Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu has listed pitfalls that need to be avoided if the 2015 elections must be held without hitchs.
Professor Iwu, in a statement today by RealNews magazine, was quoted as saying at the second anniversary lecture of the online news magazine in Lagos that the 2015 doomsday predictors need to be put to shame by all means.
The former INEC boss, who was the guest lecturer at the event, expressed confidence that those who predicted Nigeria’s collapse in 2015 will fail but that it is not good enough for the country not to take urgent steps to address such issues as electoral violence, influence of money politics, the negative mindset of Nigerians, internal democracy within the political parties and the reluctance of women to participate in politics and elections.
Professor Iwu insisted that everything must be done to ensure that violence does not mar the elections, even as he observed that already, there are signs that some Nigerians who are desperate for power at all costs would do just anything in the bid to achieve their aims.
He said such people are those giving the doomsday prediction that Nigeria would break up in 2015 more grounds to spread.
He said that following closely on the heels of the issue of violence is the mindset of Nigerians that the country can never do anything right.
According to him, such a negative mindset does not even enable Nigerians to celebrate the feats that were achieved by the country in the past.
He cited the 2007 elections that culminated in the transition from one democratic government to another as a major watershed that was not valued by Nigerians.
He noted that when Pakistan achieved similar feat, the country celebrated it, while Nigerians rubbished it.
“INEC is made up of human being. They can make mistakes.
“We should encourage the correction of those mistakes rather than throwing the system into chaos.”
Professor Iwu wanted the influence of money in politics to be curbed, even as he wanted discipline internal democracy in parties to flourish.
According to him, it is with such political behavours that those with great ideas who are not moneybags can freely partake in the political process.
He said that the multiplicity and jumping of parties in Nigeria was because politicians believe that they cannot get justice in one party or the other.
On the involvement of few women in politics, Professor Iwu said that Nigeria cannot make the giant leap forward until more women are involved in the political process.
He said that if the environment becomes right, there would be very little need for the involvement of the police and military in the electoral process.
“Political parties are becoming the preserve of an exclusive few. We exclude our best and brightest and this should not be so.
“The electoral environment has its own peculiarities, which must be addressed. The prospect for future elections are very bright.
“We should have faith in ourselves, but note that mistakes must be made.”
The Managing Director of Nigerian Export-Import Bank, Roberts Orya, said that Nigeria must continue to improve on its leadership.
Orya, who spoke on the topic: “Economics implications of getting the right leadership” noted that leaders leverage on the quality of people around them, adding that good leaders are those who are capable of managing the people and resources available to them.
He said that it is better for leaders to make a decision that is unpopular than not to make one, adding that the notion that a leader must know it all is wrong.
The Publisher and Editor of RealNews, Maureen Chigbo, described the lecture as the online portal’s contribution to the development of Nigeria.
Chigbo said the magazine hopes to do more in the years ahead. [myad]
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