There were two possible sources of the bribes given to the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 10 December 2016 Elections in the Rivers State. One possible source was the Rivers State Government governed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Another is the Rivers State branch of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which expectedly would receive both moral and material help from the APC-controlled Federal Government, a government which has not hidden its ambition to govern one or some of the principal oil-producing states of Nigeria. The war of words between the incumbent Rivers State Governor, Dr. Nyesom Wike, and his predecessor and now Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, reflected that the contest was for the highest stakes, that no quarters are going to be given, and that no prisoners would be taken.
The election lived up to expectations and ended in chaos. There were murders, including two police officers. There was fracas, ballot boxes were snatched. All this happened in spite of 25,000 specially briefed police men and thousands of soldiers and four other security outfits. An unwilling INEC was dragged to conduct the election kicking and shouting. When the smoke cleared, the commission said nothing because it had said everything before the election, by refusing to schedule it.
On 22 December 2016, however, the Inspector General of Police constituted a 15-member special joint investigation panel to investigate electoral and other offences committed during the election. A panel of 12 Police officers and three officials of the Department of State Services submitted its report earlier this week. It was chaired by Mr. Damian Okoro, a deputy commissioner of police, who told his bosses and the press that the panel recovered N111.3 million from 23 INEC officials in the Rivers State. The money was part of a total of N360 million given to the electoral umpires by Governor Wike. Three senior electoral officers collected N20 million each while 23 officials were each bribed with N15 million.
The dramatic exhibition of N111.3 million cash at Police Headquarters, Abuja and the visual impact of so much cash laid out on a table for all to see through the media would leave some lasting impression on many Nigerians. It might help to keep the issue in the public domain for a while before the issue dies in the typical Nigerian fashion. Nigerians are gifted in burying scandals and making high crimes disappear in a population that seems to have short memory and the most forgiving spirit in the world, a weakness Nigeria’s public officials have exploited since independence.
Nearly three days after the panel’s report, the INEC whose 23 officials received the bribes are saying it has not officially received the report of the crimes of its officials. The nation is watching with bated breath because thousands of electoral crimes have been committed in the past but none has been prosecuted which is why those crimes seem to occur all the time.
The very fact of receiving bribes to tip an election is probably the most heinous crime in a democratic dispensation since it is a fundamental attack on democracy itself. Its effect is akin to a coup, since it alters the will or the choice of the people. In a place like the United States, punishment for such an offence would probably attract up to 25 years imprisonment.
The leader of the panel DCP Okoro noted that “By this investigation, this panel has diligently unraveled what went wrong with the re-run election in Rivers, the details of which are contained in the report. We discovered that failure of leadership and followership rather than law enforcement was responsible for the political upheaval in the state.”
Lawless elements attacked the political opponents of their sponsors and political violence was incited by inflammatory statements by politicians, he said. “Apart from their utterances, politicians in their desperation for power also armed thugs who unleashed terror on their opponents,” he said.
The Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris said the money recovered would be paid into government treasury. He promised to dispatch a copy of the report to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice saying that appropriate action will be taken against indicted persons. He remarked that Governor Wike had refused to cooperate with the panel even when the team visited him in Port Harcourt. “We will be failing in this country if we allow this to continue,” IG Idris said.
Well, the hardest part of this crime is what to do now that the panel corroborates the INEC officials that the bribes were given to them by the governor of Rivers State, an official who enjoys unlimited immunity. The governor has been at war with the Police and other security agencies for several months and he has flatly rejected the report and denied bribing INEC officials. Lawyers say he, like other governors, deputy governors, president and vice president, is untouchable by law, no matter what he does.
The absurdity of the immunity provisions in the 1999 Constitution is making the country look ridiculous, a poor joke. It is a scam and an insult on the generality of Nigerians. If governors can steal elections and invoke immunity, loot the treasury and invoke immunity, commit sundry acts of nepotism and corruption under immunity, where then is the rule of law and where then is the equality before the law?
The Nigerian democratic experiment is foundering; it is teetering on the brink. After 20 months of the Buhari administration’s war on corruption it is simply incredible that what happened in Rivers State could be contemplated. It demonstrates that the nation has been wasting its time and that President Buhari has been laboring in vain. If 23 officials of INEC could all accept these bribes, is that not an admission that the system has entirely collapsed? Is it not time to look for a new foundation, having seen there is no hope in the present structure? Can a cash and carry election be considered democratic?