INEC’S Neutrality, The Onslaught On The Opposition And The Survival Of Democracy In Nigeria -By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

I might be sounding like a broken record as I have said it repeatedly that Tinubu’s desperation to perpetuate himself in power beyond 2027 is the worst threat to the current Nigeria democracy. Apart from using the anti-graft agencies to harass perceived political enemies and potential competitors, he is using the state institutions to create confusion guised in the similitude of internal wrangling within the opposition camps. He has used the courts to give controversial orders destabilizing some of the opposition parties. And now the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) appears to have been forced to throw away its neutrality on the “orders from above”.

The INEC decision to de-recognize the leadership of the African Democratic Congress is causing ripples among observers in the country now, creating doubts about the neutrality of INEC and its ability to conduct free, fair and credible election come 2027. This is indeed worrisome given that the current leadership of the ADC headed by Senator David Mark as Chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as secretary was truly constituted after the re-organization of the party monitored by the same INEC that had all the relevant information including the resignation of the previous leadership of the party communicated to it. It is there a surprise that Nafiu Bala one of the deputy chairmen of the party could approach the court after four months of his resignation asking to be recognized as the national chairman of the party. And following the court of appeal ruling on the 12th March that the parties should return to status quo ante bellum, INEC hastily removed the names of David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola as the ADC leaders from its website.

Now, many are beginning to see another Mamood Yakubu in Joash Amupitam, the new INEC chairman. The action of INEC was allegedly aimed at destabilizing the ADC that has fixed its congress and convention on the 9th and 14th of April and may affect the parties chance of participating in the off-circle elections in Osun and Ekiti States later this year. The leadership of the ADC are not only seeing INEC partisanship; they are accusing the Tinubu-led APC government of complicity in the whole saga. And many think that they are right too.

The truth is that Tinubu came to power through the back door, through a highly flawed electoral process supervised by Prof. Mamood Yakubu whom he has rewarded with an ambassadorial appointment. He came to power unprepared because he erroneously assumed that he is entitled to it. The preparation he had was how to grab, snatch and run away with the peoples’ mandate. Thus, as one of my colleague once opined, Tinubu believes that once he has captured the other arms of the government and settled the Press, the organized labor and other pressure groups that he would be on auto cruise. Having done that, he set up a high-powered propaganda team that would confuse the public with the reform narratives and the illusion of a better future and then turn his energy at destroying the opposition. As it stands, Tinubu has destroyed the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labor Party (LP), the two major political parties that contested with the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 general election.

But, it seems that it never occurred to him that the political gladiators displaced by his stooges in the aforementioned political platforms and other political heavy weights outraged by the level of deterioration of the country under Tinubu could regroup to form a much stronger political alliance. So, the coming of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) that has the likes of Atiku Abubakar, the former number two citizen of the country (1999 -2007), Peter Obi, a two-time Anambra State governor, who commands a strong youth endorsement from the popular Obidient Movement, Aminu Tambuwal, a seasoned legislator and a former governor of Sokoto State, David Mark, the former senate president and strong man of Benue politics, Odigie Oyegun, the former chairman of the APC and one time governor of Edo State, Rotimi Amaechi, the former Minister of Transport and former governor of Rivers State, Abubakar Malami, former Attorney-general and Minister of Justice, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) among others seems to rattle him.

And obviously, the matter is made worse by the fact that Tinubu’s performance so far since coming to power has been woeful. There is nation-wide insecurity as terrorists massacre Nigerians on daily basis. The economy is battered and in a very bad shape why the government propagandist churn out stories about phantom reforms. Official statistics has it that over 133 million Nigerians are multi-dimensionally poor. External debt is rising astronomically with Tinubu’s penchant for borrowing; youth unemployment is very high at over 40%. The cost of living is suffocating as inflation rate is galloping exponentially. The cost of doing business is high; business are shutting down and leaving the shores of the country. Power generation and distribution is woeful. Our hospitals operate without drugs and essential facilities. Our doctors are jetting out of the country in droves the way there is capital flight out of the country. Our educational system is suffering. The number of out-of-school children is growing in leaps and bounds.

And worse still, Tinubu’s exclusionist policies fueled by primordial sentiments have polarized the country along ethnic and religious lines. There is deep distrust and tension among the major ethnic groups and political blocs. But Tinubu’s lust for power and his desire to hold on to it at all costs is pushing him to the limits. He knows that given free and fair election, he would fail woefully, the way his performances has been woeful.

Therefore, he wants to create a no-contest situation in 2027. So that he would have a facile victory. Tinunu’s strategy is not significantly different from the Abacha’s strategy of 1997. Abacha in his days before died, coerced each of the five registered political parties to adopt him as the sole candidate for proposed 1998 election until dead struck and his sinister plan came to an end. In Tinubu’s own case, he wants to create the confusion in the major opposition parties using the state institutions like the court and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to perpetrate crisis in those parties using the moles he has planted in them, so that at the end the parties may not be able to field any presidential candidate or when they do, it would be Tinubu’s own puppet so that Tinubu would contest the 2027 election somewhat like a sole candidate. This plot is visible and it is clear to both the goat and the chicken as Ndigbo would put it. This is why his cronies call him the “master strategist”. Master strategist in indeed! This is destructive strategy that will eventually boomerang.

Hajia Hadiza Mohammed 

hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com

An actress, social activist, politician

London, UK