Nigeria’s Electoral Woes

Nigeria has learnt nothing from its long and chequered train of electoral woes. Nigeria has a very unusually queer habit of ignoring its historical antecedents and facing the future blindly having learnt nothing from her past mistakes.
The first major crises that nearly tore Western Nigeria into shreds with spillover effects to other parts of Nigeria was resultant from a mismanaged election. In fact apart from the 1993 Federal elections, Nigeria has not conducted any credible, free and fair elections. But instead of etching his name in letters of gold in the annals of Nigeria’s history, the then Head of State General Ibrahim Badamosi Babaginda cancelled the most successful and the most popular election in Africa and passed on the winner, Chief M.K.O Abiola to Gen. Sani Abacha to arrest, incarcerate and waste. General Babangida’s reason for cancelling the election then was that many of his top army Generals did not support the Presidency of Chief M.K.O Abiola. What rubbish, what nonsense.
Elections all over the world are always contested with so much gusto and enthusiasm. Let us use this example from the United States of America and even our neighbouring Ghana to show Nigeria the way forward. The American Presidential Election of November 7, 1876 is still till date one of the most disputed elections in American history especially in the States of Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida and Oregon. All over America, the Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden won by more than a million popular votes but this was overturned by the Electoral Board (which was controlled by the Republican Party) in favour of R. B Hayes. The 1876 Presidential election dispute gave rise to a crisis, the like of which the United States had never seen. Many Democrats who felt that they had been cheated threatened “Tilden or war”. Congressman Henry Watterson from Kentucky even declared that an army of 100, 000 men was prepared to storm Washington if “Tilden was denied the Presidency.”
Since the American Constitution then was not explicit enough on how to resolve disputes from Electoral colleges, the Senate and the House of Reps voted to establish a Federal Electoral Commission Bill to tackle the existing crisis. And on January 29, 1877, President UIysses S. Grant signed the Electoral commission bill into law. The 15 members of the commission were made up of five Democrats, five Republicans and five Supreme Court Judges. None was appointed by the President.
Despite great opposition from the Democrat-controlled House of the Representatives, the new Electoral Commission voting on party lines (eight Republicans, seven democrats) awarded all 20 disputed electoral votes to the Republican candidate and thus R. B Hayes was sworn in as America’s 19t and most disputed President on March 5,1877. Most bitter democrats later referred to Rutherford B. Hayes as “Rutherfraud” “His fraudulence” and “His Accidency”. An extensive incursion into the American example is to demonstrate man’s ingenuity and ability to conquer his environment and solve his problems as pronounced by God Almighty.
But by far the greatest electoral frauds and manipulations occur more rampantly in African countries. There is really no African country that has not tasted of this bitter pill of electoral violence and crises at one time or the other in its history. Togo, Uganda, Rwanda, Benin, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and the most guilty apart from Nigeria. On the other hand also, there are only few countries in the world without electoral violence and crises. But most of these countries have overcome their electoral crises by either constitutional amendments’ or electoral bills, Americans solved the 1876 debacle by amending their constitution in just four days because it was an emergency. In Africa, Ghana and South Africa have had the best record of credible elections for some time now.
The Electoral Commission of Ghana is the official body responsible for all public elections in Ghana. It was established by the Electoral Commission Act of 1993. The seven founding members including its Chairman, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan are all still serving their 16 year on the commission. The members are not political appointees neither are they appointed by the Ghanaian President. Their independence is guaranteed by the Ghana Constitution of 1992.
Dr. Afari-Gyan who was invited last week by the Nigerian Democratic Institute and the Nigerian National Assembly to educate them on the way out of Nigeria’s permanent Electoral logjams advised managements of electoral bodies in Africa to “imbibe” transparency and openness to ensure true democracy in Africa.” He chided African politicians for taking elections as a do-or-die affair and that this desperate quest for power at all cost has placed the Electoral Commission in Africa in a difficult position before, during and after the conduct of elections.
He also encouraged and appealed to Civil Society Organisations or NonGovernmental Organisations to actively support and ally with the Electoral Bodies all over Africa. Ghana has a credible electoral body because Ghana has been able to reduce her tolerance level for corruption to zero, while Nigeria’s corruption level still stands at about 95 per cent. Nigeria encourages, pampers and rewards its corrupt officials while Ghana jails any official or even minister who is found guilty of corruption. Today, without mincing words or being sentimental Ghana, is Africa’s best model for democracy and strong democratic institutions.
By far the greatest area of difference between Nigeria and Ghana is the conduct and management of credible elections. While Ghana’s last two elections have been excellent, Nigeria’s last two elections are the worst in the annals of Nigeria’s electoral history, and in Africa as a whole. Nigeria has a litany of electoral woes and unsettled electoral petitions arising from the May 2007 elections.
Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State was lucky he got back two years of his stolen mandate. The Action Congress gubernatorial candidate for Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayerni is still challenging the incumbent governor before the Ado-Ekiti Election Petition Tribunal in the third year after the May 2007 election. Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State has accused the incumbent governor of a stolen mandate and has given enough evidence to declare him the new governor of Osun State.
Hopefully the court will decide that. We all still remember how the Ekiti re-run election was rigged in the glare of television cameras. Comrade Adams Oshiornhole was lucky too; he got his stolen mandate from the avaricious People’s Democratic Party.
Various efforts to reverse electoral mismanagement and fraud have proved abortive as President Umaru Musa Yar Adua has bluntly refused to implement the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee recommendations.
Nanaghan is editor’s guest

Ben Nanaghan