IWU AND ‘WURUWURU’ ELECTIONS
By Imohimi Uduigwome Airenevboise
An old Chinese saying states that “once a fish starts to rotten it starts from the head.” Leadership is supposed to provide direction, vision, guidance and inspiration. Without doubt these are presently lacking in the leadership of Independent Electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC).The rot in INEC can only be traced to its present leadership where Iwu presides like some form of archaic tin god that has lost touch with present realities.
In a sane nation Iwu ought to have resigned by now but instead has the audacity to use tax payers fund to organize a press conference to tell Nigerians that he doesn’t give a hoot what they think of him and that as far as he is concerned he is going to conduct the next election in Nigeria and anybody who is not happy with that might as well go and shout himself hoarse. It is this same audacity that made Iwu to arrogate to himself the power to interpret the Nigerian constitution and decide who is fit and unfit to contest an election in Nigeria. It’s this same obstinate behaviour that has brought our electoral process to this sorry state of riding rough shod over the will of the people by declaring his preferred candidates winners over the choice of the electorate. It was now left to the judiciary to restore the people’s mandate and their various judgments has brought joy to the people and restored their faith and hope in Nigeria which Iwu had tried to shatter through his ‘wuruwuru”(dubious) elections.
Has anybody asked how much INEC has spent on its legal teams at the various election cases across the country trying to defend the damage one man, Iwu, has done to the nation. Money that could have gone to critical areas of our economy if Iwu had acted as an unbiased umpire. In some of these judgments it was revealed that INEC did not act with probity. This is the same man that said he did a better job than his counter part in Ghana. The Nigerian election handled by Iwu was widely condemned within and outside Nigeria, while the recent election in Ghana was applauded internationally and by parties that lost the election in Ghana. Perhaps the icing of the cake was Iwu (obviously under a warped illusion) stating that he could he could have done a better job in conducting the recent election that ushered in Obama as the President of the United States of America. I believe it was after his obviously misguided statement on the American election that many people realized that Iwu, the Chairman of INEC was a comedian, and that all the elections he conducted were jokes!
Now we have more comedians in the nation in the guise of Senators taking time out of a busy schedule (that does not include discussing the growing poverty and insecurity in the nation) to educate, nay, interpret to Nigerians that Iwu cannot be sacked! Who abrogated to these Senators powers to interpret the constitution and the laws governing INEC? Is that not a function of the judiciary? As if that was not enough they went ahead to declare that INEC did a good job under the leadership of Iwu. The question that comes to mind is that were the Senators speaking on behalf of the senate or their constituency? Are we to believe that these Senators used tax payer’s money to organize a private press conference to give us their personal opinion on the recent calls for Iwu to be removed from office?
Is Iwu the only credible person available in Nigeria that can offer the right and purposeful leadership in INEC? There is a story about a Governor who was up for re-election but the people were opposed to his return owing to the fact that his performance during his first tenure in office was a woeful failure. When this was brought to the attention of the Governor’s Dad he simply said “when a child fails in a class is the child not allowed to repeat?” Perhaps the senators belong to the governor’s Dad school of thought. If people are saying that Iwu has failed, then he should be allowed to repeat by staying on as the INEC Chairman to conduct more elections.
Iwu should realize that he cannot mark his scripts in an exam, neither are his friends allowed to grade his papers. Ultimately chickens will come home to roost, good will triumph over evil and Iwu will definitely reap what he has sowed. Nigeria cannot and will not be held to ransom by Iwu and his friends. No matter what he thinks, the elections he conducted were nothing but a sham and an insult to the generality of Nigerians. The hope and aspirations of majority of Nigerians for a better electoral system managed by dedicated and capable hands will not and cannot be cut short by the obstinacy of a single man, no matter the godfather that brought him forth to be the INEC boss.
Imohimi Uduigwome Airenevboise
