How polls were held in the 70s – Prof. Shown

Professor Dakum Shown is a Second Republic politician and first Speaker of the Plateau and Nasarawa Houses of Assemby. The 72-year-old also served as the Chairman of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) and acting Director of the

Daily Trust: Can you recall some of electoral differences during the Second Republic and what we have today? From 1979, this country was torn into multi parties and there were dominant two: the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and others. The campaign then was very healthy and I stood for election in the Nigeria People’s Party (NPP). 80 per cent of the result was the choice of the people.

I will give you an example, I was a classroom teacher and people in our area asked that I represented them in the House of Assembly. But today, it is sad that it is what you have in your pocket that makes you what you are. At that time when you go for campaign, the people would bring out food to entertain you and wish you well. Some of them would leave their houses for two to three days to follow you for campaign; and it was very peaceful. Before I won election, I spent N500: N200 for posters and N300 for logistics. Nobody was thinking that you had to give them money.

In my constituency then (Pankshin South) there was no single government secondary school, but by the time we left, we had established two fully functional government secondary schools and the third was in progress. There was only one small clinic, but we built a cottage hospital that is still functioning. So at that time what was central was to work for the common people that laboured and stood by you; and it was the same with every political party.

DT: Was the electoral process any different from what we have today?

No, all you did was to go to the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) office and they will take your picture and give you a card. Then one month before the election, all the names would be displayed and you would go and check. If for any reason your name was omitted, you were to take the old card and they would correct it; it was a simple system. What Nigerians do not know is that before the Americans went into electronic voting, it took them 20 years to first of all educate the people. I feel the first thing we should have done was for everybody to get the National Identity (ID) card. You don’t wait till election to ask people to go and get their PVCs because elections are tied to so many emotions. The National Identity card requires that you go to your mai anguwa (ward head) to identify you, and it helps this country for one major reason: security. If I am caught in armed robbery and my identity card shows that my mai anguwa stood for me, they will trace where I am coming from. But we are copying the so called developed countries in a hurry.

DT: Did you have issues with ballot box snatching, thuggery and the new trend of vote buying?

No, there was no buying of votes, no snatching of boxes or thuggery, and in fact, there was no police presence around the polling booths; it was FEDECO officials. They were the only people you would see. It was only at the coalition centres that you might likely see a policeman. But what was very interesting and different was that once you were declared winner, everybody collapsed their parties and danced around you. At that time, Gongola State put in Great Nigeria People’s Party GNPP, NPP was in Plateau, Kano had PRP.

I remember we had no money to pay local governments and we the speakers met and agreed to go and meet President Shagari. There was only one Christian, apart from me, from Rivers, and he happened to be in NPN. So Shagari told us, “I won’t see you, go and bring a Christian that is NPP or PRP. When we went the second time, Shagari listened to us for two hours and we all came back with cheques. So there was no accusation that the president was giving more to one political party. The country was put first, we had a clause that once you were elected a leader; you were for all.

DT: How did it all suddenly change; with the level of desperation and violence in Nigerian politics today?

Shown: Things went wrong because politics gradually became a place to make money. As a speaker, I was getting N17,000 and my back up car was a Volswagen. As speaker, there was no way I could spend weekend in Jos. I went to spend weekends with my people in the village, so it was like part-time business.

Then the military pushed us out, and by the return to democracy, everything changed, three things were introduced: religion, money and sectionalism. I think it was simply the lifestyle people were looking for. The military might have meant well in cleaning the country, but they missed a mark.

The first mistake was that the military, before they handed over, started constructing mansions for politicians that would be elected. Quarters were provided for the legislators, very expensive cars were provided for them and so comfort took over service. We are today paying dearly for it.

DT: How can Nigerians do away with the tension and apprehension that now characterise elections?

If we want to make this country work, we have to do away with the political parties and elect people based on merit, based on what we think they can do and people who have this country at heart. There is no political party, in a sense, in Nigeria because how can you move from one political party to another and back again. It is not done in any country. Let us do away with the political parties and then let’s adopt what we developed in the Centre for Democratic Studies and it worked; that is Option A4. Let the people lineup, count them, because as it is now, Nigerians have lost faith in the political machinery to get people elected, including the judiciary. The challenge we encountered when we came up with Option A4 was that the traditional leaders said they could not lineup because they didn’t want to be partisan, but they are the best people to lineup because they best know their people. They know who is a crook and who is honest, let them lineup behind them and let us do away with the political parties and let them evolve naturally like they did in America.

If you are a young man in Kano and you like commerce, you may think the best place is to be a Republican, and you can have someone in the same Kano who believes we are in government to look after the poor, then he can be a Democrat. If you use Option A4, you will find out in the next election that we will have only two political parties.

DT: What advice do you have for Nigerians who will vote?

At that time when you go for campaign, the people would bring out food to entertain you and wish you well. Some of them would leave their houses for two to three days to follow you for campaign; and it was very peaceful

If there is no Nigeria you will have no place to rule or vote, so let us remember to put this country first. Let us be peaceful, let nobody take another person’s life because the life of that Nigerian is bigger than you; whether a president, senator or governor. For the ordinary voter, vote your conscience, political party and religious affiliation are not the answer, but who will correct this country for us to have a government that we may not enjoy now but next generations will. So it is a time for people to think. We dearly need good and God-fearing leaders.