Abuja: April 24, 2007

"Neither the spirit of Nigerians who went to the polls to cast their ballots nor the dedication of thousands of poll workers struggling to execute their responsibilities in polling stations throughout the country was matched by their leaders. These elections did not measure up to those observed by members of the IRI's international delegation in other countries, whether in Africa, Asia, Europe or the Western hemisphere" - The International Republican Institute (IRI) on Nigeria's April 2007 elections

Wherever he may be today, and the possibilities are limitless since God Almighty is the final arbiter in all our earthly affairs, the late Afrobeat icon, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, deserves a posthumous national award, not only for the sheer artistry and prophetic ring to his lyrics, but also for their befitting titles which captured not only the mood of the nation, but also the trend of events even today. But if Fela in those rosy days of the 70s appeared to some like a rebel without a cause, the same cannot be said of ordinary Nigerians at this moment and at this epic period in our history.

For that purpose, let me proceed by appealing to all readers who have kept faith with this column for some measure of understanding. It has never been my habit to write in anger, but if at all there is any venom in my choice of words today, it must be because of the mass hysteria and degree of helplessness in the land today on account of which I am actually pleased to make an exception.

I am embarrassed to call myself the citizen of a nation whose leaders lack the necessary credibility and decency to organise simple elections forty-seven years after our independence, I am ashamed and badly traumatised to belong to the era in which the people's ballots could be stolen with such brazen impunity and shameless audacity; I am horrified to be led by men who claim to be reformers but whose mind-sets and personal qualities actually belong to the stone age; I am deeply humiliated to belong to a country which ordinarily should be a leader and beacon of hope to all of Africa, but which sadly has become the subject of scorn and derision over the conduct of the same elections.

If most Nigerians, as well as the damning reports of the local and international election observer missions including that of the IRI are to be believed, the general elections concluded last weekend made even the 2003 polls pale in comparison with the massive rigging and widespread irregularities never experienced before in our history. Not only did election materials fail to arrive polling stations on time, in most instances, the elections never held at all but 'results' were declared all the same.

Reacting to the corrupt manipulation of votes over the weekend, even the normally modest and respected Archbishop Olubunmi Okogie declared that leadership in the country had gone to blazes and he couldn't have been more apt! Never in the history of this great nation have the various institutions of leadership been so wantonly desecrated, and I dare add that never have we had the misfortune of being led by a more twisted or dishonest president.

Yet, it wasn't as if Nigerians were actually taken by surprise this time around. Unless we delude ourselves, the tune for the unprecedented tragedy was set midway into the president's first term when some northern leaders somehow contrived to ensure that the same rogue elements got away with a virtual coup against the Nigerian state and its people in the name of the preservation of national unity and harmony.

Now, we are only left to mull over what could have been had we supported Ghali Umar Na'Abba and other progressive elements in the country to impeach the president over his serial attempts to corrupt the National Assembly; the perpetration of the electoral bill fraud, as well as the failure to implement the appropriation bills for several successive years in open and flagrant breach of the constitution.

Unfortunately, because we wallowed in such unpardonable docility, Obasanjo promptly rewarded us by superintending over the farce that passed for the 2003 elections; Nigeria's version of the Night of the Long Knives during which the PDP, a party most Nigerians placed high hopes on in 1999, not only metamorphosed into a de-facto Politburo, but was purged of its last remaining pillars of honour and integrity only to be replaced by sycophants like Ojo Maduekwe who once told the late Abacha that he was indispensable.

If truth must be told, our passivity, quite inevitably, only served to embolden the president as could be gleaned from the crude and divisive methods he later employed in the failed attempt to elongate his tenure through the back door. Even without labelling the just-concluded elections a do-or-die affair, the signs were there all the time that Obasanjo had become a desperate man, and desperate people are always dangerous even if they don't get to command a Police Force led by Sunday Ehindero or an agency like INEC headed by a pathological liar like Maurice Iwu.

It was Iwu who addressed the National Council of State and proclaimed that INEC was ready for the elections in its entirety. As it were, not only did the ballot papers not carry serial numbers, apparently, the only people who were 'ready' were the contractors the agency engaged for various services including RETEL, owned by a man thought to be a close associate of Andy Uba! The company was given a four-billion-naira contract for the 'transmission' of electoral results, whatever that means. In this information age, and given the fact that Nigerians had to wait for nearly four days in some cases for the outcome of polling 'results', the EFCC may require no further invitation to beam its searchlight on most of such hastily-awarded contracts, but obviously, I may only be wasting my time.

Still, when Nigerians trooped out to vote during the gubernatorial elections, it wasn't as if they were not conscious of what they were up against. They knew that beyond the natural elements, they also had to contend with the antics of a vile and most despicable dictator and a habitual liar whose words not only counted for very little, but could not be relied upon. Even when he made the comical national broadcast promising free and fair elections, they were conscious that he only made the effort to fool the hundreds of election observers who had descended on the country for the polls. But still, many chose to give him the benefit of the doubt. Despite the widespread apathy, many still trooped out to vote for the president and legislators of their choice last weekend. The rest is now history.

Abraham Lincoln once wrote that nearly all men could withstand adversity, but if we wanted a measure of a man's true character, we needed to tempt him with power. We may never know the full reasons why a posse of retired northern military/political class sprung Chief Olusegun Obasanjo from Abacha's gulag in 1998, and proceeded to present him with the presidency on a platter of gold in 1999; but to say that Obasanjo has proved to be a complete disaster is actually a huge understatement. Nigerians have endured so much in their lifetimes, of course, including decades of military rule it must be emphasised, but never have they experienced so much sadism, crudity and vulgarity in the definition of statecraft like we have to contend with presently.

The main reasons for status quo without a shred of doubt were manifested in the flawed electoral processes and the seamless inter and intra-party crises the president and his party have foisted on the polity since 2003. Quite inevitably, because they thrived on stolen mandates and had no need to feel accountable for their actions, they had no compulsion to yield to our needs or even bend to our aspirations. Arrogance, rudeness and crass ineptitude became the order of the day. The president behaved like a raging bull in a China shop, while his lieutenants routinely assailed our collective intelligence for daring to question the theft of our national heritage by a tiny cabal of his cronies under the cover of economic reforms. And now, obviously, we don't only have to contend with the theft of our national assets, but the brazen theft of our ballots yet again!

Indeed, complacency appears to have defined the way Nigerians have reacted to Obasanjo since he stole his way back to power in 2003. We snored when he overran the opposition parties and gave some of their opposition chairmen choice appointments in the Presidency. We could not be bothered when he reconstituted INEC and sneaked in Maurice Iwu as its chairman. We displayed even lesser interest in the appointment of virtually all the Resident Electoral Commissioners who played their roles with decisive effect these past few weeks. And, more fundamentally, we showed little interest when he allowed the IGP Sunday Ehindero to remain in office despite attaining the mandatory retirement age!

But even so, nothing could have prepared us for the monumental crises of legitimacy the patently flawed electoral processes we experienced in the past two weeks now confront us with. From every indication, the results so far declared in Abuja and Lagos appear to reflect the true pattern of voting across the country before the PDP showed its diabolical hand. Two reasons account for my belief. First, both Lagos and Abuja are microcosms of greater Nigeria; as such, the voting patterns in those specific locations offer a fair reflection of how people voted on account of their ethnic group, religion or even gender. Second, both cities enjoyed a heavy concentration of international election observers, thereby minimising incidents of wholesale fraud and manipulations at the collation centres. Obviously, the difference clearly showed in the sanity of the figures so far declared for both cities.

So, where do we go from here? Clearly, this infamy must not be allowed to stand under the excuse of underdevelopment because smaller and bigger nations like Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC] - in terms of land mass - have been able to organise credible elections with distinction and without much rancour. Given our human and material superiority, there is absolutely no reason under the sun why their successes cannot be replicated here. Most influential Nigerians I have spoken to who should know were unanimous on how best to tackle the situation.

Nigerians must resist every attempt to seek redress through unconstitutional and extra-judicial means. We must reject violence and show our new colonisers the true meaning of civility by taking our grievances to the electoral tribunals to reverse the great injustice inflicted on our national psyche through the dubious polls. With the judiciary enjoying a new lease of life under Chief Justice Kutigi, the chances are that they are unlikely to come away empty-handed. We must also encourage the National Assembly, led by Ken Nnamani, to show its clout by rising to the occasion at this most important epoch in our history.

And, as for the identity of Fela's vagabonds, well, by now, Nigerians must be under few illusions that they are not anywhere near our high security jails, but in the various government houses they occupy against our wishes and collective aspirations!
Al-Ghazali, a key commentator on Nigeria's politics, is a columnist for the Daily Trust newspaper, Abuja, Nigeria.

Many Nigerians still feel disappointed that a man (Obasanjo) who had gained so much from Nigeria would cling so tightly to power, even against the popular will of the people, moreso with age, energy and fresh ideas for a new era not on his side.

Also, USAfricaonline.com review of Nigeria's recent history show that President Obasanjo seems to be moving rapidly into the zone of ill-repute of his former military colleagues who, like him, refused to leave office when it was time to go. Gen. yakubu Gowon in 1975; Gen. Ibrahim Babangida in 1993; Gen. Sani Abacha in1995, 1996, 1997, 1998. More baffling many Nigerians we interviewed recall is the lessons of the excesses of the late Gen. Abach who jailed Obasanjo while the former schemed to remain in power. For the special report by USAfrica multimedia networks' Publisher Chido Nwangwu, click on 3rd term.

His globalist underpinnings and outlook are truly reflective of the true essence of his Igbo world-view, his Igbo upbringing and disposition. Igbos and Jews share (with a few other other cultures) this pan-global disposition to issues of art, life, commerce, juridical pursuits, and quest to be republicanist in terms of the vitality of the individual/self. In Achebe's works, the centrality of Chi (God) attains an additional clarity in the Igbo cosmology... it is a world which prefers a quasi-capitalistic business attitude while taking due cognizance of the usefulness of the whole, the community. I've studied, lived and tried to better understand, essentially, the rigor and towering moral certainties which Achebe have employed in most of his works and his world. I know, among other reasons, because I share the same ancestry with him. Permit me to attempt a brief sentence, with that Achebean simplicty and clarity. Here, folks, what the world has known since 1958: Achebe is good! Eagle on the Iroko, may your Lineage endure! There has never been one like you!
Ugo n'abo, chukwu gozie gi oo!. Chido Nwangwu, recipient of the Journalism Excellence award (1997), is Founder and Publisher of USAfricaonline.com (first African-owned U.S.-based professional newspaper to be published on the internet), USAfrica The Newspaper, CLASS magazine and The Black Business Journal. He has served as an adviser to the Mayor of Houston on international business (Africa) and appears as an analyst on CNN, VOA, NPR, CBS News, NBC and ABC news affiliates.

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