Buhari’s electoral travails

Most Nigerians these days listen to President Muhammadu Buhari’s broadcasts and speeches either out of forced habit or patriotic fervour. The broadcasts or speeches, even when well written, are often delivered devoid of pathos or cadence. They are always flaccid. And they seldom rivet or arrest the attention of the listener.

But beyond the usually garden variety and mediocre deliveries, Nigerians are put off by the president’s abysmal failures. He failed woefully to reciprocate their huge goodwill. He failed in delivering on the legion of rosy promises which he made to them in the past. His solemn pledges to turn around the economy, to tackle corruption and insecurity head-on and to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty have, alas, proved to be ruses.

Consider the prevailing reality: Not less than ninety five million(95) Nigerians live below the poverty line. Nigeria has a youth unemployment of 19.61%. Inflation has shot through the stratosphere, crossing the 20% threshold. And until a few weeks ago, Nigeria had become a vast killing field, with terrorists, kidnappers and bandits operating with recklessness. Little wonder, not a few commentators have made a mince meat of President Buhari’s 62nd Independence Broadcast paragraph by paragraph and ad seriatim.

In view of the foregoing, this treatise shall not be concerned with the entire broadcast but shall focus on one or two pivotal ones which referenced the electoral process and which, in my humble view, have serious implications for our democracy. In paragraph 40 of the broadcast, the President asserted that:”You would all agree that the recent elections in the past two years in some states(notably Anambra, Ekiti and Osun) and a few federal constituencies have shown a high degree of credibility, transparency and freedom of choice with the people’s votes actually counting. THIS I PROMISE WOULD BE IMPROVED UPON AS WE MOVE TOWARDS THE 2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS.”(Emphasis mine.)

It is valid that the Executive and Legislative Branches play crucial roles in facilitating the work of the Election Management Body(EMB) by way of budget appropriation and improvement of the legal framework. But it is grating – indeed irritating – that the President consistently chimes each time the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) conducts a superlative election. Besides, his aforementioned comment amounts to an inelegant usurpation of INEC’s constitutional mandate and creates the insalubrious impression that the Commission is the Executive’s poodle.

The commitment or assurance to conduct improved elections in 2023 is not for the President to give. It is INEC’s. In any case, if we were to go by his dithering and hackneyed arguments before he assented to the Electoral Bill, President Buhari’s bona fides as an avatar of credible elections are suspect.

Other Presidents made concerted, behind-the-scene efforts to facilitate credible elections. Under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s watch, the Optical Mark Recognition(OMR) technology plus still cameras were introduced. So were the Direct Data Capture Machines(DDCMs) used to pilot electronic registration. President Umaru Yar’adua empaneled the Justice Uwais Committee on Electoral Reforms. The Permanent Voter Card(PVC) and the Smart Card Reader(SCR) were introduced by President Goodluck Jonathan. In spite of these remarkable accomplishments, I am yet to hear of any of these gentlemen boasting about these achievements or appropriating them.

As if President Buhari’s chest thumping was not vain enough, he proceeded to state in the same broadcast that:”Having witnessed at close quarters, the pains, anguish and disappointment of being a victim of an unfair electoral process, the pursuit of an electoral system and processes that guarantee election of leaders and citizens remains the guiding light as I prepare to wind down our administration.”

It is relieving to hear that the president is concerned with a process that guarantees transparent elections. That is one of the ways to enhance the electoral process and to grow our democracy. But it is disturbing to hear of the president’s obsession with his electoral travails. This growing obsession, and its mention at several fora and for the umpteenth time, smacks of maudlin, an abiding self-pity and a self-righteous streak for which the president is renowned. Let me admit that the electoral process, until now, was not a paragon or epitome excellence. But the process has been credible to the extent that electoral outcomes reflected the intent of voters.

Having said that, let me state categorically that some of the president’s alleged electoral travails were self-created and self- inflicted. By virtue of the Majoritarian and First-Past-The-Post presidential system which we practice, for a candidate to emerge victorious in a presidential contest, he has to secure the highest votes cast in such an election. He must also, by virtue of Section 134 of the 1999 Constitution(as amended), secure “not less than one quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”

In spite of millions of his ardent supporters in certain sections of the country, it was not until 2015 that President Buhari met the requirements of the law in order to win the presidency. And when he successfully crossed the constitutional threshold, INEC did its rightful duty by declaring him as winner of the presidential elections in 2015 and 2019. Until the advent of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which was the consequence of a merger, the President scarcely canvassed for votes in the Southern part of the country. Yes, he made some few and niggardly sorties to Ibadan, Lagos and Port Harcourt. But even if he were the most charismatic and beloved of candidates, courtesy demanded that he reached out to all parts of the country and several times.

For reasons best known to him and his strategists, he restricted his campaigns to the North, where he had a captive and fanatical following. There was no way he could have been declared winner in such circumstances without the commission visiting violence to the law. This point is worth restating, even if to put to rest the president’s incessant whining and the fact that we are at the cusp of another general elections in which the book makers are unanimous that the presidential election is a three horse race.

Dazang writes from Abuja