Impressions And Conclusions From Iwu

Impressions And Conclusions From Iwu’s Release Of Election Report In America

Jimmy Osifo

Virginia Beach USA

After reading some essays posted to the internet on the subject of Maurice Iwu’s recent trip in this month of December to America to release the report of the 2007 general elections held in Nigeria, I decided to also write my own impressions and conclusions based on my personal and first hand observations of how the two events turned out. The first event was the one in downtown Washington DC in the morning, and the second was at the Nigerian Embassy in Northwest Washington DC that commenced in the evening and ended quite late at night. Present at the morning event at the Press Club in Washington DC and known or introduced to me were: Banjo (who ran for Governorship in one of the Southwestern States under NCP); Harris Ugo Ukandu (a pro-democracy analyst based in Washington DC); Ambassador Usman Baraya (acting Nigerian envoy to the United States); Colonel Bello Fadille (who I was told is INEC legal adviser or something of that nature); Dr. Amanze Obi (of the SUN editorial team); Sunny Ofili (who moderated); Andy Ezani (who also moderated); Derrick Edwards (a white American who represented some pro-democracy think-thank based in the US); Dr. Tamuno Jonathan (a research scholar out somewhere in the Washington DC area); one Mamman (whom I believe to be a Professor out in Arkansas, USA); Robert Ngwu (President? of NIDO); Professor Mobolaji Aluko (a lecturer in Washington, DC); Sam Uwandu (a former gubernatorial candidate of PDP in Imo State); Dr. Uzoma; Dr. Stanley Onye and the Nigerian Defense Attaché (these last two I noticed at the evening event at the Embassy); and a host of others numbering about ninety-five, by my rough headcount. I noticed that Igbos of the South East were in slight majority both at the US National Press Club and Nigerian Embassy events but this did not surprise me because we all know from US Census Data that of the odd 3 million Nigerians residing in the US, Igbos constitute about 60% (over 1.6 million) or even up to 2 million by some credible estimates. So, in every official function in America open to all Nigerians, Igbos always dominate by numbers and professional stature and they are quite vociferous – something that intimidates some non-Igbos in the US, but not including me, maybe because of my minority origins. But it appears from an article by Mobolaji Aluko that the majority Igbo presence intimidated him, and what I have to say below will indicate as such.

Let me begin my account with the Guest of Honor, Professor Maurice Iwu. I must confess that I came to the event that day prepared to heckle and embarrass him, but when I heard the man speak and read portions of his preface in the Election Report, I had sort of a baptism of fire. The man had cold facts and figures to back up his claims of an attempt by some political types to stop the election, and that made me wonder why I had not figured it out before even when most of the information Iwu reeled out has been in plain view all along. I found further comfort with Iwu’s version of events when I noticed a telling pattern on the part of two or three folks who attempted to join issues with him. The first was the guy from out Southwestern Nigeria who did not know the name of his Electoral Commissioner and the name of his political party sounded like one of those new ones with no numbers yet to win any elections including even a councillorship, not to talk of Governorship; the second was Mobolaji Aluko, who appeared driven by a personal vendetta against Iwu and some axe to grind with what he alleged to be Igbo’s domination of the leadership of INEC; and the third is the former Senatorial candidate who did not know his constituency well enough to figure that actual polling was done manually and not electronically. I don’t remember his party platform, except that I am certain it is not one of the major four major parties we have for now.

Next is something I read on the Internet (culled from Nigerian Tribune) to the effect that Iwu had garnered the valuable endorsement of Nigerian Lawyers in Diaspora. That is true. I noticed that a lot of lawyers were in attendance both at the morning and evening events and that told me that they probably quickly organized as a group to attend and see things for themselves as a basis to form an opinion based on facts. And I have also noticed from previous press clippings that these lawyers have lately taken up the matter of rising to the defense of Nigeria’s image abroad. So, rather than questioning their integrity as Professor Aluko tried to do in his article, I think anybody that loves our country and wishes her well should praise the Lawyers’ efforts or simply let them be for merely exercising their right of airing their opinion on a public policy matter. I couldn’t help but notice that Aluko did not attack Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) for also expressing a view a few days ago that called on Iwu to resign. I also gathered that Nigerians in Diaspora as a whole have endorsed the INEC report and have come out with a position in support of the growing notion that Iwu bears no culpability for any problems that might have been encountered during the elections. And, then I went into some Nigerian news websites and noticed that Professor Aluko is attacking Iwu and distorting some of what occurred at the morning event. He said something about “prevailing” in an exchange between him and Iwu, and that made me wonder if Professor Aluko thought he was in some kind of high school debate with Iwu. In fact, I admired Iwu the more for giving those that he knew will always attack him the opportunity to even get close to an environment that was completely under his control. It says a lot about the fine character of a man who strives to find some accommodation for those openly hostile to his person and office. And I counted Aluko (and even myself) honored because other Nigerian officials are known to be averse to such access when they come here to America. To my mind, Aluko breached the basic rules of decorum and cannons of intellectual exchange by attempting to get personal with Iwu, and I am almost certain that he deliberately avoided the reception at the Embassy because he might have sensed that he would not be received well at a place that exists for protecting and advancing the interests of Nigeria. That he is now hiding under the obscurity offered by a faceless website and writing against Iwu and the Igbos now convinces me that Iwu had been right all along when he charges that this whole thing is not about some irregularities but is propelled by some evil plots and frustrations fed by a failed effort to stop the presidential elections.

My conclusions now follow: One - Professor Maurice Iwu’s press briefings should continue because through them Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora are becoming more informed about what happened before, during and after the elections from someone in authority with firsthand information. Two – the report by the EU observer Group (or whatever) is not credible because it is plausible that Iwu annoyed them by refusing their money, denying them presence at INEC’s meeting, and above all rejecting their illegal request for the biometrics (including fingerprints) of over 60 million Nigerians, apart from the glaring fact that their report on the 2007 elections seemed to be a plagiarism of the same thing they said in 2003 both in terms of choice of words and substance. Three – Iwu should be praised for his courage in standing up to the several interests that wanted to prevent the presidential elections from being conducted, and it was this singular act of courage that assured Nigeria her first civilian to civilian transition in history. Four – Nigeria should never take any grants from any foreign government to conduct our elections because those grants come with conditionalities that breach our national security and make us seem like a self-disrespecting ‘banana republic’ (to borrow Iwu’s words) and Nigeria is not too poor to provide the relatively low funding required for elections. Five – as the local government elections (NOT conducted by Iwu) demonstrate, the problem of elections in Nigeria and amongst Nigerians is institutional and cultural with Nigerians everywhere (including us in the United States) and therefore is not the fault of Iwu alone. Aluko himself confirmed this when he said in his article that Robert Ngwu and Ola Kassim were fighting over headship of NIDO, and also admitting to stoking the fire when he attacked Ngwu’s integrity for mentioning that he led NIDO (which is true). Even in amongst Nigerian town unions in America, Nigerians take each other to court over who becomes Chairman of a branch of a town union. Iwu has shown the way out because he seems to possess the strong character and fitness Nigeria needs in a federal electoral umpire. And so, Nigeria needs to adopt a new system of permanent tenure for Chairmanship of INEC like Ghana and other countries which have done so with much success in order to retain the skills of those like Iwu who represents the best chance at giving Nigeria an election that leads to something (not one that gets annulled or stopped midstream). Six – Iwu is right that most parties and candidates lost because they didn’t have the requisite numbers to win elections, and those that won did so for the opposite reason. Contrary to Aluko’s befuddlements, this is an issue appropriate for comments by Professor Iwu because he meant to serve a note of warning to parties to be better prepared next time around. Seven – as Aluko’s essay reveals, a lot of folks are attacking Iwu because of their personal frustrations with his tenure as INEC Chair - it is either they could not compromise him or prevent the elections from holding or that they had some personal spats with him when he was still in Washington DC as an enviable research scientist, coupled with their professional frustrations on not being able to return to Nigeria with as much a stature or exalted office as Professor Iwu garnered for himself. Eight – why did the first aircraft dispatched to convey our ballots suddenly develop no-wings and failed to fly back our presidential ballots from South Africa five days to the presidential election? Who instigated such a stunt that threatened Nigeria’s national security and nearly scuttled our nascent democracy? Who would have benefited from a forced and sudden postponement of the presidential election had Iwu not surmounted this hurdle by quickly engaging another aircraft to fly back the ballots? Who knew what, and when did they know it? This is the sort of pertinent fact Aluko and other Iwu-bashers love to ignore. Nine – Orji Kalu of PPA deserves respect and honor from all Nigerians for helping stabilize Nigeria at a critical time by joining President Yar’Adua’s government of national unity and also refraining from ever bad-mouthing our country and her government. That augurs well for Nigeria and its efforts to earn diplomatic respect amongst comity of nations. Ten and finally – Professor Maurice Iwu’s tenure as INEC Chair (not Commissioner) expires in 2010 (and not 2008 as mischievously stated by Aluko) and Aluko should refrain from egging President Yar’Adua to force Iwu’s resignation just to pave way for a “Northerner” as replacement (Aluko’s words). Aluko is stoking ethnic conflict and mocking the Igbos at the same time by making inflammatory statements that can set the stage for a nasty ethnic confrontation between the North and South East, and I advise South Easterners not to fall for it, but to be galvanized by such cheap ethnic-baiting to fight for their place in the national scheme of things, including insisting on Iwu retaining the Chairmanship of INEC, or even going further to press that the man be reappointed in 2010. It is this sort of subtle suggestion that Igbos don’t deserve critical national assignments that led to the fall of three Igbo Senate presidents, which people like Aluko turned around and celebrated. Yorubas say: “Yoruba Ronu” (Yoruba Think). I say “Igbos Ronu” (Igbos Think). And finally and most importantly, I hereby recommend that Maurice Iwu should be reappointed INEC Chair when his term expires in 2010 as a reward for his patriotism and courage. Nigeria needs a man of his mettle and steel to keep unruly politicians in line and give us yet another transition from Yar’Adua to someone else; unless Iwu decides on his own freewill to resign to prepare to run for office to become the first Executive President of Igbo extraction.

Jimmy Osifo wrote in from Virginia Beach, USA. josifo@yahoo.com