By Ifeanyi Omokwe
There
is an evil being perpetrated by men of power against
citizens in the 21-state and nine federal
constituencies of Rivers State, and Nigeria in
general. For the past six months, the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) has
engaged in a dangerous game of Russian roulette,
by denying the people of Rivers State their
constitutional right to have representatives to
advance their cause at both the state and
federal legislatures.
Within
the past six months, INEC has hinged its inability to
conduct rerun election to fill vacant legislative
seats on insecurity in Rivers State. It would
be recalled that since it held the first rerun
on March 19, 2016 the commission has continued
to dilly-dally, giving excuses as ridiculous
as they come, as to why holding elections in
Rivers State is untenable now. In one of its
press releases, the electoral body explained:
“Some of the State/Federal constituencies and
senatorial seats are inconclusive as a result
of reports of election cancellations and
elections not conducted for reasons of serious
violence in some units and registration
areas.”
One
can vouchsafe that those that accuse the commission of
pandering to certain interests in Abuja are
not far from the truth. If it were not so, how
can one reason that those behind violence in
Rivers State, if any, are more powerful than
federal might, that credible and fair elections
cannot be guaranteed? The Rivers’ experience
lends much credence to the fact that the INEC,
as presently constituted, is an evil conclave
that portends grave danger to democratic governance
in the country. It is now certainty that those
who fear losing out completely in the power
matrix in Rivers State and have some measure
of federal influence, because they are part of
the present regime, are not bothered if
millions of Rivers indigenes and Nigerians
that live in the state - make their living and
pay taxes both to the federal and state
governments - do not have representatives that
can represent their aspirations and help in
making good laws for growth and development of
the state.
Unfortunately,
INEC has allowed itself to become part of the unholy
alliance against a constitutional requirement
and globally acclaimed democratic norm:
representative democracy. It will not be far-fetched to note that the posturing of the electoral commission on the imaginary insecurity in Rivers State could be one of the reasons that the United States recently listed some states in Nigeria as dangerous and should be stayed clear of by Americans, except for very critical assignments. While the conclusion of the United States is not entirely true, especially as it pertains to Rivers State and most part of the country except for the insurgency ravaged North- east, institutions of state such as INEC fuel such assumptions when they fail to carry out their constitutional functions.
It is
a good thing the Federal Government came out to contradict
the Americans on that ground, which one finds
very interesting. If the Federal Government
has given an assurance of safety in majority
of the states, from where does the commission
get its report that holding election in Rivers
is untenable because of insecurity? The irony
of INEC’s claim is that the more it holds to this
untenable argument, the more conferences of
notable associations are held in the Garden City
(Port Harcourt), without the imaginary security
breach, which has become the singsong of the
commission. In the past few months, the
Nigerian Guild of Editors, Nigerian Bar
Association, judges and their likes have held their
annual conferences in Port Harcourt without
any major security breach. To continue to use
the insecurity angle as the excuse for denying
the people of Rivers of full complement of
legislative representation is an affront on
their citizens’ rights to have representatives
at the various assemblies.
Besides
that, this same INEC has held elections in Kogi State,
which is known for some notorious crimes. If
anything, Kogi has been constantly in the news
for high-profile banditry, kidnappings,
robberies and terrorism-related issues, yet
the INEC was able to conduct rerun elections
in the state. Come September 10, this excuse-giving
INEC would be holding elections in Edo State
even when newspapers have constantly reported
of deteriorating security situation in the
state. For example, doctors, nurses and some
segments of the public have had to protest
kidnapping of their members in Edo, yet this
would by no means stand in the way of the
commission to do what is right in the state.
All
of these pale into insignificance when the Bayelsa poll is
taken into cognisance. The evidence of how
militarised the governorship rerun election
was remains clear to all. According to
reports, the level of violence was not
orchestrated by the people, rather the security
forces working in consort with the INEC in a
bid to truncate the collective will of Bayelsans.
In a
way, the electoral body may have conspired to abort the will
of the Rivers people by continually insisting
on not holding an already overdue poll in the
21-state and nine federal constituencies. In
case the INEC has forgotten, it should be
reminded that Nigeria runs a representative
democracy. And this demands constituents to
elect officials who should decide on their
behalf. But not doing so is to deny the people
their legitimacy to hold the present government
accountable and ensure that their rights and
privileges as citizens of Nigeria are guaranteed.
It is also important to note that because of
the unacceptable alibi, Rivers people have
lost their ‘voice’ to engage with other parts of
Nigeria in reaching a consensus on matters of
federalism in a bid to move the country forward,
simply because INEC has proved incapable of
staying impartial.
The
Prof Mahmoud Yakubu-led INEC, which has displayed a stark
capacity for incompetence, still has an
opportunity to redeem its already- soiled
image by engaging robustly with security agencies,
in order to set a firm date for the completion
of election in Rivers State; so that the
people can indeed have full representation and
know they are part of a federal state.
If elections could be conducted in
insurgency- ravaged North-east in 2015, why can’t elections be held in a state that has barely a fraction of the insecurity challenges in other parts of the country?
• Omokwe is a staff of The
Gazetter Newspaper.
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