Democracy Day: Lawmakers notorious bribe-seekers, says Jega

Immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, has described National Assembly members as notorious bribe-seekers. Jega also expressed concerns over the anti-graft war of the present administration, saying government was focusing more on embezzlement and theft, rather than tackling bribe-giving and beaming a searchlight on state and federal governments’ institutions.

He made the accusations yesterday in a lecture titled: “Peace building and Good Governance for Sustainable Development in Nigeria,” organised to commemorate the 2018 Democracy Day at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. The university don urged the present administration to resist the temptation of restricting its ongoing anti-corruption war to embezzlement and theft, stressing that the scope of fight should be extended to cover bribe-taking and giving, especially in government agencies. “The fight against corruption has to be intensified in all its ramifications. There are many successes achieved which are commendable, but the magnitude of the problem on the ground is turning these into drops in ocean. “Members of the National Assembly engage in bribetaking when they pursue Committee works and oversight and I wonder what is happening with intelligence and investigative responsibilities of security agencies in policing our National Assembly.

“Some chairmen of the committees in the National Assembly have become notorious on this issue of demanding for bribe with impunity. I have passed through the university system, I have heard so many stories of many vice chancellors about the horror that they go through on question of budget and socalled oversights assignments. “I am not saying that chief executives are saints, but all we are saying is that we must point the searchlights so that Nigerians, and particularly, public office holders should have basic common decency and integrity by which they discharge their responsibilities, because virtually everybody seems to forget about what is going on.”

Jega also noted that the violent party primaries and the delay in the passage of electoral framework were threats to the conduct of the 2019 elections. While expressing concerns over increased incidences of hate speeches by political actors, opinion and religious leaders, Jega said this would also have adverse effect on the 2019 general elections. “The first thing to consider is electoral violence, and there is no better way to address this than what happened in recent party congresses and its potential danger. If political parties cannot organise their internal elections peacefully, how can they engage the other parties with civility in the general elections? “It is very important that this is addressed because if there is crisis in the elections, some of these issues are outside the scope of electoral commission, but in the end it is the electoral commission that gets blamed. “

It is important that we improve our systemic mechanisms of addressing violence and conflicts related to elections, and in particular, improving the score of internal democracy within political parties,” he said. On the delay in passing the amended Electoral Act, Jega said it was important that INEC gets a better electoral legal framework in place for 2019 general elections than what obtains in 2015 general elections. He said unbridled utterance facilitates electoral violence in general elections, and that it would undermine the integrity of the 2019 elections if not properly tamed based on rule of law.

Also speaking at the event, President Muhammadu Buhari, jeered at former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godsday Orubebe, over his drama and protest during collation of results of the 2015 Presidential elections at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. Reflecting on events leading to the conduct and announcement of the results of the 2015 general elections, the president jokingly said he was surprised that the organisers of the programme did not invite the former minister to grace the occasion. He said inviting Orubebe would have afforded him the opportunity to listen to Professor Jega, the former INEC chair’s lecture on good governance. “Here, I must digress to raise an observation by the programme’s organisers because I did not see Mr. Orubebe, who ought to have come and listen to Professor Jega delivering this lecture. This is a major observation.

“That instance, for those of us, who were lucky that there was light, and we have the television to see the confrontation between Mr. Orubebe and Professor Jega, it will make a life impression as it’s made in some of us,” he said. The President also spoke on corruption, stressing that the present administration would not relent in its efforts to eliminate the menace of corruption in spite of the strong opposition against such moves in some quarters. He said the country’s security situation had greatly improved against the background of what the present government had inherited in 2015. “Incidences of bombings in towns and villages have been drastically curtailed, series of plots have been averted with many culprits arrested through the vigilance, patriotism and professionalism of security agencies,” he said.

He said government would continue to equip and prepare troops to confront agents of violence, until total victory is attained. The president also said the economy had been improving with government achieving its objectives, including increased food production and food security, rapid economic diversification into sectors that were hitherto neglected or underexplored. He said the country’s foreign reserves had also reached new heights. NLC slams political leaders Also in its assessment, the Nigeria Labour Congress said the 18 years of democracy in the nation had benefitted the political class and not the average Nigerian.

In a statement issued yesterday, NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, however, said, despite the inability of democracy to meet the expectations of Nigerians, “it still remains the best form of government.” “While we celebrate democracy’s irreplaceable gift of freedom, liberty and popular representation, the truth remains that this democracy has served the political class and not the average Nigerian. But we will continue to support all processes that will enthrone or perfect our democracy.

“So, for us in Nigeria, it is perfectly fitting to ask ourselves “how has democracy served the people of Nigeria?” In our view, 18 years is long enough a time to ask ourselves how much progress we made as a people in our democratic journey. The truth is that 18 years of democracy has come with very sparse rewards for the Nigerian people,” the statement read in part. He said Democracy Day “reminds Nigerians that we are on a democratic journey which aff ords us the space to review how far and how well this journey has progressed.

“Unfortunately, those we elected to serve as democratic leaders have not only turned around to serve themselves but continue to exploit every given opportunity to turn the rest of us into paupers in our own land.” The labour leader further said, “democracy that does not allocate resources in a manner that ensures equity, justice and sustained national development or cohesion. It is beggarly.”

He said in spite of the efforts made by the Buhari administration to fight corruption, “corruption keeps fighting back more viciously.” “Despite escalating costs of living, devaluation of the Naira and general hardship in the land, the Nigerian worker is still forced to survive on N18, 000 as minimum wage with not a few states owing backlog of salaries and pensions. “How well has this democracy uplifted the spaces where we live and work? Without prejudice to the effort of this government, our infrastructure is still in tatters. Our roads are impassable and public electricity supply remains epileptic. Our schools and health facilities have become sorry relics of what they used to be in the first decade post-independence,” he said.

“Our electoral processes are improving by the day; the same cannot be said of elections conducted by State Electoral Commissions. Worse still, we are worried by the political intolerance of governors and their philistinal behaviour, completely at variance with what obtains at the centre. “There is also no better time to demand accountability from the popular side – ourselves – than now. What have we done with our votes? What will we do with our votes in 2019 and in elections that would take place before and after then? Our destiny is our hands to shape,” Wabba added.

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