Few days before the 2022 Qatar World Cup reached its climax at the memorable final match of the tournament, with two of the world’s most outstanding football players making sublime passes of the ball and igniting fitting soccer fireworks at Doha, President Muhammadu Buhari, made a critical passing of the ball in his own way, far away in the United States of America.
In Washington DC, where he was attending the US-Africa Summit, Buhari clearly told the world to hold the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) responsible for however the 2023 general election turns out, as he has given the election management body all that it required to deliver a credible, successful election. He also reiterated what he had earlier stated, that he has no intention whatsoever to meddle in the conduct of the elections. To be fair to him, he has not interfered in elections conducted around the country during his tenure as President.
By his declaration in the US on the 2023 elections in Nigeria, President Buhari deftly passed the ball to the court of the INEC.
Buhari is not known for playing to the gallery. On the contrary, he is known to be rigid, given more to saying it as it is and as he feels it, often devoid of diplomatic niceties. There is no basis to expect him to change at this stage in his life, having just turned 80 years of age and into the twilight of his presidency. If then he said openly that he has no intention to meddle in the electoral process and that he has given INEC all that the commission asked of him to successfully conduct a general election, there is hardly any basis to doubt him. The ball now is squarely in INEC’s court. But!
The Washington DC proclamation by President Buhari on the 2023 elections has a few profound interpretations beyond placing the ball squarely where it belongs – in INEC’s corner. First, the statement is a subtle but emphatic response to the persistent entreaty by certain tendencies in the camp of Senator Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the President to weigh in more robustly, to advance the Tinubu aspiration. The supplication, which smacks of desperation, is indeed ominous. It seems to be a call for Buhari to return to the old ways of doing things in Nigeria’s electoral process. If it is not, what exact wholesome role is a sitting President supposed play in the electoral process that Buhari is not playing? By mounting a global podium to vouch that he does not intend to interfere in the electoral process, and that INEC has no reason not to deliver a credible, free and fair election, Buhari’s message to all contenders in the 2023 race is simple and straight: leave me out of it. He obviously does not have any dog in the race.
Buhari’s commendable stance on the 2023 elections is in tandem with what seems like a personal adoption of “Redemption Song” as his personal anthem lately, a conscious effort to embrace a salutary disposition on various matters of state for a change. This is a clear departure from the befuddled policy gait of the last seven years that left an otherwise vibrant country prostrate. Did the President eventually wake up to the reality that neither he nor his country is in a good place? Or that his political associates and lieutenants have been exploiting him for their personal agenda?
It is not enough, however, for Buhari to drop the ball on INEC and walk away. Not that fast. The president still has work to do in ensuring a successful 2023 election. While his personal disposition has been laudable, there are critical requirements from his office as President and Commander-in-Chief, which are necessary for the environment of elections to be appropriately conducive.
Penultimate week in this very column, in the article, Democratically-elected tyrants, it was argued with facts that many state governors constitute present danger to democracy in general and the 2023 election in particular. Again, only last week, following on the same path, albeit expanding the scope of its focus, Yiaga Africa, the civil society organization that has become a prime force in the promotion of electoral democracy in Nigeria, issued its pre-2023 election report and talked extensively of issues of insecurity and executive impunity, especially acts by state governors.
These are critical issues with far-reaching implications on the electoral process. Incidentally, most of these issues are beyond what INEC can handle. The President simply has to weigh in. When state governors set out to stifle democracy through throwing their weight about to undercut the will of the people, the major means through their nuisance value prevail is in the use of state security, the police in particular.
It is the police that state governors use to frustrate opposition parties by refusing them permit for campaign rallies. It is the police and the Department of Security Services personnel that state governors use to hound opposition candidates and party leaders.
Interestingly, as the Central Bank of Nigeria moved through its new policy on cash withdrawal to limit raw cash available to politicians during the period of campaigns and elections, the governors have been reported to seek audience with the President to thwart the policy. These are the areas where the President should stand with INEC and every other agency of the state to create a wholesome environment for good elections.
Unless insecurity is contained, INEC and whatever its good preparations may be will find itself highly incapacitated. The act of burning down INEC facilitates, which has become almost a dark fad among criminals across the country, but more so in the South East, needs to be focused on by security agencies. Except for the recent case in Owerri where a few of the criminals were arrested and some killed, the impression that has been created over time is that these elements are spirits that cannot be apprehended. In any case, is it beyond the police and the DSS all over the country to rise to the challenge of safeguarding INEC offices in the 774 local government areas, knowing that these have become target of enemies of democracy?
The gradual escalation of political killings as the elections draw near should also be of interest to the President and his security commanders. The cry by the national chairman of the Labour Party recently that the party’s candidates and leaders are no longer safe, should trigger off an alarm. The party has had its woman leader assassinated in Kaduna State. Then the party’s state assembly candidate was assassinated in Imo State just last week. The same last week, the youth leader of the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidates campaign team was assassinated in Rivers State.
Beyond managing its technical and manpower resources while strictly adhering to the rules and regulations guiding the electoral process, INEC and its leadership lack the troops and the capacity to rein in terror in the electoral environment. This is where the President, having passed the ball to the election management body, should ensure that the field of play is secure for fair play. Worrying signs are creeping in on the way to the 2023 elections.