I take it for granted that the most discussed Nigerian today is Professor Maurice Iwu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). There certainly should be no problem with that. After all, men of history, of which Iwu is one, usually make the headlines in their time and age.

However, there is a problem in the case of Iwu. The man is making the headlines for the wrong reasons. He is being discussed largely because a lot of people have to failed to appreciate or understand the historic accomplishment that the man has recorded through the 2007 general elections. In other words, Iwu deserves commendation, not condemnation.

And I daresay that those who are criticizing him are ignorant. They do not know that Iwu has, by making the transition from one democratically elected government to another possible, established himself as an agent of stability. This is a milestone which Nigerians will, sooner or later, come to appreciate. But it is painful when a man who has staked so much to ensure political stability and maturation for his people becomes a subject of infantile criticisms.

Today, many people are criticizing Iwu without knowing why they are doing so. They just joined the bandwagon of the ignorant majority who have been brainwashed into believing that Iwu did not handle the 2007 elections well. This is the problem you encounter when you are dealing with a rabble that has no mind of its own.

However, this growing ignorance cannot be allowed to assume a life of its own. People need to be made to understand that were it not for Iwu’s patriotism and commitment to the survival of Nigeria, we probably will, by now, be singing a requiem for Nigeria. To achieve success at the elections, Iwu fought on all fronts.

First, he had to deal with the ambitions of a seating president who wanted to succeed himself. The self-perpetuation gambit of former president Olusegun Obasanjo was a big challenge to an umpire appointed by the same ambitious president. But Iwu weathered the storm because he was not afraid of Obasanjo. While Obasanjo plotted against the election, Iwu went ahead with his preparations for the elections. It was because Iwu defied Obasanjo and his antics that he was able to still hold the elections after the collapse of the tenure elongation gambit.

Second, Iwu had to deal with the machinations of those who did not want the elections to hold. Those were the people who mounted a negative publicity blitz against the elections. Those were elements who gave the impression that the elections would spell doom for Nigeria. The people in question went beyond these.

They created obstacles which INEC had difficulty surmounting. But because Iwu was determined, he shunned such negative forces and went on to hold the elections.
Significantly, the elections succeeded even though a few hitches were noticed. But those who are sincere to themselves know that the successes of the elections weigh far more than its pitfalls. But today, history is being manipulated. The achievements of Iwu are being made to look like a bad job. A man who rescued the country from impending chaos is being made to look bad in the eyes of the public. But Iwu’s patriotism will not let him give up. He is keeping hope alive.

He is still holding his head high while telling Nigerians that things are not what they are made to look like.
But those of us who are sober enough and who have taken a dispassionate look at the issues are sad that unpatriotic elements are trying to hijack the polity. We feel sad that an otherwise respectable body like the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has chosen to wear the garbs of partisanship. That is why it is calling for the removal of the INEC chairman.

Regrettably, the NLC does not have any reason for this except to argue, rather wrongly, that the cancellation of some of the election results by tribunals was an indication that all was not well with the elections conducted by Iwu. What an uncritical approach to an issue of public concern. If NLC were critical, it would have appreciated the fact that no election has been cancelled on account of irregularities. Rather, the bone of contention has been that occasioned by litigations largely arising from wrongful exclusion of certain candidates. INEC was really not to blame for this. At the time some of those candidates were excluded, they had cases to answer.

They were indicated by competent panels set up by government.
However, now that the courts have faulted the power of those panels to indict and that of INEC to exclude based on such indictments, INEC as a law-biding institution has obeyed. The commission is not complaining. That is why it has geared up immediately to conduct bye-elections in Kogi State, for instance.

Maybe the best way to appreciate Iwu and the job he has done is to leave our prejudices apart and listen to the man. If we do, we will see a lot of sense in the point he is making. Which is why I feel compelled to rehash and even quote aspects of an article written by a notable columnist and which was recently published in a national daily on Iwu’s INEC. It reads in part:

“If The 2007 elections, from Iwu’s remarks, was programmed to fail. The key players in the political arena, particularly those who held public offices, did not want the election to succeed. The Third Term agenda and the unusual feud that tore the Obasanjo-Atiku presidency apart were indications that the polity was ill-prepared for a smooth transition.

The situation was one that put INEC in a dilemma. What was the commission expected to do in all this especially as it was seen as an accomplice in the third term high drama? The commission was caught between preparing for elections and dealing with the possible outcome of a scheme that was programmed to make the elections, if they hold at all, a no event. In the face of this momentous distraction, Iwu is saying that electoral commission that was able to weather the storm, regardless of the imperfections that it may have faced, deserves commendation, not condemnation. Even where things were not what they were expected to be, Iwu blamed the situation largely on the people and the institutions of State.

His argument here is that the commission has no power to enforce its own rules. It “relied mainly on people’s ability to do the right thing and the willingness of the relevant authorities to enforce the rules. Even where there were cases of imperfections in the conduct of the elections, the commission lacked the legal authority to intervene with the results, as declared by any returning officer.”

Whatever these imperfections may be or whatever we may think about them, Iwu does not think that they detract from the real and recognizable outcome of the elections. And this outcome is that the country has survived the crisis of transition which many developing nations have not been able to manage successfully.

Iwu may have thumped his chest to no end while presenting the official report of the 2007 general elections. Many may not agree with the enthusiasm and confidence he displayed. But I think that we as a people lack the moral authority to fault him. Iwu may be working hard to explain the role the commission played in giving us the new governments that we have in place. But even if we did not play into Iwu’s hands, his position on the 2007 elections would, probably, not have changed. This is because, the man, from the very beginning, has been insisting that the elections were successful. Perhaps, he was right.

He must be right. He must have realized, before the rest of us knew what to do with the outcome of the elections, that what mattered was to give Nigerians an opportunity to install new governments across the land. Once this is achieved, every other thing melts into a second order position. Iwu and his INEC would then have failed if they did not conduct an election that would give us a new government.

They would have failed if the third term agenda that loomed large in the political horizon had distracted them to the point of not holding elections at all. Iwu would not have had the opportunity of beating his chest with relish if Nigerians had taken a position that is different from his by, probably, rising against and rejecting the elections.

But Nigerians embraced it, yet they expect Iwu to repudiate it. Iwu, for me, understands the power of conviction and consistency. That is why he has carried the day. Those condemning him over the 2007 elections should reexamine themselves. If they do, they will discover that Iwu and the rest of Nigerians are saying the same thing.” Need we say any more? I do not think so.

Uwandu writes from Abuja