With the declaration of Katsina State Gover-nor and Peoples Dem-ocratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate as President-elect yesterday, there were divergent views on the credibility of the process that led to the announcement of the result.
While President Olusegun Obasanjo called on Nigerians to look at what he described as “the larger picture”, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, described the result as the most fraudulent in Nigeria’s history and therefore unacceptable.
Shortly before the declaration of Yar�Adua as President-elect by INEC, Obasanjo, in his third national broadcast within a spate of one week, said all political parties have in one way or the other contributed to some of the imperfections noted in the general election.
The President, however, called on all Nigerians who have shown their undying love for the enthronement of democracy in the country, to forget their differences and �look at the larger picture�.
Dwelling on the divergent views that have trailed the elections, Obasanjo said �all Poli-tical Parties cannot absolve themselves of blame for some of the reported failings. Some political leaders are known to have openly fanned the embers of hate and violence, while some have engaged in outright subversive activity.�
The President said he was disappointed by the conduct of the political parties and their candidates that have employed thugs and violent means to secure what they consider �electoral victory�.
Nigeria, he said, “must show example to the rest of Africa and the world that we are capable of choosing our leaders peacefully and democratically�.
Obasanjo who advised Nigerians who feel aggrieved about the conduct, process and results emanating from the general elections to seek redress through constitutional means, added that �judging from the poll results of local and international pollsters, the results that have so far been declared have not deviated materially from the average projections of these polls.
“My advice to all those who feel aggrieved by the outcome of the elections is that they should avail themselves of the laid down constitutional procedure for seeking redress in electoral matters.
“INEC should aid the election tribunals in ensuring expeditious resolution of all cases that may come up by providing documents for plaintiffs and defendants alike.
�As our judiciary has shown, many of the observed lapses in the elections are not incapable of correction, and it is our hope that political parties, contestants and INEC will make available all information and evidence to enable the judiciary perform its functions.
“In the next five weeks, I hope the election and appeals tribunals will work earnestly to expeditiously adjudicate on all the disputes that will be brought before them. That way, mistakes and accidents can be corrected.
“My hope is that by the time the Election Tribunals and Appellate Courts complete the review of the cases before them, Nigerians will reconcile with one another and the nation will move on�.
He added that �elections are a process which allow for dissent and have in-built mechanisms for redress. Our constitution and legal system anticipate that participants in elections may feel aggrieved and therefore provide remedies.
“Our elections could not have been said to have been perfect. Specifically, logistical failures which resulted in voting materials arriving quite late in parts of the country inadvertently deprived some voters of their right to exercise their civic responsibility. “Violence in parts of the country has resulted in the reported deaths of some thirty policemen and over thirty-five civilians, and the attempted bombing of the INEC Headquarters.
“Cases of electoral fraud have also been reported from parts of the country in terms of multiple thumbing of ballot papers by individuals and groups, and ballot box snatching and destruction.
�All of these lapses have no doubt given rise to some of the complaints about the elections. It is evident that most of these lapses could have been avoided if certain individuals and groups had done what they should have done when they ought to have done them.
“It is my fervent wish that Nigerians will consider this experience as a necessary step in our journey as a people towards consolidating our democracy. After all, in another four years, there will be an opportunity for a fresh contest which I hope will take care of ballot paper and ballot box malpractices�, he added.
Obasanjo who said that Nigerians and non-Nigerians have contacted him over their observation of the polls, stated that he is personally �proud of the Nigerian people as they exercised great patience, suppressed all frustrations and waited for hours to discharge their civic responsibilities.
“By their action, Nigerians have shown a clear preference for, and faith in democratic governance. Nothing should be done to make our people lose faith in the electoral process and its democratic outcome.
�Fellow Nigerians, at this critical period, our focus should be on the larger picture of sustaining and consolidating our democratic process. We all have an abiding duty to our collective posterity to ensure that we do nothing to threaten our nation�s corporate existence and survival on the altar of political expediency.”
But Buhari’s statement differs from that of the President:
“Praise be to God to Whom all praise is due. INEC have announced to the world the most blatantly rigged election results ever produced in Nigeria surpassing even the massive fraud of 2003. Constituency reports from all over the country relate the same story: Late arrival of officials at polling booths. Late arrival of voting papers.
“Severe shortage of ballot, ink or writing materials. Presidential ballot papers arrived in loose form without serial numbers. More than half of the states of Nigeria received half or less the number of Presidential ballot papers due to them according to their registered voters. In short, more than half of the electorate have been disfranchised.
“Examples are many nationwide Borno State with 69,436 square kilometres and 3,393 polling units received only one-third of the required Presidential ballot papers and at sunset even these did not reach their destinations state-wide. When the voting closed two-thirds of the election materials were unused by bona fide voters.
“A former Attorney-General of the Federation reported that he along with some clergymen and judges went round Onitsha in Anambra State trying to vote without being able to do so.
“For all practical purposes there was no election in the whole of the Niger Delta, nor in Gombe state where electoral materials were kept in Government House and released piecemeal to some constituencies.
“In Kaduna State, a polling booth in Kaduna North with 505 registered voters received only 165 Presidential ballot papers and scores of willing voters who queued for hours were unable to vote.
“In fact, throughout the country voters queued and waited until they were told the polls had closed. Some turned up to vote and were told polling had finished!
“It was a travesty of an election. The ‘election’ was neither free nor fair nor credible. In a nutshell there has been no election worth the name in Nigeria on Saturday. The ‘election’ did not meet any national or international standards.
“I completely and whole-heartedly reject these results as a sham. It was a disgrace to Nigeria, a shame on INEC, a great dishonour to the PDP Government.
“My colleagues in the ANPP and our allies are carefully collating as much documentary evidence of the illegalities and irregularities committed by INEC and will be presented to the Nigerian people as a matter of public record.
“In the course of this election campaign, I have read with surprise vicious personal attacks on my person by government’s faceless supporters. Those who know me well know that I don’t bear grudges.
“I considered those untrue, libelous attacks on my person as the dark side of politics. Since entering partisan politics, I have studiously refrained from personal attacks and concentrated on issues. I believe for politics to be clean it has to hinge on issues, not personalities.
“We based our campaign on improving security to the Nigerian people; on rehabilitating infrastructure and building roads; providing water, providing drugs and equipment in hospitals, tackling Niger Delta problems and restructuring the administrative set-up of Nigeria to provide a more suitable framework for the country’s evolution and integration.
“We advocated for free and fair elections so that Nigerians would freely choose who to govern them. This, the Nigerian people have been denied.
“Democracy in Nigeria will survive only if the basic and elementary rules of democracy — free and fair elections for citizens to exercise their choice — are observed. The last elections did not meet even the barest minimum conduct even in a failed state where there is no law or order.
“Our political evolution is moving the opposite direction — a dangerous drift from rule of one party to a faction of the party and to one person. This is a drift towards modern slavery. This is what we are resisting. This is what we are rejecting, because neither democracy nor Nigeria can survive and prosper under these conditions.
“I am aware that the struggle against injustice and inequality is going to be a long and hard one, this is what I have dedicated my life to. It is now up to the Nigerian people to accept a status of slavery or to stand up and demand their rights.
“Let me once again assure my fellow countrymen and women that I entered into partisan politics and sought political office not to amass wealth or attain some position.
“My intention was to do my best to help Nigerian citizens to improve their lives in all ways. I remain committed to the Nigerian people in all circumstances as long as I remain alive.”
Apr242007