As a group, strongly committed to sound democratic ideals and robust youth participation in politics, we are saddened by the emerging developments in our nation in the build-up to the conduct of the 2015 general elections. From the facts available to us, the signs are ominous: we are in a deep mess and heading toward a major electoral disaster.
Everything points to the fact that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may have bungled the entire electoral process, either by choosing to hide its inadequacies for a long time or a deliberate act by moles within, to sabotage the elections.
We make bold to say that we have our fears that the conspiracy to achieve an interim government may have been a ploy cooked before now with the use of the card reader machine.  We wish to remind Nigerians that the House of Representatives saw this untidiness ahead, when it passed a motion on January 13, 2015, asking INEC to allow the use of the Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs) for the 2015 elections.
While we share the concerns of Nigerians in using an untested machine for highly sensitive elections, we are equally mindful of the serious danger it portends for the elections.  We are disappointed that INEC deliberately chose not to experiment the card reader for any of the elections it was opportune to conduct between 2012 and 2014.  The last was a Senatorial bye-election in Niger State, which could have been another veritable platform to test the card reader.  Why is INEC putting Nigeria through this great risk of uncertainty?
On all fronts, either by legal implication – based on the electoral act, or by defect in operation – as revealed in some tests carried out in the training of poll officers, the card reader is likely primed as a booby trap to cause a stalemate. If INEC insists and proceed with the card reader system, there is a high tendency that a good number of the machines will not be properly operated and consequently fail on the first Election Day across the country.  The consequences will destabilize the nation.
We also suspect a secret plot to use the court to nullify the outcome of the general elections, citing the violation of the electoral act, if the elections fail to meet the expectation of some people.   They will rely heavily on Section 52 (2) of the Electoral Acts, which states that, “the use of electronic voting machine for the time being is prohibited.”
We must know that voting on Election Day is a total package which includes identification and verification of persons for voting.  The card reader is an electronic platform for verification and identification and it forms part of the voting process, giving the election an outlook of e-voting.  INEC ought to have listened to the House of Representatives and avoid this controversy.  It is never too late.
Although, INEC chose to ignore the wisdom in the patriotic decision of the House of Representatives to allow TVCs; however, recent developments have now exposed its imprudence.   For us, the number one priority of a patriotic electoral umpire is to ensure that no eligible voter willing to vote within INEC’s timeframe is disenfranchised by its inadequacies.
If millions of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) are available for collection, and yet millions of Nigerians are daily visiting INEC centers to get their PVCs unsuccessfully, it simply means INEC has not got it right with PVCs distribution.  We must call a spade a spade and address this problem.
It is surprising that with the abundance of technologies in the world that aid easy identification and distribution of cards, INEC chose to put Nigerians through the rigour of queuing endlessly to obtain their PVCs. The Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) is an institution like INEC, and it has adopted an effective Driver’s License collection system, which allows owners to produce a code sent via sms to their phones. This code makes it very easy for the FRSC staff to identify each card and deliver within a few minutes. Why can’t INEC do this?
INEC got four good years to adopt the best practices for the 2015 general elections and experiment the card reader in smaller elections, but failed to do so.  It is dangerous for INEC to ignore the advice of the House of Representatives at this very challenging moment.
As a group, we urge INEC to listen to wise counsels and do the needful.  The peace and stability of Nigeria must be placed above all other interests.  Electronic technology is good for election, but it must not come at the expense of national peace or undermine the nation. We submit, as a concerned youth body, that whatever is not tested before the 2015 general elections, should not be tasted for the elections.

Ariyo-Dare Atoye is National Coordinator Democratic Young Patriots. [myad]

Inviting foreign consultants, foreign Governments and foreign troops and their intrigues openly into Nigeria in this election season is  a recipe for disaster. These foreign interests in Nigeria does not look good from all the angles at this time, because of volatile, quick to anger, unrestrained fragile illiterate population all over Nigeria while Nigeria internal security is strained to limit. Nigerians being so gullible will look at this as  a good affirmation of their party and country, but it makes Nigeria look like a banana Republic and  Nigeria prestige is already downgraded in the eyes of serious minded people of this world by these actions. No self respecting country can openly invite foreigners to come and conduct their national election openly.
Nigerians and Africans have no shame and it means that with all the educated elites  and local consulting firms in Nigeria, none among  170 million Nigerians is smart enough to conduct Nigeria election. Nigerians by these actions have just told the world is a nation of dumb people and it shows. The are many ways a foreigner can help Nigeria, but not running around Nigeria campaigning with corrupt politicians with spreadsheets in their  looted private jets, tinted jeeps and vans all over Nigeria during campaign seasons. What a shame for this country.
For me in African level, Republican party policy towards Africa is much more better and beneficial to Africans than Democratic party policy towards Africa at least in the last 20 years. The election in Nigeria will be determined by Nigerians in their own ways. Foreign interference has always been the reasons for most of the conflicts in Africa. As things are looking now in Nigeria and its election,  foreign interference has taken hold in Nigeria from USA, Britain, AU, ECOWAS, Chad, Niger Republic, Cameroon etc. with the multinational force coming into Nigeria to fight Boko Haram  and this a recipe for disaster for Africa. When these foreign interest  start the problem  170 Nigerians and millions of Africans will suffer the consequences. Nigeria interest counts more than any foreign interest.
“Thanks to the reporting of Adam Kredo, we now know that it was something more nefarious. David Axelrod is  Mr. Buhari s lobbyist and in this administration you can buy the presidency of Africa’s most populous nation. According to the Washington Free Beacon report, Mr. Axelrod’s firm, AKPD, was employed by Mr. Buhari’s APC party as recently as December 2014. The timing of Mr. Kerry’s visit the next month within in that context puts a shorter lifespan on the Jonathan presidency. President Jonathan must now fight without firm footing against Boko Haram, his political opponents, U.S. diplomats and their lobbyists. He has about a month to make something happen. “unquote. This article is written by Nicholas Hanlon, Chief Africa Analyst at the Washington based Center for Security Policy for the WASHINGTON Times a Republican leaning National Newspaper.
“President Jonathan must now fight without firm footing against Boko Haram, his political opponents, U.S. diplomats and their lobbyists. He has about a month to make something happen. At such a crossroad, it’s important to have a good measure of who Mr. Buhari is. The fundamental political difference between Mr. Buhari’s group and those who would become Boko Haram back in 2000 was a factional split over who could best purify the Muslim north of political corruption and enforce the best interpretation of shariah law. In the year 2000,  Mr. Buhari ’s political colleagues were debating whether they could accept a moderate enforcement of shariah law in the North. “I can die for the cause of Islam. If necessary, we are prepared to fight another civil war. We cannot be blackmailed into killing Sharia” – Muhammadou Buhari, 2000 Freedom House.” unquote Written by Republican leaning  Major News paper  the Washington Times. This article is written by Nicholas Hanlon, Chief Africa Analyst at the Washington based Center for Security Policy for the WASHINGTON Times.
Comparisons for me personally, Republican Party policy towards Africa is much more better and beneficial to Africans that Democratic party policy towards Africa at least in the last 20 years. Let me give some recent examples of the different policies of these two American political parties  policy towards black sub-Saharan Africa. Examples,  during the civil war in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the Republican  President  Bush after many world effort to end the war failed , sent American troops and war ships to  the shores of Liberia and Sierra Leone to stop the war and the leaders of that war like Charles Taylor and his group are presently in Prison or awaiting trial in court. The long  civil war in Sudan ended because a Republican Party  President Bush  seriously started and supported the peace process and peace effort has held. During the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the world was helpless and Africa was and is still most affected by HIV/AIDS epidemic. It was the Republican President Bush that allocated almost 20 Billion dollars to fight this disease cure and prevention, and the result has been huge decline and free or affordable HIV/AIDS medication for average African with the disease.
In contrast with the Democrats, The Rwanda and Burundi Genocide when more than one million people were killed and another one million suffered dislocation , wounded and traumatized . No one came to help them  for over one year while the massacre and genocide was happening was under a Democratic President Clinton. For five years now, The Boko Haram Islamic insurgency taking place in Nigeria and have spread to Chad, Niger and Cameroon have intensified under a Democratic President Obama;  and yet the Government under Democrats have refused to approve supply of weapons  and resources to help Nigeria and these countries to fight the insurgency.
For me as an African, security is very important for future development and advancement of Africa. I have always questioned people who said that Africa will benefit from President Obama administration and Democratic Party, and I have always given them the above examples between Democrats and Republican party policy towards Africa. President Obama is a nice man, but African have really not benefited from his administration like some people made us believe and I want them to point out one example of real commitment to Africa apart from rhetoric’s and paper proposals that have not happened and will never happened.

Nicholas Hanlon is Chief Africa Analyst at the Washington based Center for Security Policy for the WASHINGTON Times a Republican leaning Newspaper. [myad]

This is the first time, in sixteen years, that two major political parties almost of equal size will fiercely compete for presidency of the nation. This is good for democracy. But the electorate must choose wisely at the polls.  This time, the choice you make at the polls will either set our nation on rapid progression or send it into irreversible regression and doom.
Full text of the letter:
Fellow Nigerians,
For a quick introduction: I’m president of Africa Monitor USA, a non-profit organization working to facilitate democracy, civic responsibility, good governance and rule of law in Africa.  Previously, I was founding national secretary for the ruling party – Peoples Democratic Party of Nigeria (PDP) in the United States (PDP-USA) – a position I occupied when Chief Barnabas Gemade and Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo were chairman and national secretary of the party respectively, and ended when Chief Audu Ogbe and Chief Ogbulafor became chairman and national secretary of the party. I had led several delegations to Abuja and Chief Ogbulafor also had visited us in the US a few times to conduct party business.   In view of my background, therefore, it is not happenstance that I’m interested in the socio-political and democratic activities in Nigeria. 
I write you this open letter because of our common interest, our great country – Nigeria.  Nigeria is a country with immense population, young and educated labor force, and vast natural resources than many countries around the world, but has never realized her great potentials because of lack of selfless leadership. It is disheartening that Nigeria has not fulfilled the aspirations of her citizens after sixteen years of democratic government and a promising economy. In a few days, you will go to the polls to pick the man who will become president of Nigeria for the next four years. A great many Nigerians have expressed measured optimism on the outcome of the elections. Although, I share their skepticism, but I’m also hopeful, they would vote to break from the past and present – for the future of our beloved homeland. This hopefulness formed my decision to communicate with you through this medium. I therefore, implore you to read this letter in its entirety and open your minds to my plea to cast your vote where it would make a significant difference in the lives of common Nigerians who have suffered untold penury for the longest time and also for next generations to come.  
I cannot overemphasize the importance of this presidential election. This is the first time, in sixteen years, that two major political parties almost of equal size will fiercely compete for presidency of the nation. This is good for democracy. But the electorate must choose wisely at the polls.  This time, the choice you make at the polls will either set our nation on rapid progression or send it into irreversible regression and doom. Unlike past elections, this is a make or break for the nation – a choice between status-quo and steps forward in the right direction.  For all I know, voting status-quo will not produce any better results than we have had in the last sixteen years.  In fact, it will worsen the unprecedented moral and economic decadence that have long pervaded the country. 
Nigeria needs a clean break from her past and present. But breaking away from status-quo does not require just one decision made at one particular poll. It requires using effectively and very often the tools of democracy, such as freedom of speech, dissemination of democratic ideas and values, civil disobedience to seek social-political changes, and active participation in free and fair elections to elect good leaders and sack bad ones at each opportune election cycle. This is how democracy is irreversibly rooted in a society.  This is what is expected of the electorate in Nigeria.
As citizens in a democracy, you are responsible for the kind of governance you get through elections.  If you elect good leaders, you get good governance, and if you do otherwise, you get the resulting governance as well. Thus, you should vote politicians in and out of office based on their performances without any hesitation or remorse. In the United States, the electorates hire and fire politicians every two-year period – usually in mid-term elections – they don’t even wait for the presidential election that comes every four years.  This is an effective use of political franchise. Nigerians should emulate this democratic attitude by becoming active in democratic enterprise in order to secure an egalitarian society, build strong institutions and foster the rule of laws for all. 
Regrettably, Nigeria has enabled corruption into our lives for far too long. But there is something wrong with the larger society when government perpetuates the culture of corruption, and citizens look the other way, showing no consternation – glorifying corruption and ignoring its effect on development of the country. And for this, there are enough blames to go around – for leadership and followership in equal proportions. The leadership problem facing the country is not insurmountable if Nigerians would change their perspectives on corruption and begin to fight it whenever and wherever it raises its ugly head in society – whether in public or private sector.
Nigerians should begin to shun politicians who get into politics for the sake of stealing public funds – for there must be punitive consequence for stealing public funds. It is not enough to continually deride government and blame politicians for all that goes wrong in the country; but more importantly, it is inexcusable for citizens in a democratic society to neglect their sacred responsibility and civil liberties to check and balance the government they elect.  Nigerians must be fully engaged in their civic responsibility to change the society for the better.  Please, stand up and let your voices be heard – disturb the public order and protest peacefully when necessary to right a wrong – even if you are complacent and do not wish to perfect democracy – do it for posterity.  Today, Americans enjoy the freedoms for which their forbearers fought and died some two hundred years ago.  It is not too late for Nigerians to begin to build a legacy for next generations to come. 
Nigeria needs transformation from the economic abyss, social malaise, and utter corruption to a nation full of opportunities for her citizens. There are many things at stake in these elections, such as creating jobs for our youth, reforming deteriorated education system, devising health care and housing scheme for the masses, stabilizing power generation for household use and industrial operations to grow the economy, and fighting the ubiquitous corruption in both private and public sectors.  You, the electorates must vote for the leader who would realize these lofty goals. I therefore, implore you to vote for change in the next presidential election. If for anything, Change is good.  Change is your friend – Change is necessary – Change is a promise of good things yet to come.   
Fellow Nigerians, after careful analysis of the socio-economic situation and the need to lay solid foundation for Nigeria’s development, on behalf of Africa Monitor USA, I humbly endorse the candidacy of General Muhammadu Buhari for the office of executive president of Nigeria. General Buhari is a decent, honest and disciplined leader, whose love for Nigeria is immeasurable. He would immediately lift the country out of doldrums, unleash its great potentials and create prosperity for all citizens and posterity as well.   
As military head of state, Buhari shunned corruption in all forms and never amassed wealth at expense of the poor.  He is the only former head of government who never assigned blocks of oil to himself while in office – when other leaders even assigned blocks of oil to their concubines. It is not news to you that most past and current politicians operate foreign bank accounts to hoard stolen public funds – some of which are used to purchase aircrafts and expensive mansions in Abuja and across the globe.  But General Buhari has never operated foreign bank accounts; neither does he have an aircraft nor mansions in Abuja and across the globe. He detests inordinate ostentation and lives a humble life. These are the virtues that endear this great man to many Nigerians – including myself – who are clamoring for his victory at the next polls.   I plead that the electorates make his victory a reality. 
Finally, I beseech you to cast your votes for Muhammadu Buhari to become the next president of our great nation.  I have no doubt that Buhari’s leadership will bring immediate succor to the poor who are disenchanted with their government.  This is our last opportunity to change Nigeria for good. Please join us to make it happen in our lifetime.   And Nigeria would ultimately occupy her rightful position in the assemblage of great nations.   Please vote and guide your votes, it is a matter of your civic and sacred responsibility.
May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.       
Sincerely,
Nicholas Adelani Owoyemi, CFA
President, Africa Monitor USA, INC.

[myad]

A William Adams quote has recently gone viral. It reminds that: ‘There’s a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people’.

The evidence of how true this is can be seen from the show of military strength the morning after the announcement of the postponement of the 2015 elections. They went on exercise demonstrations which I witnessed on the streets of Lagos as I am told was the case in many cities around the country. The troops needed in the North East to wipe out BokoHaram in Six weeks, after five years of unsuccessful effort were somehow available to ‘to intimidate bloody civilians’, in the view of some people.

The truth was, I enjoyed watching the street exercise. From childhood one of my favourite spectacles has been watching soldiers in drills. If it was possible for me to join the Army, two magic moments could have been the lure; watching Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, then a younger officer, at the 1970 Independence Day Parade, and the late Gen. Joseph Nanvern Garba as a young Brigade of guards Commander were for me greater than watching a pop star. The purpose may have been to alert any potential protesters, after the postponement, that a mighty force lurks to respond, but for me, it was a nice pleasant throw back to an excitable childhood and early teens when a civil war raged and I saw soldiers both at the war front and in the rear, at Ibadan, after I resumed schooling there. This was as the soldiers were put to Rapid Result Truck Driving lessons at the Ibadan Garrison Organisation which I remembered more for its nice band, than with thoughts of War.

But talk about the street spectacles the day after the postponement of the elections got me thinking about how dutiful citizens unwittingly became so called enemies of the state. Having looked up at guns pointed at me, several times in the course of my life, by agents of the state, it seemed appropriate to reflect on how the state in search of real and imagined enemies, manages to make nation building more challenging.

First time a gun was pointed at me, execution style, was in a time of war. Had the trigger been pulled it would have qualified for war crimes, but no such trial could have taken place. Those who shot many in cold blood got away with it, a year earlier. It was at Asaba in 1968. Thousands of men had been lined up already and executed as they chanted ONE NIGERIA, a few months before. On this occasion, as a bunch of 12 to 15 year olds were being separated from the women and lined up, an officer showed up, and as the drama goes, slapped the NCO who was lining us up and ordered us moved to the refugee camp, from where a friend of my father, who was the Battalion Commander, ensured that I headed to Lagos where my father was and then to school in Ibadan where we actually were rather oblivious of a civil war taking place two hundred miles away.

Next time I looked at a gun threatening me, was as leading executive of a multinational company. I had joined a group of professionals to protest the annulment of the results of the 1993 Presidential elections.

If we excused that experience as an excess of military rule, the third time could not be so excused. That one followed the removal of so called petroleum subsidy in 2012. I thought something was wrong with pretending that petrol cost was all about subsidy. I had on several occasions challenged friends in downstream petroleum marketing that it was peculiar that in a margin-thin business that forced strategic thinking in which industry orthodoxy now recognised that to make money you take advantage of the traffic driven by the need for petrol to sell Groceries, hence Mobil’s Minimart, Total’s Bonjour, etc; that people assume that being a petrol retailer was presumed to be the installation of a money mint. I had a moral burden to make the point that what was called petrol subsidy was significantly a combination of corruption and inefficiency costs. I did not hesitate to answer the call of some young professionals to come out and demonstrate. Then the
civilian government sent in troops armed to the teeth to stop a group of unarmed, as some say, Champagne drinking middle and Upper Middle Class people at ‘Occupy Falomo’ who just wanted their voices heard on how their country was being run, a group that at a point included some high court judges, retired and serving. For the third time in my life uniformed agents of the state pointed a gun at my face and looked quite determined to pull the trigger. The people had become the enemies of the state, in the William Adams context.

My hope and my prayer is let the people not be the enemy again. The cost of the people as the enemy for Nigeria has always been high. And this is beyond financial costs. If the nation building goal and the Common Good are kept in view it must be obvious that all being able to put hands on deck, in a cooperative way, will advance good, more quickly.

Lyndon Baines Johnson, President of the United States in the 1960’s put it in a way only a Texan could: It is better for all to be inside the house, pissing out, than outside the house pissing in. This mantra was picked up by the Malaysians as their Prime Minister back in the late 1980’s, Mahathir Mohammed, chased a vision 2020. The visioning process in Malaysia was about consensus forging to get most into the house so the pissing is majority outbound. The limited skill of Nigerian politicians for pulling towards consensus seems for some reason to be poor. The quarrels became personal, rather than on issues and competing prisms through which reality is filtered.

If leadership is to show sagacity in Nigeria, job no 1 has to be diffusing the time bomb of division. So far the moment has given us the most divided Nigeria has ever been in my opinion, on ethnic, religious, ideological, regional and partisan lines. Conversation does not seem civil anymore. Examples of how Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe would go campaigning for his Party and Chief H O Davies will be doing same on the opposing side and, in the evening, one will drive to the other’s home, and pick them up to go and have a game of Tennis and a drink after. How did we lose that ethic? I still recall stories by Alhaji Maitama Sule about being scolded as a young MP and Minister, for not going across the Aisle to ‘greet’ more like pay homage, to the opposition leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, an older person deserving of his respect as a result.

We owe it to both the promise of Nigeria and the future of our children to stop inventing enemies of the state and to provide a climate for culture of building bridges that grace the path to the Nigerian melting pot. There may be competing models of a modus Vivendi in Nigeria; from those who take federalism so far it is almost a Bhantustanisation of Nigeria, to those who want a restoration of the federalism of the 1960’s on the one hand; to those who prefer a strong centre, on the other hand; no matter the shade bridges matter. It is these bridges that should be the focus, and not making enemies of the many citizens whose main desire is to see a state they can be cheerleaders for.

Thank God INEC had the wisdom to pick Valentine’s Day for the original date of the Presidential election. Perhaps we can reflect on the true meaning of love for to lead is to love and love a people is to be willing to sacrifice self for the good of all. To make the people the enemy is not to love them.

 –Pat Utomi, Political Economist and Professor of Entrepreneurship is founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership

[myad]