Ekiti Crisis: An Insight to 2011
Elections.
My concern on the Ekiti re-run
election was the large scale
violence recorded during the
exercise. Guardian newspaper of
Sunday 26th April 2009
online version reported that; a
Senator was attacked with machete
and hospitalised, thugs harassed
journalists, poll observers
arrested, 25 people arrested by the
police, and all night shooting by
suspected thugs. Guardian newspapers
of Tuesday 28th April
2009 online version also reported
that four people who were shot have
had their arms and legs amputated.
Three policemen were shot at and
they are being hospitalised. These
events happened despite the reported
deployment of about 10,000 police
personnel by the police high command
Abuja.
Prior to this time tension was
really high and could be felt from
far and near. I knew there will be
serious violence the moment I
watched Segun Oni and Ayo Fayose
together on an AIT TV programme
(Focus Nigeria). The tone of their
debate could tell there is danger
waiting to happen. The degree of the
violence led to the postponement of
election in Oye-Ekiti area of the
state. Another reason was the
pressure of the exercise on the INEC
officials and the reported illness
of Mrs Adebayo (The Resident
Electoral commissioner). Therefore
INEC had no choice but to postpone
the re-run election in Oye-Ekiti.
My simple question is, if 10,000
police personnel drafted to Ekiti
State could not prevent or even stop
the violence recorded so far, then
what will happen in other re-run
elections to be conducted and 2011
general elections? Ekiti crisis is
simply an insight to what will
happen in 2011 elections. However,
applying the principle of collective
responsibility the President of the
country becomes responsible for
whatever happened in Ekiti State.
Another dangerous twist to the drama
in Ekiti re-run election came when
Mrs Adebayo (The Resident Electoral
commissioner) disappeared. The next
we heard was that she resigned her
position in her letter dated 28th
April 2009. Police declared her
wanted. The next day, she reappeared
and said that she was still a member
of INEC. However her reason for
initial resignation was that Ekiti
governorship re-run election did not
run on the right course. This is
simply the truth. Let it be known to
all Nigerians that the government is
not sincere about conducting a
credible election in the country.
The failure of INEC in Ekiti is the
failure of INEC through out the
country. The purported electoral
reform will be a sham.
Ex President Obasanjo who is still
the chairman PDP board of trustees
said that he is not aware of any
electoral reform being undertaken by
the Yar’Adua government. This
comment was reported by Thisday
newspapers of Saturday 2nd
May 2009 online version. For an ex
president to make this comment
confirms the fears of Nigerians that
Yar’Adua is not sincere. Ekiti
crisis is a second example.
The present system in Nigeria is a
recipe for disaster. The desperation
and do or die approach to election
in Nigeria is encouraged by our
system. Political aspirants involved
in these acts are obviously not the
servants of the people. They are not
leaders but looters. Desperation in
our politicians shows their greed
and the winner takes all mentality
When Ghana did all their elections
and several re-run elections, there
was no violence. South Africa had a
violent free presidential election
on the 22nd April 2009.
The only problem with the South
African election was that former
President Olusegun Obasanjo was
among the African Union election
observers that monitored the
election. I wondered what he was
observing when his government was
credited with conducting the worst
elections in Nigeria.
Each time I see or hear about
electoral violence in Nigeria, my
mind bleeds. How many more violence
or troubles do we need before we can
change our electoral system to
Option A4. I have preached the
message of Option A4 on different
occasions. I have also written a lot
about it. On a particular occasion I
wrote to the British Prime Minister
(Gordon Brown) about supporting the
re-introduction of Option A4 back in
Nigeria.
For Gods sake, we do not need Angels
to tell us that the solution to our
electoral problems is the
re-introduction of Option A4. This
is a tasted and trusted method.
Nigerian government tend not to
learn from the past otherwise I see
no reason why they should not go the
way of Option A4. As the philosopher
Soren Kierkegaard observed, “Life
can only be understood backwards,
but it must be lived forwards”.
There is nothing wrong to look back
to the benefits of this Option A4
system.
Not only its Option A4 system free,
fair, and violent free. It’s also
very economical. Can the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC)
or Prof Maurice Iwu tell Nigerians
how much the federal government has
spent conducting the yet to end 2007
elections. This Ekiti re-run
election is part of the 2007
elections and many more like it. Had
the option A4 been used, the nation
would have saved a lot of money,
time, energy, etc. The Option A4
electoral system provides a good
taste of popularity. You cannot win
if you’re not popular. Experiences
form 1992/93 elections is a good
example. It’s hard to believe that
our leaders do not learn from the
past.
The Ekiti experiences should be an
eye opener to Nigerians of what will
await them in the future elections.
Except there is Option A4 electoral
system, I doubt if some thing
meaningful will come out of 2011
elections. There is fire on the
mountain. The shady performance of
INEC in Ekiti re-run election
including the violence recorded so
far will surely destroy the voters’
confidence in the electoral process.
Finally Nigerians will hold this
government responsible for any
breakdown of law and order in Ekiti
State. May God Bless Nigeria.
Chinedu Vincent Akuta
An activist and leader of “Support
Option A4 Group” Leicester-UK
akutachinedu@yahoo.com
http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com/
