CHARLES OKOH
Prof Mahmood Yakubu, is easily the most important Nigerian living anywhere in the world today. He has in his hands a thankless job that is so volatile that it simply sends the occupants of the office to early retirement and a solitary life to be forgotten and loathed.
The reason that some of these otherwise gentlemen have been so treated may not be completely due to their inability to deliver when it mattered most, but most times because ours is a society of bad losers who believe that except the outcome of a contest is in one’s favour it is not a fair and acceptable contest, so whoever superintended over that exercise must be biased and crooked.
Again, history beckons and Nigerians will be going to the polls to elect some governors, legislators and principally elect the next president to navigate the ship of state on the right path to economic prosperity and development.
With an estimated population of 200 million and eligible voters of 95 million you will agree that the next election would qualify to be called the mother of all elections in the country.
In significance and awareness, the nearest to next year’s elections would be the unfortunate election of June 12, 1993 which was shamelessly annulled by the military junta of Ibrahim Babangida; the reasons being that the circumstances around that election are almost similar to what we currently experience.
For instance, the 1993 elections presented an opportunity for a democracy-starved nation to reset and chart a new trajectory out of what was clearly a railroad to economic and political doldrums.
Similarly, for many, next year’s election represents an opportunity for the country to fix the problem of leadership. Again, as in 1993 and now both sitting presidents are not on the ballot, so the pressure may not be too much on INEC. Again, Buhari, like Babangida, has vowed to bequeath a transparent, free and fair process as his parting gift to the nation.
In the Third Republic, there were only two political parties; the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC). The candidates in that election were African business mogul, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, better known as MKO Abiola, who was the SDP flag bearer; his opponent was Alhaji Bashir Tofa who was the standard bearer of the NRC and a business tycoon from Kano State.
Prof Humphrey Nwosu conducted the 12 June, 1993 election, which was seen as the freest and fairest election to date. Nwosu’s commission introduced the novel Option A4 voting system and the Open ballot system. The Option A4, open ballot system, the-larger-than-life image of Chief Abiola and the fact that Nigerians have been longing for a deserved break from the strangle-hold of the military, heightened tension and created so much awareness towards that election.
The two greatest casualties of the ill-fated 1993 elections, apart from Abiola who eventually lost his life in the struggle to reclaim his mandate, were General Babangida and Prof. Nwosu. The decision to annul the election by Babangida and the failure of Nwosu to disclose the outcome of the polls meant that they have continued to explain, albeit without success, the reason for the cancellation but still the spirit of that poll still haunts them till this day.
Fast forward to 2022, the eve of the 2023 elections and people are tensed up and everybody is waiting with bated breath pondering what the year has in store for the nation. This time there is a motley of political parties and at least four leading presidential candidates: Atiku Abubakar, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwakwanso. The increased awareness among the youths and new registrants remains unprecedented. Only the 1993 election came close to what we are experiencing now.
Again, this time, the two greatest players in the election of 2023 would be President Muhammadu Buhari and Prof Yakubu. Their responsibilities it is to supervise and ensure that the process is as transparent, free and fair and that the outcome of the elections meet with the expectations of the Nigerian electorate and the rest of the international community who are as interested in the polls as do Nigerians who are tired of the shenanigans called elections since the turn of the 4th republic. The 2022 Electoral Act signed by President Buhari, is a step in the right direction. The prayer now is that by the time the next elections come up in 2027, the nation will be ripe for electronic and diasporan votes. Why Not?
Soon after the election of the 2019, at a meeting with the INEC chairman to review the elections, I recall telling Prof. Yakubu that our electoral process then was rewarding electoral criminals who circumvented the system to scuttle the process. We had prayed then that going forward the elections should ensure that only the choice of the people should be declared the winners.
I also recall that at that meeting, Prof. Yakubu, jokingly asked when he would be considered to have passed the so-called litmus test, which according to him, is always put before him before every election.
Well, if Prof. Yakubu must know, the 2023 presidential election remains the mother of all Litmus Tests for him. And the reason for this is not far-fetched.
Two weeks ago, as part of its preparation for the all-important 2023 elections, the INEC chairman and his team were in Lagos to meet with stakeholders as well as hold sessions with its resident electoral commissioners on the commission’s preparation for next year.
Prof Yakubu’s brilliance and determination to meet the expectations of Nigerians were not in doubt. He allayed the fears of those present with his intelligent and convincing responses to questions thrown at him, and you can bet that there was a flurry of such probing questions.
For instance, on the tricky question if INEC will still store its electoral materials with the Central Bank given the dust raised by the reported or is it rumoured political exposure of Godwin Emefiele, Yakubu said CBN still remained the most secure, but was quick to add that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which is believed to the game changer, would remain with the commission and be delivered directly from its office to the polling centres.
Yakubu said the choice of CBN was informed by the fact that those sensitive materials cannot be stored in private places like warehouses whose owners may be politicians. He said the banks too cannot keep these materials given the volume and the fact that most banks are daily de-emphasising brick and mortar bank branches, therefore, are not present in lots of places.
He also called on all the political gladiators to rein in on their supporters to stop heating the polity to avoid bloodshed.
Clearly, the task before Buhari and Yukubu is herculean. But they also have the rare opportunity of writing their names in gold in the annals of the nation’s political history. Will they choose that path and be remembered as fathers of the nation’s democracy or will they give in to their selfish desires, like their predecessors, and spend the rest of their lives explaining why they failed to do the right thing when it was required of them? Only time will tell.
