Here, There and Everywhere
“I WAS EXTREMELY SHOCKED, WHEN MY FRIEND PROCLAIMED THAT, HE REGRETTED VOTING FOR PRESIDENT BUHARI, MORE THAN HE REGRETTED THAT TERRIBLE ACCIDENT, THAT ALMOST COST HIM HIS LIFE/LEG!”
My Friend’s Accident
As usual, I was discussing with a friend of mine – this time, about the upcoming 2019 elections, and the chances of the various Presidential candidates. My friend had been involved in a terrible road accident, some years ago, so serious that he had lain in a coma for about one month. The road to recovery, had been a long and excruciatingly painful one. I will not even go into the conversation about the useless medical facilities that we have in Nigeria, never mind Section 17(3)(d) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)(the Constitution), which provides for the goal of adequate medical and health facilities for all Nigerians. What a joke! God saved my friend. In their usual fashion, some of the Doctors he had encountered outside Lagos where the accident occurred, without any reliable diagnosis or prognosis, were immediately calling for a blood transfusion and operation, just to be able to make some money! In his terrible condition, the patient was still lucid enough to refuse, and insist on being brought to Lagos, before he was evacuated by air ambulance to London.
In London, he received treatment for six months. He was lucky that they didn’t cut off his leg, right from the thigh. After three months as an inpatient in the hospital, and another three months as an outpatient, painful physiotherapy, having to learn how to walk again, he returned to Nigeria walking with the aid of crutches, which he finally dropped sometime after.
Shocking Regret
I was extremely shocked, when my friend proclaimed that, he regretted voting for President Buhari, more than he regretted that terrible accident, that almost cost him his life/leg!
Why such negative strong feelings, I asked. “Because everything that could possibly go wrong in this country, has gone wrong”, he responded. I thought about his response, and I had to agree with him, to a large extent. Even many of our institutions are failing by the day.
Ikeja Disco: Bad Behaviour
Last week, one of my colleagues in the office who resides in Ikorodu, was lamenting to us rather bitterly, about the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company. He said even though he has a pre-paid meter, that is, a pay-as-you-go electricity supply, his power supply and that of the other neighbours living on the same street, was cut off, because his neighbour who lives opposite him and has a post paid meter, had not paid his electricity bill. Who does that? Not in a civilised country anyway. How can service delivery institutions, be allowed to oppress the very citizens they are meant to be serving, in such an unfair manner, and get away with it? Even if this was the type of thing that obtained in the past, we are supposed to be in an era of ‘change’! Is this the social justice promised us in Section 17(2) (b) of the Constitution?
‘Shine Our Eyes’!
We are preparing for the 2019 elections. With all that has occurred thus far, we Nigerians need to ‘shine our eyes’ (be very vigilant) every step of the way, to ensure that we vote in worthy candidates who have our interests at heart, as opposed to those that have only their own interests or the interests of their pockets or their tribes at heart. Candidates who when they assume office, will not appoint inefficient officials, and encourage them when they shamelessly use their offices to witch hunt political opponents and frame them with criminal offences, just to subdue them. We all know that for instance, the Nigeria Police these days, has been reduced to nothing more than being a glorified security outfit of the APC/Government, and is better at framing and witch hunting political opponents, than actually doing any policing, judging from the Global index which adjudged the Nigeria Police Force to be the worst in the world.
However, I am happy that, in Senator Adeleke’s case, President Buhari directed the Police to stand down, because the action of the Police points to APC trying to win the Osun State election by all means, fair or foul! In this case, foul. Another piece of evidence to show how fragile or failed our State, Nigeria, is – when the Police which has the constitutional duty to protect citizens, is used by the State to harass the same citizens. I am not saying that Senator Adeleke should not be held accountable, if he is found to have committed a crime. I’m just saying that, it seems all too convenient. After all, we have a sitting Senator, who is wanted for crimes relating to drug peddling and the like, in America. How come the Police are not interested in something so serious, even though it dents the image of our country in the eyes of the world, seeing as anything related to drug peddling and the like, is an abomination the world over?
Direct and Indirect Primaries
While in direct primaries, all registered members of the party directly cast their ballots for their representatives, in indirect primaries, the members elect people who then choose.
Even though Sections like 77(1) and 117(1) of the Constitution, provide for direct elections into elective offices, Section 87(2) of the Electoral Act 2010 (the EA) provides for direct and indirect primaries for the nomination of candidates by political parties. Section 87(3) of the EA enjoins those that adopt the direct primaries procedure, to “ensure that all aspirants are given equal opportunity of being voted for by the members of the party”. While the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) say they have chosen direct primaries, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have opted for direct primaries for their Presidential candidate (or shall I say direct primaries for Presidential, in name only), and indirect primaries for candidates running for other offices.
I say Presidential direct primaries in name only, because, instead of giving all the Presidential hopefuls that were in the APC a level playing ground to run against President Buhari for the party ticket, most of his rivals seemed to have been frustrated out of APC to pursue their Presidential ambitions elsewhere, leaving President Buhari to have a practically uncontested primary in APC, on his own.
Section 87(4)(b) of the EA, provides for a slightly more convoluted procedure for the indirect primaries. Though, for example, there have been many criticisms about the one-man-one- vote system, which the Nigerian Bar Association has adopted since the 2016, the previous delegate system was jettisoned, because it was seen as a corrupt system. The indirect (delegate) system, is used in many parts of the world to elect their Heads of State, like USA, Germany, Italy, India, and Israel. For example, in USA, you have the popular vote (direct), and then the Electoral College (delegate/indirect), which has the final vote in the Presidential election. You will recall that in the 2016 election, Senator Hillary Clinton’s popular vote win was by the widest margin ever, though she lost to Donald Trump at the Electoral College.
Altruism?
As far as I’m concerned, there is nothing altruistic about the reason the APC has chosen the routes it has chosen, for its primaries. While it is obvious that since everyone has been cowed into submission in their party, it goes without saying that the President will have a landslide victory in the so-called direct primaries, that’s if there’s anyone left who is worth his salt, to contest against him.
For the governors, it is purely out of selfinterest, that the indirect primaries process has been chosen, especially for most of the ones that are not sure of victory (because of their under-performance, for one). In their case, it is easier for them to identify delegates and buy their votes, than to use the direct primaries system. For those in places like Imo State, for instance, where the office of governor and other public offices, have been turned into a family heirloom, a monarchy, where the governorship has become hereditary, the ‘Crown Prince’ will probably fall flat on his face, should he have to run in direct primaries, as the party seems to be factionalised in the State, on account of his being anointed successor.
Politicians, ruling Nigeria, is not a game of Ludo or Snakes and Ladders. It is about improving our country, for us, for our children and those to come. While in civilised countries, those who have under-performed, hide their shame by fading into obscurity, so that the public can forget their failures, in Nigeria, they want to perpetuate their incompetence and mediocrity, also choosing lack lustre successors who are as visionless as themselves, to further make an already bad situation worse, and finally destroy the country.
The behaviour of our leaders, is bordering on what we Yorubas call “ase ju” (overdoing it); and as the saying goes, “ase ju, ase te”, that is, overdoing it, results in disgrace! Hopefully, this will be the fate of all that have been making a mockery of our democracy, and messing up the lives of millions of Nigerians.
P.S. I was amused when I watched an interview programme, Osun Decides, on Friday evening. The interviewer, Gimba Umar, asked his guest whether he thought there would be vote buying in the Osun State gubernatorial election, which took place on Saturday. Earlier that afternoon, someone had sent me a video clip of the Social Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate, Iyiola Omisore, giving out ankara fabric and N3,000 each to women, with the Police and other law enforcement agents, assisting and looking on!