the information in the partly-quoted interview above really new?

As a law-abiding Union of intellectuals, ASUU will not engage in what will deny its members their legitimate rights. It cannot, and will not, confiscate the legitimate right of academics to use their private time. Any member of staff in Nigerian universities is free to participate in election duties as along as the name of, or anything relating to, ASUU is not brought into the mix or used during such activities. That is ASUU’s stand. All the same, what proportion of the total number of ad-hoc staff for these elections are lecturers? Minuscule! Sadly, this may be unbelievable or painful to some deliberately-made dysfunctional ears. Personally, we have never participated, and do not intend to participate, in election duties; this is a personal decision due to the current systemic lunacy but it does not mean that others should not contribute to the growth/development of Nigeria’s electoral system. We strongly agree that “good” people should be involved to enhance the chance of bettering the warped system since what an electoral system eventually churns out is a representative of what the people believe in or have been reduced to by their political elite.

The foregoing is a difficult twist to disentangle. Even so, we should continue to interrogate the Nigerian society for helpful insights on current realities. For instance, Nigeria is not bereft of laws. It has good laws and regulations guiding its electoral activities. Only that these laws and regulations are mostly observed in the breach by the political elite that appear to be above these laws; indiscipline and lawlessness are what guide the conducts of this class of Nigerians. Thus, we agree with those clamouring for these laws to be strictly enforced to the letter because the electoral process leading to the attainment of leadership positions is important in determining the type and quality of such leaders. Anyone found to be involved in crimes relating to elections should be brought to book. Unfortunately, most of those involved in these crimes are above the law. These are people that have captured the state. They have strategically impoverished the masses through their policies over the years. The people (masses) have been so suppressed that they now appear to no more see these “bandits” in government as their enemies anymore.

These stationary bandits – clad in starched, well-ironed high-priced attires, applying expensive colognes – have become solidly entrenched, so powerful and seemingly untouchable that the oppressed people have resorted to searching among themselves for those to be blamed for the suffering they are going through. Someone/group(s) must be made responsible by being scapegoated. This is a simple explanation of our coinage: “scapegoatism syndrome”. Noteworthily, this is not a formal medical or physiological diagnosis. It is annoying for someone who sold his/her vote during election to be blaming those involved in rigging; certainly, they are all together in the rottenness. Also, for us, it is untenable to explain electoral heist away by saying that riggings do occur mainly at the polling units. Why are riggings allowed at polling units? Cannot these riggings be checkmated? Or, is it the case of “it is good when I benefit but bad when I loose out”? The desperation for power in this captured state is alarming. When these election riggers loose, they also make senseless noise – accusing those collating the compromised results of malfeasance.

Accordingly, a people that allow their votes to be stolen at any stage of election should be ready to face the consequences of their sloppiness since electoral thieves can never deliver good products to the people. Hence, based on advocacy efforts at ensuring proper public information in this regard, as the remaining off-cycle and 2027 general elections are being expected for execution, it will sound extremely stupid to us, from now on, for anyone to accuse ASUU – as a body – of rigging elections for politicians. Those few “bad eggs” (if at all they are actually university professors or lecturers) are neither likely to be members of ASUU nor representing its ideal. We should all be vigilant because the hood does not make the monk. Henceforth, Nigerians should watch out, properly identify and call out individuals involved in election rigging. Count on us for support in the efforts at “naming and shaming” of any individual proven to be involved in this criminality. Come to think of it, is Nigeria stuck with political shenanigans? Are there no persons who can bail the country out? Are Nigerians enjoying the ongoing tragicomedy being performed by politicians? Do Nigerians know what they want and how to achieve them? Nigeria is a complex maze.

Here is where morality, as a controversial matter, comes in. We ask: is ASUU, as a body, the one recommending professors for the position of chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)? Is INEC truly independent? Should Nigerian academics participate in election duties within the contemporary reality and context wherein he/she is incapable of, or constrained from, preventing electoral malpractice(s) and frauds from occurring especially at the polling booth? Cannot they opt out of a potentially “unholy” relationship? Are there safety issues in opting out? Is it about the earnings associated with these duties? Are the earnings from these engagements worth the personal and collective integrity being tarnished? Can academics really be allowed to intervene at the point(s) where election malfeasance can be nipped in the bud? Who are the people tampering with election results in the country? What is/are the motivation(s) for this act? Who are the beneficiaries? Who are the losers? What are other moral/immoral issues? What is/are the role(s) of a people’s values? Sincere answers to these and similar other questions will provide vital illuminations regarding the society Nigerians have built for themselves.

•Prof. Erakhrumen currently teaches at the Department of Forest Resources and Wildlife Management, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria