By Luke Onyekakeyah
Once upon a time, the tortoise went to visit his in-laws. While he was there, a stubborn nanny goat picked his apparel, chewed and damaged it. That was a big problem. His in-laws were bothered with what happened. They didn’t know what to do.
The tortoise said to his in-laws, you see that your goat has chewed and torn my apparel; I will not ask you to pay for it but I will not go home naked. His in-laws were confused. They were in a serious dilemma. The tortoise left them and went ahead with other activities. At the end, his in-laws had no choice than to get another apparel, which they gave to the tortoise. The tortoise was happy.
This
is a fairy tale with lesson to learn as it applies to the elections in Nigeria.
Rigging elections is a culture in Nigeria. The success of any rigged election
depends on who is affected; the person whose mandate is stolen. There are
people whose mandate is stolen and the culprit goes free. But there are others
whose mandate cannot just be stolen like that. Election rigging has persisted
in Nigeria because all the riggers have succeeded and gone scot free. They have
not met someone who cannot just give up. The day they will meet a hard rock,
rigging will stop.
In
the animal kingdom, all animals are said to be equal but some are more equal
than others. There are some animals you can toy with but there are others you
cannot mess up with. No animal tries to eat the cub of a lion. It is just not
possible.
The story of the tortoise and his in-laws is relevant in the just
concluded elections in Nigeria that have pitched the presidential candidate of
the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi (PO) against INEC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and
the All Progressives Congress (APC) in court. I see this case going the way of
the tortoise and his in-laws. The tortoise is the wisest animal in the animal
kingdom. Knowing PO from unique antecedents, like the wise tortoise, he
will not just go home naked after his mandate was stolen in broad daylight. PO
will dig to the bottom of this case until no stone is left unturned.
PO’s opponents are banking on the unenviable precedents of
election rigging and the court cases that followed. Everyone of them is
refraining the same chorus – nobody has ever won a presidential election in
court. They are working on the logic that present court case would end up like
the previous ones. But they forget that the only court case that involved PO
was when his mandate was stolen in Anambra State in 2007 and he went to court
to reclaim his mandate at the Supreme Court. We all saw how it went together
with the kangaroo impeachment that was meted on him by the state House of
Assembly.
That should prove all those chorusing that nobody has won his
mandate back in court wrong. PO, It should be stressed is a different species.
If you are in court with him, why would you not be apprehensive?
Unlike most politicians in Nigeria, who are self-seeking, PO is
altruistic He is concerned with the welfare of the masses and least about
himself. Again, unlike most politicians who could be cornered and asked
to make a demand and say whatsoever they want for them to abandon the case, you
can’t bribe PO with money or anything. You can’t bribe PO with money, house,
land, position or anything else. It is a no-go area as far as PO is concerned.
Those who are in court with PO over his alleged stolen mandate are
in real trouble because they have jammed a rock and cannot move further. They
should consider themselves unlucky to be confronted with PO. As it were,
everyone involved or connected with PO’s case should be extra careful to avoid
getting entangled as PO will not tolerate any obstacle.
It is incumbent on the judges/justices to maintain their
integrity. A lot of Nigerians have lost confidence in the judiciary because of
untoward activities perpetrated by the judges/justices. There are many cases of
blatant injustice given as verdict by the courts that have brought opprobrium
to the judiciary. Those going to adjudicate PO’s case should be very careful to
avoid exposing themselves. From all indications, this case is going to make
history because it is going to be a different kettle of fish.
PO
is in court to contest his mandate, which he said was stolen on February 25
presidential and National Assembly elections. The INEC that supervised the
elections was supposed to upload the real time results from the polling booths
using the much talked about Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machine.
But INEC failed to do that for the presidential election results.
There was overwhelming vote for PO and his Labour Party (LP)
across the country. For instance, for the first time in history, LP, a
non-incumbent party won Lagos the undisputed stronghold of Bola Ahmed Tinubu
and his APC party. Furthermore, Abuja FCT, the seat of the Federal Government
was won by the LP. Indications making the rounds show that apart from the
blatant voter intimidation, suppression and violence that were perpetrated in
PO’s strongholds, Nigerians showed enormous support for PO and his LP.
Up to this moment I am writing, the polling booth where I voted in
the presidential election has not been uploaded onto the INEC iREV portal. I
have checked several times but the iREV is still showing No result. The
question is where then did INEC get the results it announced to declare Bola
Ahmed Tinubu as president-elect?
As things stand, the die is cast. Like a sleeping lion, PO has
been awakened from sleep. Those who awakened the lion are in danger. The
outcome of the PO’s court case will shape future elections in Nigeria.
*Dr. Onyekakeyah is a public intellectual
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