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MARCH 12, 2007 VOL. 20. NO 22 |
A Cliff-hanger
Manifest dangers appear to be aggregating strongly against a peaceful general election in Nigeria By Tony Egbulefu Whither lies the fate of Vice President Atiku Abubakar? Despite vigorous political campaigns and spirited assurances of a personal conviction that his place in the 2007 presidential election is assured, the eligibility, or otherwise of Atiku’s candidacy, continues to manifest as a cliff-hanger. For about two weeks running, Professor Maurice Iwu, chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has made a refrain of the position of the national electoral body that all candidates indicted on corruption by an administrative panel would not be allowed to contest the elections. Last August, a Bayo Ojo-led (Attorney-General of the federation) administrative panel, set up by the Federal Government, on account of an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) report of criminal investigation of Vice President Atiku, over the management of the funds of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), indicted the Vice President for “the various acts of embezzlement and fraud that took place in PTDF, with his approval and under his supervision”. And earlier last month, a Professor Ignatius Ayua- led administrative panel of inquiry indicted 33 candidates of the various political parties on the basis of a criminal report on the affected candidates by the EFCC. The need to replace these indicted candidates, including the Vice President who is the presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC), compelled INEC to push forward the deadline for the submission and substitution of candidates by political parties. The grace deadline moved from the initial February 13 to February 20, then to ad infinitum. Constitutional disqualification from presidential contest of an indicted candidate or person, anchors on Section 137(I)(i), which provides that: “A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if: (i) he has been indicted for embezzlement or fraud by a Judicial Commission of Inquiry or an Administrative Panel of Inquiry or a Tribunal, set up under the Tribunals of Inquiry Act, a Tribunal of Inquiry Law, or any other law by the Federal or State Government, which indictment has been accepted by the Federal or State Government respectively”. Similarly, the same condition of disqualification, applies to anybody for the post of governorship and national legislature as stipulated in Section 182(I)(i) and 65(I)(h) respectively. The indicted, however, can seek relief through a court of competent jurisdiction, which can vacate the indictment or uphold it. Whereas, it could be argued that the Vice President’s indictment has been nullified, in principle, by a Lagos State High Court, in the matter between Otunba Fasawe versus the EFCC, the EFCC and some legal luminaries posit that the constitution ousts the jurisdiction of state high courts in matters involving individuals and federal agencies, as enshrined in Sections 251(q) and (r). The Federal Government upon these provisions, has so far discountenanced the putative vacation of the Atiku indictment by a Lagos State High Court. The ineffectuality of the Lagos State High Court pronouncements as they affect the Atiku indictment as if were, informed the Ayua-led panel’s decision not to bother with another indictment of Atiku on the ground of the inclusion of the Vice President’s name in the list of 130 alleged corrupt politicians, which the EFCC compiled and submitted to President Obasanjo last month. A member of the Ayua panel indicated, soon after rounding off sitting, that the panel did not look the Atiku way again because “he had earlier been indicted”. As the nation awaits the release of the names of eligible candidates for the National Assembly and the presidential race on Tuesday, March 13, not a few observers expect that Atiku would not make the list. Speaking on the theme: “Elections 2007: Hopes and Impediments” at a forum held last Tuesday in Kaduna, Iwu reiterated his stand that all politicians indicted for corruption by the two administrative panels of inquiry, so far set up by the Federal Government should bid farewell to their ambitions. Iwu: “Some sections of the constitution state that if a political candidate has been indicted by a competent panel and the indictment is accepted by government in a White Paper, it can be gazetted. But once it is accepted by government, the person will not be eligible to contest for any position in the country. It is the constitution that disqualifies any candidate that is not qualified, and it is the constitution that laid the criteria for eligibility of all those who are running for public offices”. To convince all that it was not under any illusion about its position on the Atiku candidacy, INEC which embraced a modality of imprinting the pictures of candidates on the ballot papers, did not bother to request for the Vice President’s picture. In fact, checks by The Source, last week, revealed that the Vice President featured nowhere in the ballot papers designed by INEC for the presidential election. Even with the argument of the Vice President’s AC that the national electoral body had requested for Atiku’s picture, upon which the party said it issued five of the Vice President’s picture to it, INEC as at last week, denied categorically that it requested for and received Atiku’s picture from any quarter. Iwu hinges his refusal to request for the Vice President’s picture yet again on the constitution. Iwu: “We have to respect the Constitution. The list that we have is the White Paper and the law says that if there is a White Paper, then we have nothing else to do but to just accept that those people are not candidates. “But what we did on our own was just to send back to the parties, people who have petitions against them. We expected them to change them. From my own point of view, that party (AC) did not submit any candidate. We didn’t have anybody to disqualify. That party (AC) refused to send an eligible candidate for us to put in the ballot. We don’t disqualify anybody. That is why we put the onus on them to do the right thing. “Whether the method of indictment, whether the process is proper or wrong or whether it is popular or unpopular, has nothing to do with us. We are actually an implementing agency, to conduct elections with eligible candidates”. But for the Vice President, his disqualification follows a script of the President, who is using INEC as a mere conveyor belt. For this reason, Atiku had repeatedly announced that no one, except the court and the electorate can disqualify him. He assures that he is well entrenched in the race despite the INEC position, especially when no one he says has communicated to him through any official instrument, that he has been disqualified. Governor Orji Kalu of Abia State, as one of the people indicted by the Ayua panel, recently introduced a comic and equally worrisome bent to the administrative panel weapon. In what took a complexion of tit-for-tat, Orji a few days back, hurriedly coupled an administrative panel of inquiry in his state and indicted the President and his daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello. And on a wider scale, the governor hauled-in Onyema Ugochukwu, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate in the State, and every other politicians of note in the state, that has at one point or the other, dared raise a voice against him and his government. Others in the Abia State administrative panel dragnet include: Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan (both of whom are the PDP Presidential candidate and running mate respectively); Enyinnaya Abaribe (Kalu’s former deputy), Mao Ohuabunwa (member, House of Representatives), Tony Ukasoanya, Damian Ozurumba (member, House of Representatives and Ojo Maduekwe (National Secretary, PDP). Briefing newsmen on the development, Anthony Agbazuere, Abia State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, said the panel was put together on February 14 and was headed by one Donatus Okorie. Though the panel lasted just a little over one week, Agbazuere said, it investigated the total of the 21 politicians it indicted in the state and the entire country from 1999 till date. Agbazuere also disclosed that the report has been gazetted and consequently “the indicted individuals stand disqualified from contesting any election in Nigeria, he said.” He advised anybody who is aggrieved by this action of the Kalu government “to head to the courts for an interpretation of the relevant portions of the constitution.” The worry in the Kalu action is that it has become clear that it is no longer the federal executive arm that has realised the place of administrative panels as instruments of mass political annihilation of real or illusory political opponents. This awareness comes with the possible tragedy of a discountenance of circumspect by other state governors in a bandwagon appeal to toe the Kalu line. The state governments, like the Federal Government, have constitutional powers to raise administrative panels. Besides the fog that has shrouded the polity over the moot issue of the eligibility of Atiku’s candidacy and that of some of the people indicted by the Ayua administrative panel the dread of tenure elongation and an executive impeachment lowered ominously on the nation since last week. The two dire developments are playing out in the National Assembly. Like a choreograph, two blocs emerged simultaneously in the House of Representatives, one sourcing for signatures of House members for the required two-thirds majority, needed for the impeachment of the president and another galvanising a campaign for a six- months elongation of the tenure of the present government and all other elected officers across the federal and state tiers of government. The argument of the latter group is that the polity was bursting from the seams with political activities, such that the possiblity of clearing up one and all of the current political issues on or before the proposed May 29, handing over date would be unrealisable. October 1, handover date, according to these national legislators, would be more like it. Abike Dabiri, chairman House Committee on Communication, who last week in Lagos threw light on these two worrisome developments in the lower legislative house, however, described them as “nothing abnormal.” Dabiri: “Last week, there were two groups, one was carrying about papers, asking members who want a six- months extension of the tenure of this administration, all round, the presidency, the National Assembly, to sign. I don’t know how many people have signed, I don’t know whether they are receiving any support, but the fact is that some people are carrying this paper around. “Then there is the other group, who are carrying paper around, saying if you want the President impeached, put your signature and again, I think that we shouldn’t think about this at this point in time. But let me explain that until it comes to the floor of the House, it is not an issue, but the fact is that it is happening.” Despite the fact that these developments, according to Dabiri, would remain non-issues as long as they haven’t been tabled on the floor of the House, she cautioned that the focus of all Nigerians right now, should be on a drive for a free and fair election. “Our focus should be on free and fair election because, we are talking of less than a month, we should be holding the first set of elections. Those are diversionary, they should not be encouraged.” In a veiled attempt to exonerate the president on the new tenure elongation move, Dabiri said: “Like I said earlier, it does not mean that Mr. President knows about it, he doesn’t have to know about it. But that is what is on ground.” Similarly, an impeachment plot a few days ago began to brew in the Senate. It came as a kite flown by Senator Authur Nzeribe. Though he did not pinpoint whom the target of his impeachment kite was, indications later emerged that the controversial Senator may be targeting some other personality other than the president. This much he alluded to when he later clarified that the president is out of question in this impeachment kite. This left the camp of the Vice President thoroughly agitated. Like Dabiri, the Vice President also believes that both the impeachment moves in the National Assembly and the latest tenure elongation moves are diversionary, and does not deserve any attention. Atiku: “I think that if we want the rest of the international community to regard us as a serious nation, any motion of impeachment should be put aside. We are in a very crucial transition process. We have about two months to the election. You impeach a president or governor to get what, to make what point or impact. I think we should rather try and see how our transition process can be concluded successfully, so that we have a smooth transition from one civilian administration… we should all be seen to be working towards a successful transition, free, fair and credible election.” And to Atiku, the new move for tenure elongation is “a stupid thing to think about.” Like the impeachment and the new tenure elongation moves, the dangers posed to the political process by the Atiku disqualification saga have become all too clear. Last Wednesday, February 28, the AC in a statement issued by Lai Mohammed, the party’s national publicity secretary, warned that crisis would pervade the country in the event of Atiku’s disqualification from the presidential race. Pointedly, the party alarmed that the general election would not hold if there is no Atiku candidacy. Mohammed: “We are compelled in view of the dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional ban being planned by INEC, to warn that there would be no elections in April without Atiku Abubakar.” For Mohammed, Iwu, the INEC boss, is overplaying his hands and embarking on actions that would overreach. “If Iwu had had any sense of history or propriety, he would have been treading carefully and be well above manipulation in carrying out his duties of organising an election that will not only be acceptable to the Nigerian people, but also to the entire world,” Mohammed said. Section 137(1)(i) of the constitution, which provided the munitions against the Vice President, according to Mohammed, does not apply to personalities whom the constitution in Section 308, has conferred immunity from prosecution. He posited that those who cannot be prosecuted, cannot also be indicted. Bola Tinubu, governor of Lagos State, and an AC chieftain, appears not only more bellicose, but thirsty for blood. Speaking last Wednesday in an AC gubernatorial rally in Amuwo-Odofin, Lagos, Tinubu declared that "if it is war, we will give it. If they want peace, we will give it. If they want riot, we will give it. If they want dead body, they will get it." Aside Atiku, the electoral process teems with candidates across the parties who though with about a month to go, their candidacy still dithers on the precipice. Even as time winds down to the new date for submission of the final list of candidates by the parties, the PDP a few days ago curiously alarmed that it still has not made up its mind on its list. While the problem with the PDP list is essentially internal, the disaster that has hit the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), over its own list of candidates is externally midwifed by INEC. The national electoral body on February 13, threw out the entire APGA list on the plank that there is a leadership disagreement between the incumbent national chairman, Victor Umeh and the party’s first national chairman, Chekwas Okorie. Strangely, INEC, which said it hinged its action on the Umeh-Okorie tussle, had since the ousting of Okorie from APGA’s leadership, been dealing with Umeh as the authentic chairman INEC, and indeed, accorded Umeh official recognition after the party faithfuls and the courts shoved Okorie aside. Though it is not clear why INEC had to make this about-turn against the Umeh leadership of APGA, what is easily discernable is the fact that the national electoral body, which had earlier accepted an APGA list, threw it out only after the party’s leadership substituted the candidacy of Virgy Etiaba, Anambra's deputy governor, with that of Governor Peter Obi, her boss. Despite all spirited efforts by the APGA leadership to induce a change of heart in Iwu, an INEC official last week said the national electoral body has put its feet down on the fact that APGA has no candidates for the 2007 general elections. Riled by INEC’s hard stance on the party’s list, APGA, which has strong roots in the South east, had to publicly alleged that INEC’s action was a coup against the Igbos and against Governor Obi, whom though has earned a clean bill of health from all anti-corruption agencies in the country, is still being frustrated by the powers-that-be. As the danger signals build up, apprehension stacks over the health of the polity and the 2007 general elections. Disturbed by the various ominous signposts, John Oyegun, first civilian governor of Edo State last weekend decided to appraise the ship of state vis-a-viz the on-coming elections. He cast his mind on the attrition between the President and his deputy, the indictment of some politicians by the EFCC and administrative panel, the disqualification of some candidates, including the Vice President and some dire utterances of the President, and came up with a verdict that Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gun powder. “I just have the feeling that all is not well and is not going to be well,” Oyegun said. Similar alarm bells are being rung for the country, even from outside Nigeria. Last Tuesday, February 27, the director of US Intelligence, Mike McConnell, while identifying some global threats before a US senate committee, said Nigeria may likely end up in crisis as a result of the 2007 general elections. Because of the huge population size of the country and its economic relevance in the West Africa sub-region, McConnel said neighbouring African countries would be encumbered by the spill-over effects that would arise from a looming Nigerian crisis. It instructs that John Negroponte, the immediate past director of US Intelligence, last month expressed similar fears about the peace and security of the country. Both men identified the President Obasanjo tenure elongation scheme and Vice President Atiku’s long-standing ambition to rule Nigeria as the root of the forboding crisis. Sadly, only a few weeks to the much awaited 2007 general elections, both attractions continue to beckon, fatally. |
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