Those conversant with the novels of Chinua Achebe, especially the early ones, will agree with me that political corruption is one of the themes portrayed in his 1966 classic, A Man of the People. Paradoxically, 56 years after the publication of this great work set in post-independent Nigeria, the country, which was envisaged to be the leader of black people, the world over and the giant of Africa, is still enmeshed in political corruption of the highest order, as manifested by the recent highly monetized primaries of the two leading political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In the novel, the narrator lamented that “We complained about our country’s lack of dynamism and abdication of the leadership to which it was entitled in the continent, or so we thought. We listened to whispers of scandalous deals in high places—sometimes involving sums of money that I for one didn’t believe existed in the country.” No doubt, the foregoing lines apparently capture the mood of the political situation in the country today, where there is abysmal failure of leadership and where corruption has become a way of life of a privileged few who have access to public till because of their political connections.
Although this article is not about Achebe’s A Man of the People, I deploy it to bring to the fore the extent of political corruption in the country right from a few years after independence till now. Although the work in reference was written over five decades ago, it is still relevant in keeping abreast with our current socio-political reality, with a view to charting the best way forward. Apart from the dollarization of the aforesaid party primaries, the recent ‘see and buy’ or vote buying that characterized the June 18 Ekiti State gubernatorial poll is a serious issue to worry about. While the APC saw the outcome of the election as a victory for democracy where the peoples’ votes counted, the opposition parties, especially the SPD, didn’t see it that way. To them, the victory was bought with money. And if the votes were really bought as alleged, it is a blight to our nascent democracy, it is indeed a setback to having a fair, free and credible election in the country.
This is why I don’t really believe that the APC government is ready to bequeath to the nation a culture of credible and enduring democracy where the wishes of the people must be respected and their votes made to count if what happened in Ekiti poll is anything to go by. While APC leaders and members were saying that the outcome of the Ekiti poll showed that Nigerians had accepted the APC. I think it should be the opposite based on the thinking of opposition in Ekiti. Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari has over time vowed to leave a legacy of credible poll in the country before quitting the big stage when his successor will be inaugurated on May 29, 2023.
I am for a Nigeria where the votes of the electorate must count, be made to count and seen to have been counted. I want a Nigeria where the electoral umpire is allowed to conduct elections without undue interference from the party in power. If the votes of the people do not count, our democracy is imperiled already and our nascent democracy will crumble.
If the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is allowed to be truly independent in the conduct of our elections, especially the July 16 gubernatorial election in Osun State and the 2023 elections, it will largely enrich and deepen our growing democracy. In recent times, INEC has promised to ensure that all eligible Nigerians are registered for the 2023 polls. The electoral umpire has extended the continuous voter registration to go beyond the June 30 deadline to register all eligible Nigerian voters.
The surging crowds at the various registration centres across the country might have necessitated the extension of the voter registration period. The other day, the chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, told the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWAS) and the Sahel that the electoral umpire will conduct a credible general election in 2023. While admitting that conducting in Nigeria is a daunting task due to the size of the country, Yakubu assured the special representative of UNOWAS, Mahmat Saleh Annadif that: “Nigerians will determine who they want in the 2023 general election and we will uphold the choice made by Nigerians.” This is a promise made not only to the UNOWAS representative, but to all Nigerians and members of the international community. What INEC chairman told the envoy is like a vow, which must be kept come rain, come shine. Yakubu must not fail the surging crowds, especially the youths, at the various registration centres, the market women, and ordinary Nigerians who would like to speak with their votes during the 2023 elections.
It was perhaps the reported vote buying in Ekiti State poll that made the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Samuella Isope, to advise Nigerians against selling their votes. According to the envoy, doing so will mortgage their future and encourage bad governance. Beyond this, there are many impediments to conducting a free, fair and credible poll that INEC must guard against if it really wants the votes of Nigerians to count. While the enthusiasm shown by many Nigerians over the continuous voter registration exercise is desirable and encouraging, it will not be used as an alibi to register under-age voters or register non-Nigerians as eligible voters. Another likely impediment to the election is the growing monetization of the electoral process through unbridled vote buying and vote selling and the weaponization of poverty by the political class through vote buying. The growing see and buy culture, in which the voter shows evidence of voting for party AYX before been rewarded ought to be discouraged. If it is possible, voters will not be allowed to go to the voting cubicle with their mobile phones to prevent the snapping of the party he/she voted for before being rewarded by the buyer agent, usually women and some men in some instances. Where were the police personnel and other security agents on election duty when vote buyers and sellers were having a field day during Ekiti poll? Vote buying is not restricted to Ekiti State alone. It has featured prominently in Edo, Anambra and some other off-season polls across the country. Voter inducement in any guise whether by distribution of indomie, spaghetti or paints of rice or garri and small sachets of salt or wrapper cloth must be discouraged.
The electoral umpire must ensure that politicians do not bribe their officials, both regular and ad hoc staff, to influence the outcome of the polls. The last but not the least point is for INEC to make sure that all registered voters are given their PVCs early enough before the polls, especially those, whose PVCs are ready. It shouldn’t wait till October this year, as it promised, to commence the distribution of the PVCs.
All those campaigning for their political idols must go out and get their PVCs, so that they can go out in the field during the election and vote for their candidate of choice. That is the only way they can concretize their vision and aspiration and goal for their preferred candidate. The 2023 election is so important to the destiny of the country that everything must be done to get it right. Without killing political corruption, especially the corruption of the electoral process, the dream or promise of having a credible election in 2023 and even beyond will be a ruse.