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By Daniel Kanu
Eminent scholar, Prof Lai Olurode, was former dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos and former national commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The respected academic in this chat with Sunday Sun speaks on the just concluded presidential election, Nigeria’s greatest challenge and expectation from the next president, among others. Excerpt:
What is your position on the outcome of the presidential election, while some have called for its cancellation, there are those who say…?
(Cut’s in) You see, for me, the election has shown how sharply divided we are. An elementary knowledge of sociology or political science will tell you that most of Africans reflect intense diversity. There are countries in Europe too that are sharply divided around ethnic lines, Spain is there, France and America, etc. You remember Obama as the president of America and you saw the reactions to that. Nigeria is not yet 100 years old, it’s a nation in the making, and we are on the threshold of building a nation. Our democracy isn’t old yet. Our democracy came into being…the recent one in 1999 after years of military interference and unending transition. At this stage of our development, we shouldn’t expect complete perfection in our elections, no. The election that brought Donald Trump (former American President) and the election that sent him away were ridden with a lot of controversies. Elections are controversial, but my take is that, look, don’t throw away the baby with the bathwater because the consequences might be unpalatable. I am happy that some Yoruba leaders of thought are in support of Mr Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party; also some leaders of thought of Igbo origin are in support of the APC and its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. I have read things about them and seen many online. Anything that will take crisis in the country, anything that will create crisis and take life, election cannot be as important as the life of a country, we should learn to strike a compromise. If you ask me, let the elections be concluded, don’t let us go back to the M.K.O Abiola era when the 1993 election, which Abiola was voted by not just the Yoruba, not just the Igbo, but with votes across the country, including the Hausa/Fulani, including minority areas, he won hands down, but that election was truncated. And since then, Nigeria is yet to recover, so my advice is that INEC should be allowed to conclude the election. Of course, there will be individuals and groups that will be dissatisfied, our country is on the precipice and we shouldn’t let it roll over, we shouldn’t let it go under at all. That you and I are talking now is an indicator of peace, if there is no peace I won’t be able to answer your call if the country is at war and we won’t be having this conversation. We should so avoid that, you make mistake, you correct it and you continue, Nigeria will not stop working, so let’s manage this transition to a successful end. Taking the path of destruction will serve no one any good. Let INEC complete their job, some will be dissatisfied and that is why we have the courts. Governors have been unseated. There is no law that says that the judiciary cannot concede, remove an incumbent president. Those that have grievances let them collate their grievances and prepare the legal war in the court, let’s shift the issue to the courts. Don’t let us sort it out on the streets; it will be dastardly for us. We might not be able to recover from it.
Many of those with grievances are worried that they may not get justice from the judiciary. Their feeling is that the judiciary has been bought over and compromised, how do you look at that?
So what is the alternative? It still remains the best alternative despite the claim of it shortcomings. Let’s forget about our religion, I have been very frank with my interviews with you. My best friend who is now late is from Imo State, he trusted me so much that we had no secret among ourselves. We trusted each other so much to an extent that he confided in me so much, just as I trusted him without any doubt, he is not from my village, he is Igbo, I am Yoruba. He is not of my religion, but we were the best of friends. So, what I am driving at is that anything that will throw us apart, that we might see the beginning and not the end, we must run away from it. If this election is not concluded, if it is not well managed, we are at risk.
There are even threats and statements now by some individuals that those that did not vote for the APC, who are non-indigenes in Lagos, should start planning on how to leave the state…?
(Cut’s in) That’s nonsense, that is cheap talk. You see, what this election has communicated to me is that Nigeria’s constitution is a fraud. We need a new constitution, but you cannot do it now, we need a peaceful country to be able to do it, so that each region will now know that the next thing to do is how to amend that constitution. Look at the power concentration at the centre. Look at the election result being announced, everything from Abuja. It should not be so. Why can’t we announce the Eastern region result, say in Enugu or Nsukka? Why can’t we announce for the Northeast in Maiduguri, so that the centre will not be heated up? There is no need for this tension. Election is a civil exercise, why can’t we collate in Oyo for the Southwest? Why can’t we collate in Benin or Asaba in Delta for the South-south and in Kaduna for the Northwest, maybe Ilorin or Minna for the North-central? Why not? So that that tension will be transferred to the regional headquarters. Elections are like a life, they take a whole lot, you go through ordeal, suffering and in days the results are not released and it is as if the country is going to war. Why should we go through that?
I think the failed assurances by the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, that the BVAS will work in real-time aggravated the anger of voters…?
I am not holding brief for the INEC chairman, but you and I know that technology can fail any time. You just called my phone and before I could take my phone the line cut. You called not only ones and it has been cutting. It was me that called you back, that is the nature of technology. We are trying to run away from human discretion, we fell into the hands of technology and we still see that even with that it has not resolved our problem. Elections are about trust, but there is so much distrust in the country. Now that we have seen how sharply divided that we are, we can use this occasion as the major argument in favour of constitutional reform and devolution of power. That has been the challenge. Let a saint come to rule Nigeria, he’s going to be faced with the same challenge come the next four years when you are going to organise another election. The constitution is unworkable, the requirements are difficult to meet. Look at, for instance, the requirement for a president to emerge? You need to win 25 per cent in two-third of Nigeria states, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. It’s not easy, this is not a cheap election, it is a highly competitive election and once you have a competitive election your ability as combatants is not going to be easy to muster those requirements. But if you have, let’s say vice presidents in each of the region, among the six of them, let them elect somebody and let them rotate power, maybe within two years and it will be done turn by turn, all regions will feel carried along, there will be this sense of inclusiveness. I won’t like it if my group is denied access to power permanently. We must have a template and agree. I don’t think resolving the crisis through violence is the solution; we are not going to make progress through such path. It will be a terrible setback for Nigeria and we may unknowingly, indirectly inviting the military, which we don’t want. The military won’t solve any problem, they will leave us to our challenges and they will go away, they will just milk us further.
What do you expect the incoming president to do?
Let me be frank with you, I am proud to be a Nigerian. Anybody coming in must tackle the Nigerian constitution issue, it is not working, nobody is happy with that constitution, except maybe a few. It is not working to the satisfaction of the East, West or even for the North, when you are out of power for the next four years or eight, then you will begin your own agitation too. Whether Tinubu is in power from the Southwest or Obi from the Southeast, they will not stop agitating for a reform of the constitution. Even Atiku promised restructuring. They will not stop agitating for constitutional reform because these are issues that are evergreen in our minds, but we should not allow this election to be truncated so that we will not be in a big mess. There is the need for unity in the land. The next president must tackle the challenge of unifying Nigerians. Let the Nigerian nation, the Nigerian nationalism, let it triumph over this chaos and let us begin to now see what will be a lasting solution, it is the way forward.
