by Orji Uzor Kalu

There is no longer doubt about the fact that there are some persons who have vowed to destroy our democracy. They are ready to do anything to bring shame upon this country, its government and people. Should we allow them to succeed?These mischievous elements capitalize on every chance they get to perpetrate trouble and dislocate the peace of the nation.

If the purulent utterances by some of the candidates in the November 16 Anambra State Governorship election were anything to go by, then there is really a cause to fear for our democracy. The candidates of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) in a joint Press Conference condemned the conduct of the election, as well as its outcome, in its entirety. They alleged massive rigging, intimidation by security agents and manipulation by INEC, among other awry allegations. I meticulously listened to the actors and gladiators in the Anambra saga and concluded within myself that something urgent and drastic should be done to save our democracy from imminent peril. Almost every speaker expressed outrage at the general conduct of the governorship election.

Something like a corroboration of the allegations came from the Chairman of In-dependent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, himself when he openly acquiesced to the complicity of one of his officials in the botched election in Idemili Ward, believed to be the stronghold of one of the candidates. According to Jega, the corrupt INEC official had been handed over to the police for further interrogation.  I must confess that I have been downcast since the election held last Saturday. Initially, I was very upbeat that the election was not only going to be free and fair, but peaceful. In which case, the outcome would be acceptable to the majority of the competitors. Alas, when the chips were down all hopes evaporated!

I was particularly piqued by the allegation of collaboration by security agents. When will the use of security agents to do odd jobs at elections stop? And it seems it has been institutionalized. Lousy and morally debased politicians think they can use illegitimate means to win election, after others had genuinely worked to be elected!

The Anambra election has exposed the structural weaknesses in our electoral process. I had thought that by now INEC would have got it right in conducting elections after the nerve-wrecking experiences of the past when elections were, figuratively speaking, like a war. With the coming of Jega also came far-reaching changes in both the mechanisms and personnel for conducting elections. His appointment was greeted with wide endorsement by both the Nigerian and international communities, because of his antecedents. And he has not disappointed either, except for the excesses of some of his staff, which seemingly cast doubt on his competence. What happened in Anambra State last Saturday simply told a story about what is to come in 2015. If conducting one governorship election could pose such a problem, then what will happen when the whole nation is on parade? The governor-ship elections in Edo and Ondo States did not raise as much dust as that of Anambra State. Why? One may ask. The reason is simple: there was visible desperation on the part of some politicians in Anambra State to win at all costs. I still wonder why that should so after all the assurances and
reassurances from the relevant authorities.

There is a vital point many people seem to gloss over about Anambra State. Apart from being a hugely elitist state, it is also the home of eminent Nigerians, including Nigeria’s first Governo-General and Presi-dent of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe; one-time Secretary-General of Commonwealth Chief Emeka Anyaoku and foremost author Prof. Chinua Achebe. IT czar Philip Emeagwali and budding literary figure Chimamanda Adichie also come from the state. Does such a state not deserve some special attention whenever there is a national event?

I had expected the authorities to have plugged every loophole that was likely to cause a breach of the peace and bring the image of Nigeria to global embarrassment during the election. That is what the present situation amounts to. I was reading some articles online early this week and was amazed by the attention the elections in Anambra State had generated globally. Naturally, it should be so, for the reasons I had earlier adduced and those I could not mention. The truth is that Anambra State has always shown the way in the conduct of elections. In fact, its voters are among the most enlightened and unpredictable. They demonstrated this during the 1999 general elections when they voted for All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) contrary to the widely-held view that it was going to go PDP. They repeated this trend in 2010 when they returned the incumbent Peter Obi to Government House Amawbia.

I am very emotional about Anambra State. Probably, it was the same emotional liking that attracted me to take a wife from the state. In addition, I have lots of quality friends from the state, which makes it almost too difficult to severe my relationship with them. So, one can imagine the emotional trauma I and other concerned citizens had gone through since the sordid incident of last Saturday. My major worry is that un-less the situation is quickly addressed it has the capacity to dent the image of Nigeria globally and call to question any further effort to organize free and fair elections in Nigeria. Those who perpetrated confusion in last Saturday’s election should be made to face the full weight of the law, irrespective of their stature or position.

Time has come when we should be seen to be doing what is right to secure our national pride and move our nation forward. We cannot continue to pander to the egoistic whims of a few individuals who masquerade as democrats when in essence they are demons looking for whom to devour. I have written severally in this column about the need to strengthen our electoral process and shield it from wolves in sheep’s clothing. There is no longer doubt about the fact that there are some persons who have vowed to destroy our democracy. They are ready to do anything to bring shame upon this country, its government and people. Should we allow them to succeed? These mischievous elements capitalize on every chance they get to perpetrate trouble and dislocate the peace of the nation. I suspect that Anambra State has been infiltrated by these destructive forces which is why there has been much outcry since the election was held. What was the motive of the INEC official who deliberately sabotaged the process by ensuring that materials for the election did not get to the voting centres on time, particularly in Idemili, comprising a total of 65 wards? Who can confidently tell me that this ma is not an agent of the same people working against the establishment? Why has he not been paraded since his arrest, at least to serve as a deterrent to his co-conspirators? Who is shielding this man from the cameras? These are questions we need to address urgently.

This brings us to preparations for the election. Were they thoroughly articulated and tested and found to be foul-proof? Who was behind the unleashing of security agents on innocent voters, if it is eventually established there was collaboration by security agents? One name has kept reverberating in every nook and cranny of the state since the aftermath of November 16. Who is this man? Who is he working for? These questions also beg for answers, if we are to unravel the puzzle behind the Anambra imbroglio. I am not amused at all by the flagrant show of power by some politicians in the Anambra saga. From my own investigation, it seemed every politician in the state has his own style of providing security for himself, beyond the conventional arrangements. I learnt that many of them defied the no-movement order to foment trouble. Why were they not called to order? This is why I think our police system should be overhauled to attract the police more prestige.

There is nothing wrong with attaching security details to VIPs, but everything is wrong when they are not treated humanely. Nobody, no matter how highly placed, has the power to abuse security details assigned to him. These men and women are officer of the law who should be treated with some dignity and consideration. I also heard that too much money exchanged hands, and that a particular political party offered huge money to woo voters at some polling stations. If this allegation is eventually proved to be true, then 2015 is in jeopardy. From where did these people get the billions they spent on bribery, if not from corruption? Who will save this country from the evils of money politics? The time has come for the government to deal with this problem squarely if the sanctity of our electoral process can still be guaranteed. I am deeply worried about 2015. The whole world is watching. What is being done by the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the wicked predictions about this country did not come to pass? It seems everybody is comfortable with the way things are going, but I am not. I cannot forget in a hurry the bitter experience I went through in the hands of security forces when I vied for Senate in 2011. My community was at siege for almost three months. In fact, the entire community was flooded wit security personnel before, during and after the election, even to the point of blocking the gate to my house with an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC). It was that bad. It took a serious representation before I was allowed to go and cast my vote. I do not pray that such a thing should happen to any Nigerian vying for an elective office. So, I clearly understood what the candidates were saying when they claimed that voters were intimidated. It could have happened, because our politicians have the capacity to do callous and nasty things to win election.

There is no way we can attain global prominence without ensuring that our nation’s image is protected at home. And one of the ways of achieving this is by securing our electoral system from hawkish politicians and furthering the cause of democracy. Democratization is a global phenomenon and one of the parameters for measuring the success of a modern, egalitarian nation. A nation that cannot conduct free and fair elections is like a man who cannot run his home efficiently. Curiously, Nigeria is working very assiduously to assume the leadership of Africa internationally. Indeed it has already won a seat in the United Nations Security Council. Can it go beyond this level if it cannot boast of sound economy, functional electoral system, corruption-free social environment, eradication of extreme poverty, religious harmony, internal security, harmony among its peoples, etc? These are the major drivers of development. Despite all the criticisms of INEC about its role in the governorship election in Anambra State, I still believe Jega can get it right if he put his house in order. I am glad that all the critics that spoke on the election agreed that Jega, as a person, is a good man. Calling for his resignation is not necessary. Jega can only perform if we collectively work for the success of our electoral system. Jega does not operate in isolation of the environmental factors that influence the way things are done i our country. Jega is not the corrupt and mindless politicians who give bribe to turn things upside down for their own self-aggrandizement. Is Jega security agents who allowed themselves to be negatively influenced to do what was not proper, even against their conscience and the ethics of their profession? Let us face the fact: it is we Nigerians that make life difficult for ourselves. If we want free and fair elections, then we must begin now to imbibe a new attitude and dispose ourselves to change. We must do away with those negative tendencies that obstruct our vision and obsess our subconscious minds, causing us to behave abnormally. There is also an urgent need to empower our youth to save them from the wicked grips of politicians who use them as thugs to cause mayhem at elections. The truth is that an average Nigerian politician is too self-centred to think about others. Probably, this is why they pay for others to do dirty jobs for them, while ensconced in their settees, sipping coffee and choice wines. Change will come the day our youth refuse to do the devilish bid-dings of politicians and face their studies. It is the height of Satanism for any politician to expose other people’s children to danger, while his own children are safely studying abroad or at home playing games. Can’t our youth wear their thinking caps and do that which is right and proper for the furtherance of our democracy.

I believe government owes all of us a duty to promote free and fair elections at all times. We cannot continue to live the way we do at the moment and accept every situation as normal. It is high time we spoke up individually and collectively against the injustices in our land and the plots of the wicked to bring our nation to danger.

We have a date with destiny, and a duty, in 2015 to prove the whole world wrong by shunning violence, manipulation, brigand-age, and other acts capable of tarnishing the image of our nation. This call to duty is for all of us – politicians, voters and security agents. Let us work for the good of our country and for generations yet unborn, so that posterity may judge us right.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.