INEC’s Capacity To Hold Local Government Elections Doubtful – Bolaji Akinyemi – Independent Newspaper Nigeria
Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi is the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Project Victory Call Initiative, aka PVC Naija, as well as Convener, The Apostolic Roundtable (TAC). Dr. Akinyemi, a renowned Christian activist with great passion for good governance, in this interview with EJIKEME OMENAZU speaks on the ongoing nationwide protests against bad governance, among other issues. Excerpt.
What is your view on the August 1 to 10 planned nationwide protests against bad governance? Do you think it is necessary?
The protests were very necessary. If you go to the market to buy sweet potatoes and the seller packaged Irish potatoes for you and you get home to discover that what you paid for is not what was wrapped for you. Though, both are potatoes, but they are not the same. Won’t you go back in protest to exchange what you were given for what you ordered? Nigerians ordered Renewed Hope and this administration is delivering hopelessness. I need not talk about the failure of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the most important area of rating democratic governance, which is the ability to accommodate opposing views and manage protest. A bunch of truants flashing their report cards of failure of how they managed #EndSARS as a reason to dissuade the youth from excising their rights. So sad!
Why do you think the Presidency at first tried to link the ongoing nationwide protests to the door of Peter Obi and the Obidient Moment?
It is unfortunate that the Aso Rock Villa is occupied by debased politicians. Minds that cannot rise beyond the politics of tribe and religion. Men who live in excuses. Great mind usually will count the costs of winning in any contest and asked: is it worth it? We are presently being led by a man who had no better way to describe himself after his fall on democracy day other than, “As a proper Yoruba Boy!” What an insensitivity! Throwing this at the faces of people whose hearts are longing for a national leader who will lead them to nation building! How many Yoruba votes did he get? I hope the North has learnt their lesson. Does he know what that statement will do to the psyche of the Hausa man, the Fulani woman, the Ijaw boy who voted for him? These people lack the capacity to hold this country together. It was nothing more than tribal bigotry aiming for genocidal attack on a particular tribe. Show on clips where Obi made any statement to the effect. As for the Obidients, that identity is not recognised by the law of Nigeria, or is it?
Considering the challenges being faced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during federal and state election, would you say the agency has the capacity of holding the local government elections?
The capacity of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to hold a free, fair and credible election at any level is in doubt. The call for re-jigging of our electoral law is a welcome development, but the issue is more than that of an enabling law. I wrote about the failure to expect from Mr. Segun Agbaje’s conduct of Lagos State election and he did not disappoint me. Has INEC been able to produce Form EC8-A for Lagos State up till this moment? Beyond the law and the environment are the officials. Mandate trading through electoral malpractices is the biggest confrontation of our democracy. Electoral law reform must capture official offences. I will prescribe life imprisonment for electoral offenders.
What is your take on the court victory by the impeached Edo State Deputy Governor Philip Shuaibu was recently restored by the court. How do you see his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after his court victory?
A recent corruption index of the Nigeria public structure shows the Judiciary as the most corrupt in Nigeria. On that premise, no one should rejoice at pronouncements coming from the sepulchre of justice. The autonomy of the local governments is more of banditry of power raiding the judiciary to one’s advantage. If I am the Governor, it is good. When I become the President, it is bad. How gullible Nigerians hope to build hope on such a fluid foundation, I don’t know. Politics has given us what the law does not recognise in Edo, two Deputy Governors.
How do you think Edo PDP will fare in the coming governorship election bearing in mind that they are going into the election as a divided house with many of the former leaders having defected to the APC?
Internal division should be the least of their worries. Split the PDP in Edo into three, APC can equal a share. Moreover, elections are decided majorly by non-partisan voters. They are the ones to nail the fate of PDP. As for the defections, there is hunger in the land and politicians are not immune. Those crossovers are motivated by the search for food.
Would you say that the governorship candidate of Labour Party, Olumide Akpata, being a Bini, stands a chance to win the governorship election bearing in mind that the general opinion seems to favour the Esans where both the APC and PDP picked their candidates?
This is August, Akpata cannot be ruled out. Though a winning structure takes time to build, electoral victory is determined by the strategy your structure is deployed to and the communication sustaining and advancing it. However, he is not doing what can give him the day come September 21, 2024.
Looking at the way the Rivers crisis has reached, how do you see the recent vote of confidence given to Governor Fubara by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum?
Nothing is happening in River State order than politics. Shame on the PDP as a party! Most of these governors were with Wike when the transaction to sell the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a morsel of the nation called the FCT was on. Was their support for Wike based on money or principles? What their support for Fubara will translate to, only time can tell. Even governors in Nigeria are hungry and can be fed.
Do you think the Rivers crisis could be resolved by the courts or politically?
How will the court resolve a crisis between Wike and Fubara? Would the court disband Wike’s structure for Fubara? Or, is it going to impeach Fubara? When this fight is tiring, it will settle itself. But, both of them must remember the adage that ‘When brothers fight without caution, a stranger will inherit them’.
What role do you think Rivers stakeholders could play to resolve the crisis between Governor Fubara and Nyesom Wike?
Stand on principles. Say no to potage being served from both sides. Stand with the state and the people. They need to set up a political re-engineering of the state at the community level. Of course, Fubara will be needed for it to succeed. But, he must see the future and not himself, to be able to leave behind the legacy of an office that is free from political entanglement to serve the people better.
If bye-elections are held to fill the vacancies created by the defection of about 25 to 27 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers to the All Progressives Congress (APC), how do you think the outcome will likely be?
Under the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as constituted, it will be 100/100 the ideology that powers the shame of Local Government Area election is today, the spirit of leadership at the Villa. The gods before who all bowed before he became the Landlord of the Villa.
With the deepening crisis in Rivers State, one wonders how the local government elections will be. How do you think the council elections will go in the state?
The Local government election in River State won’t be anything less of a war. It will be fought fiercely. I can only wish the people well.
