Lessons learned
Ultimately, the big lessons from Osun are as follows: first, INEC is improving its ability to conduct elections. This can only be a good thing for Nigeria and Nigerians. I have no doubt that the coming elections in Adamawa state will be well conducted, although given the state of emergency in that state, whether the peace will be kept is another matter. What remains to be seen ahead of the 2015 General Elections, is whether INEC will be able to scale up to cover the entire country. The Nigerian Army for example, is made up of 130,000 men. A good number are currently tied down in the fight against Boko Haram in our country’s north-east, and 30,000 men were deployed by the Army to keep the peace in Osun. If we are to maintain that kind of presence in all states minus the SOE states, we will need 990,000 soldiers, a military strength that we simply do not have.
The second lesson we can draw from Osun is this – unnecessary hysterics by party members and their supporters can ruin a good thing. My heart goes out to INEC and their officials. I spoke with quite a few of them in Anambra state. I spoke with more of them this time around, and the impression I have come away with each time is that they, led by their boss, genuinely want to do a good job. Making all sorts of unprovable allegations before elections only serves to make them targets. Claiming that INEC officials were diverting election materials may actually prevent such materials from getting to their destinations, and like a domino, will mean that the same people who prevented the materials getting to their destinations, will turn around to berate INEC for not doing a good job. It makes life harder for everyone, it potentially turns the people against INEC and the innocent youth corps members that they use, and it soils what may have been otherwise peaceful elections. Think about it this way: no one in the APC bothered to deny a report which surfaced three days before the election that it was indeed Governor Aregbesola who invited the DSS into the state to provide security. To quote Thomas More, “qui tacet consentire videtur”, which can only mean it was true that the governor invited the security agencies in. Then why all the hysteria? Aren’t we all happy that no life was lost in Osun? If, by some happenstance Senator Omisore had won, we’d probably have seen various APC supporters take to social media to accuse the security agencies of colluding with the PDP, which on the evidence of last Saturday was clearly not the case.
The final lesson from Saturday is this: Nigerians are slowly becoming used to the concept of choosing their own leaders. It’s taken a long time coming, but it’s happening. We are fifteen years into our democratic experiment, and by the time of the next election cycle (we are already in the 2015 election cycle so it doesn’t count) we will have a generation of registered voters who have never lived under military rule. They will, I expect, have a better institutional understanding of what it is like to live under democratic rule, and they, and some of their successors will be able to make better and more informed choices about who should be their elected representatives.
That is the long game – and why our eyes must never leave the ball.
this is an article bimming with sentiments against the APC. Many party leaders were arrested and taken to unknown location on the morning of election. All faults laid at the feet of the APC. From this article ‘the good (inec and fg), the bad ( god knows who) and the ugly (apc and its supporters ). this is sentiments salted with few hurriedly verified facts.
Good job!But i’ll excuse you for your omission. excuse you because of your obvious inability to touch every part of the state.Even if most APC supporters cried wolf,DSS themselves have confirmed the arrest of Lai Momammed and two of his companion.Yes,the presence of DSS is not bad in itself but their modus Oprandi.Meanwhile,do u think mobile police can’t do what soldiers are called out to do?i think Nigeria Police should be encourage to build her capacity for electoral service.This is far better than inviting the military to participate in electoral process.
Good job!But i’ll excuse you for your omission.excuse you because of your obvious inability to touch every part of the state.Even if most APC supporters cried wolf,DSS themselves have confirmed the arrest of Lai Mommamed and two of his companion.Yes,the presence of DSS is not bad in itself but their modus Oprandi
YNaija © 2014
Good job!But i’ll excuse you for your omission.excuse you because of your obvious inability to touch every part of the state.Even if most APC supporters cried wolf,DSS themselves have confirmed the arrest of Lai Mommamed and two of his companion.
Youmoderation.
SAMMYAugust 14, 2014 12:22 amReply
Good job!But i’ll excuse you for your omission.excuse you because of your obvious inability to touch every part of the state.Even if most APC supporters cried wolf,DSS themselves have confirmed the arrest of
U’re just one Party reporter
I think you dwelled too long on APC hysteria and you could have gone ahead to fact check from Lai Mohammed, commissioners and Isiaka Adeleke on their experiences on the eve of the elections. Your opinion of using masked men in an election did not come in also. I know APC might have overblown it but it’s fact that their members were harassed and arrested. That’s not ideal in am election. Whatever you hear today is of how PDP has procured elections in the past.
What an interesting read. This read more like an interesting travel memoir than a political report. Like you have rightly noted, credible elctions will deepen democracy and Adamawa’s election will serve as another index given the part of the country it’s located. The unsustainable security presence is another source of concern as the general election approaches. Chxta is an excellent writer when he finds the time to do so, but as a full-time journalist now, I think we’ll enjoy the best of him. nice work.
Calm and concise….devoid of sentiment and sensationalism….I hope other journalists take a cue.
This was not a long read at all or maybe it’s cos @Chxta is such a good writer, he draws you in with very line. I appreciate unbiased reports such as this. On crying wolf, I have been saying this about APC and its supporters mainly on social media and egged on by the party leadership especially spokesperson Alh. Lai Mohammed. They need to quit with the unnecessary hysteria and crying wolf all the time! They need to realise that the electorate are finding their voice and becoming more independent. Election deciders are gradually becoming less about the party and more about the candidate. Field credible candidates with grassroots support and you are more or less likely to coast to victory. This noise-making by APC and its supporters, I have noticed, is gradually beginning to get on the nerves of the non-partisan folks and the undecided electorate. The party is gradually beginning to lose the groundswell of support it enjoyed when it was in the pre-merger stages. Kudos to President Jonathan and INEC for a free and fair election. Now we know that APC lost in Ekiti not because of “intimidation” by security officers but because of the candidate. How does intimidation by security personnel work when you are casting your vote? Do they put a gun to your head when you are thumb-printing? Nice one @Chxta, I enjoyed this piece thoroughly. First time in yonks I am commenting on a Ynaija or any political post online.
is dat rite.