Festus Okoye
Incumbent office holders in this country continue to commit acts of impunity because they believe that Nigerians “love life” and will not engage in protests that last for a long time, National Coordinator of the Independent Election Monitoring Group (IEMG) Barrister Festus Okoye said in Abuja yesterday. He spoke at the 11th Daily Trust Annual Dialogue where he was a guest speaker.
Other reasons why incumbent rulers persist in their acts of impunity, Okoye said, is their belief that some regional and international laws and conventions will not allow any unconstitutional takeover of government. They also believe that their control of large warchests places them at an advantage to prosecute electoral warfare. He however said, “The truth is that nobody knows the character and dimension of the crisis that may erupt in Nigeria if we continue to take democracy and democratic practices for granted. Nobody knows where he or she may be when a major conflagration erupts.”
Barrister Okoye said Nigerian incumbents deploy means foul and unfair to remain in power, win re-election or install a stooge or crony partly because they fear of prosecution after office. “Some of them are enmeshed in high level corruption, abuse of office, assassinations and money laundering and fear that they may head to prison from government house unless they wrap themselves with some form of power or immunity.” He said many of them also fear life after power and that they also fear becoming politically irrelevant and playing second fiddles to those that worshipped and bowed before them.” He said “the biggest challenge in securing democracy beyond 2015 is the fact that some incumbent office holders assume that we can have democracy without democrats and elections without the electorate.”
Okoye said anytime a major election is coming up, some people see it as a distractive ritual that must be performed to satisfy the provisions of the law and the constitution. He said others simply disengage from the process on grounds that no matter what they do and how they prepare, their votes will not count while still others look towards it with fear and trepidation “because in Nigeria, preparation for election is akin to preparation for war.”
He said election time is also an opportunity for desperate politicians to channel arms, ammunition and drugs to gangs to intimidate and chase away voters from polling stations. Okoye regretted that “the process and preparation for re-election starts immediately after elections. Some of them take hold of the levers of power immediately. At the national level the finances of the government are captured and husbanded. The federal media and other organs of propaganda are captured. The security apparatuses are primed to respond to the political stimuli of the incumbent. Some institutions of public integrity are perverted to haunt down perceived opponents and enemies.”
At the state level, he said “the funds of the State are captured and husbanded. The funds of the Local Governments are captured. The State Independent Electoral Commissions are rendered impotent and programmed to return predetermined verdicts in Local Government Elections. The state media are also turned into the megaphone of the state governments.” He warned incumbents not to persist in the belief that no matter the level of impunity they commit, democracy will continue to grow and thrive in Nigeria beyond 2015.
The IEMG leader also said the absence of choice in the electoral process, the use of underhand tactics to undermine the popular will, the subversion of the mandate of the people and the refusal to grant a level playing field for all contestants in an election is antithetical to the essence of democratic elections. He said many people pass judgement on whether an election is free, fair and transparent by what happens on election day, leaving behind many processes leading up to the day. He said “Election Day can run smoothly yet the election was not free and fair.” He cited the ECOWAS check list for free elections which said “Where opposition politicians are muzzled using the power of incumbency, the atmosphere for credible and transparent elections has been subverted... Where state funds are applied and appropriated for individual partisan purposes, the level playing ground for credible and transparent elections is absent. Where the law enforcement agencies are primed to harass and intimidate political opponents, the stage for credible and transparent elections is absent.”
Barrister Okoye said there is nothing wrong with being an incumbent as it is a position derived and ascended to by virtue of constitutional and legal provisions. However, “The power of incumbency becomes a subject of controversy when the incumbent office holder uses the office as a shield to act outside the law and the Constitution.” he said “Impunity arises from a failure by States to meet their obligations to investigate violations; to take appropriate measures in respect of the perpetrators, particularly in the area of justice, by ensuring that those suspected of criminal responsibility are prosecuted, tried and duly punished.”
Okoye also said in securing democracy beyond 2015 Nigerians must deal decisively with the culture of impunity. “This must be multifaceted and involves establishing constitutional, legal and socio-cultural mechanisms to strengthen the legal and constitutional framework for elections and set the country on the path of the rule of law and due process. To this end, it is important to complete the unfinished business of electoral and constitutional reform through the unbundling of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the creation of structures and institutions that are independent, well-resourced and professional.”