April elections: Governors chart way forward

Sustenance of current efforts and concerns will ensure Nigeria’s march towards free, fair and credible elections but critical challenges remain, four governors said yesterday.

During the second day of the National Summit on Free and Fair Elections organised by Vintage Press Nigeria Limited, publishers of The Nation at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, governors of Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers and Ekiti states said while they strive towards mobilising people and resources in their respective states towards development and democratic growth, far greater challenges outside their control continue to linger.

In his paper entitled: “Free and Fair Elections in Nigeria: the Executive Perspective”, Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva said all stakeholders in the federation have the potential to be catalysts for the realisation of credible elections.

He spoke on the need to strengthen institutions and end citizens’ general apathy towards electoral processes. Sylva noted that needless suspicions and pessimism among citizens complicate the problem while a section of the political elite exploit the situation in their desperate quest for power.

“Problems come when the essence of power is lost in the struggle for it,” Sylva said, quoting Amartya Sen, a notable author on development issues.

Sylva identified challenges to free and fair elections to include political apathy and suspicion among the citizenry. He said disbelief in the ability of the leader, when elected into office, to evenly distribute the dividends of democracy more often than not cause the citizens to seek pecuniary and other rewards during electioneering.

Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, represented by his Commissioner of Information, Oma Djebah, identified insecurity and crises caused by ethnic politics as the factors hindering the development of the electoral process.

“We are determined to make Delta state the Norway of Nigeria by developing other potentials that can ensure generous flow of resources even without oil. We are mobilising the populace and working to transform our cities – Asaba, Warri, Sapele, Patani, Burutu, Agbor, Ughelli, Koko and others to become centers for transformation and innovations.

“Through development that includes both infrastructure and human capacity building, we are changing attitudes and giving deeper roots to democracy in Delta state,” Uduaghan said.

Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, who supported his colleagues’ view that it is possible to achieve democracy in the face of present odds, said the strategies being canvassed towards the realisation of such goals may amount to nothing unless Nigeria addresses the fundamental issue of national restructuring.

Fayemi described titles such as “executive governor” and “chief security officer” as misnomers that reflect the influence of long years under military rule. He pointed out that when local communities completely own their voter’s register and become able to genuinely determine their own fate, it would become very difficult for anyone to manipulate the electoral process.

Fayemi also identified money, security agencies, INEC and the judiciary as “the four mini-gods of election in Nigeria,” saying to varying extents, they are unpleasant factors that one must contend against in the process of achieving electoral anything of electoral value.

“In terms of concepts like fair and credible elections, Nigeria’s journey in the past 12 years has not been a very credible journey. If one wants to look as far back as the period since Nigeria’s independence, we know that it has been a tortured journey to the point we are now.”

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi also expressed hope about the possibilities of achieving credible election. He said despite critical efforts to speed up democratic growth and development at the state level, major challenges continue to exist.

Amaechi, represented by Commissioner for Information Mrs Ibim Semenitari identified prevalent cynicism in the media and the electorate among the factors that need to be tackled towards ensuring adequate public involvement in the entrenchment of democracy. He said until Nigeria evolves an enlightened electorate and civil society organisations that will see beyond immediate gains, the objective of free, fair and credible elections would remain a big challenge.

Amaechi said the strategies being implemented towards tackling the challenge of democratic growth and development in Rivers state include transparent management of incomes and expenditure to enable citizens monitor government finances. He said the Amaechi re-election campaign team and others have equal access to the state’s news media facilities so long as they pay charges as low as N25,000.