Open Letter to INEC Chairman

Open Letter to INEC Chairman

AREWA AGENDA- Dear Professor Mahmood Yakubu,

This is wishing you congratulations on the recent renewal of your appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari. No one was that lucky to have had the opportunity and privilege of heading the Independent National Electioral Commission (INEC) – going for eight years. May the almighty God, the supreme ruler, master of the universe, all knowing, and the author and finisher of all faiths, guide you as you prepare and provide leadership for 2023 general and other off season elections.

Should such reappointment pass through test of scrutiny on whether it is deserving or not, two major reasons would be attributed, and tied around the last Edo and Ondo state governorship elections. First, there was improvement in your performance as compared with those preceding the elections. A testimony to buttress this point was the zero litigation challenging credulity of the election in Edo State, except on pre-election matters. While the litigation in Ondo State is still undergoing adjudication but at the last count the petition was dismissed at the tribunal. The petitioner has proceeded to the appeal court.

The second reason was because of the posture of INEC, and partly due to international pressure. The neutrality by the Commission, to a great extent, was remarkable, and it is hoped it would sustain and adopt the same model for 2023 general elections. At least, no politician under the context of those elections have been slammed with visa restrictions by the US and UK governments. These two great English countries had issued statements during build-up to the elections which were widely reported in the media, warning political actors to stay away from acts capable of undermining the elections.

You should consider your reappointment as an opportunity to correct and rewrite your name in gold because the 2023 general elections would place you as INEC chairman on either good or bad side of history. You must recognise the fact that you have a date with history in whatever you do with the management and conduct of the process.

As someone who is well lettered, it is not in doubt whether you are unaware of the verdict of history, because you are vast and well grounded in that order, having graduated top of your class with First class degree in History, and been bestowed with the highest university academic award of a professor. Though, there are those who might not care and ignore whatever that is left of history for younger and unborn generations to interface with, despite impressive academic qualifications and professorial title. But there is no doubt whatsoever that you would not disappoint Nigerians and her genuine friends at the international community but to deliver on your mandate as stipulated by electoral acts, by allowing votes of Nigerians to count, and give good account of yourself to the satisfaction of larger numbers of Nigerians, as well as local and foreign observers.

Your commitment to stay true without compromise or playing to the gallery will also shape and deepen the country’s democratic practice. It will further reassure the faith and win the trust and confidence of Nigerians in the country. That way, you would be playing the role of a role model of either good or bad to tens and thousands, and millions of Nigerians. That also means in a literal fashion that you have no choice and place to hide, but to play the role of an unbiased umpire that you ought to play. This is imperative you take cognizance, because Nigerians and other foreign observers who would be on the field to monitor the elections are highly intelligent and discernible. They can tell whether the election under your leadership is transparent or contrived through institutional conspiracy, with active participation of security agents, or laced with tactical formalities, and assisted by armed thugs.

With your high academic standing, you should in good conscience, keep in mind and be ready to grade the 2023 general elections under your watch as supervisor who is supervising a PhD thesis by asking yourself these questions: Would I have graded such doctoral student below average, on the average, or above average. And could such thesis have won an award for the best academic research work? Your ability to provide objective answers to those is critical and germane to the survival of our democracy and electoral system. And it is hope you would someday have to provide convincing, sound, and logical answers, in a gathering of intellectual discuss, during paper presentation in seminars, and as an invited guest in conferences. Or, even in the classroom, if you chose to return to the university for your teaching profession.

Prof, the dawn of everyday is a mystery and special gift from God with events that comes with it without prompting and influence of any creature. Is it the slow transformation droplet of semen into human being in the womb, the birds that fly in the skies, and the flowers that grows in the forest, or green grass on the hillside, and the breaking of the day that ushered-in every night? These mysteries are also manifested in different ways and in whatever position one may hold in life, including the one you currently occupy.

As it is, Prof., the sincerity with which you would bring to bear on 2023 general elections will subtract or add credence to the perception about Nigerian Professors as tools being used to rig elections for politicians. You are the last scholar standing, to validate or invalidate such negative perception.

From the accounts which your CV mirrors to the world, without flattering or carrying out PR campaign, and any shadow of doubt, one could tell that nature has been very kind to you at every stage of your life. It is never in doubt that you are blessed with great intellect, impressive qualifications, and tall academic standing, with wide experience in academia, and operated at upper echelons in positions of public trust, having studied in top Western universities, written and published many academic books, headed the department of History at NDE, and led TETFUND until your present appointment. You have also headed various reform committees for Nigerian universities. Prominent among your enduring legacies, was the development of infrastructures and human capacity enhancement, a turning point in the physical infrastructural development of Nigerian public tertiary institutions, and deft move which initiated idea for the government sponsored academic programs – of lecturers overseas – for optimum performance.

Your salaries and allowances from your service to the country in all these places, plus proceeds from intellectual works, beyond whatever considerations, with moderate lifestyle of contentment, is enough to sustain you for the rest of your life. Therefore, you have no regrets and nothing to loose,  if you don’t carve in as willing tool in the hands of desperate politicians or any individual, to conduct credible elections for 2023. It is achievable and you can make the difference, more so, because you have a background with the academic community. And most academics, especially those in the social sciences, law, humanities or liberal arts, which you belong, are vocal, expressive, critical, and averse to disconnect between leaders and followers, bad governance and corruption, all of those, which most Nigerian politicians are notorious for.

The INEC as independent institution has the capacity to conduct credible elections. You have all that is required but not limited to, including electoral and constitutional latitude, managerial and intellectual capacity, security institutions of state, as well as financial resources, with the latter to be approved by national assembly – with which to navigate whatever storm which might constitute as clog in the credible wheel of progress. The last November 3rd presidential election in the US has proofed to the world that institutions are far greater and stronger than any individual, group, or political party’s interest. And neither are they answerable to fiefdoms, chiefs, or kings but only to extant laws, and to the constitution of the United States of America.

Professor Mahmood, there is need for you from time to time, to pause and take a deep breath, and ask yourself this questions, as you pilot affairs of the commission preparatory towards 2023 general elections, maybe when you are alone in the office or during quiet time in your studies: Why should I participate as witness to tears of many Nigerians who would perished daily on avoidable deaths in barely equipped public hospitals, and on the bad state of the Nigerian roads. Why should I act in manner that would deny present and future generations of young Nigerians from receiving quality education. Why should I be privy to deaths of Nigerians whose lives would be cut short simply because there are no fire facilities and provisions for logistics to fight fire outbreaks. Why should I be involved to plant a leadership that would not bother about the establishment and resuscitation of new and ailing companies in the country. Why should I stand as barrier for entrenchment of democratic culture. Why should I renege or fail on the oath which I have sworn to uphold, against God, my faith, country, and the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria?

Though, there are those who might view the above questions as waste of time, considering the type of candidates major political parties usually field for elections, as they would most likely ignore and never pay attention to issues raised in those questions when elected into public office. But nevertheless, there is need for you to ensure sanctity of the ballot and be neutral, for the entrenchment of democratic values with strong institutions is a gradual process, and true leadership would emerge at appropriate time. Thus your ability to provide objective answers to the questions would require taking high moral ground, not acquiescing yourself with atrocious tendencies for the artificial sufferings imposed on preponderance of Nigerians by few politicians. But how to resist pressure from various individuals, interest groups, and other primordial sentiments, would not be easy. After all, some of your successors – Professors – like Humphrey Nwosu and Atahiru Jega, never found it easy. They resisted pressures against all odds at their respective period, and conducted the most credible and transparent elections in the history of Nigeria. And there were few and no litigation by the opposition party to challenge the outcome.

Your intervention to moderate and superintend over free, fair, and transparent elections for 2023 has become even more imperative because, as Chinua Achebe had remarked in Things Fall Apart, “since the birds have learned to fly without perching, the hunter have also learned to shoot without missing”. It is therefore hoped you would put in place necessary measures which would make it difficult for politicians to rig general elections in 2023. You must not give them the oxygen to breath.

All the best, Prof., as you take on this onerous and daring task of national assignment, and may INEC under your leadership succeed. May the verdict of history also be kind to you.

BY ALADE NGBEDE

Arewa Agenda is a publication of young writers and journalists from Northern Nigeria geared towards peaceful coexistence and national development through positive narratives.