The recently concluded presidential election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has been acclaimed as one of the best elections ever witnessed in the FCT. This statement is true with facts emanating from the comments made of the election by local and international observers alluding to the fact that the election has been generally fair and peaceful. This accolade has made the FCT the example of how elections can be held without the meddling of major players and the government of the day.
It is amazing and disturbing to see that instead of applauding this perfect feat as achieved in the FCT where the people are left to vote freely and peacefully without the coercion, intimidation and inducements of voters and the political class as often witnessed in our sordid political past. Some became critical of the Minister of the FCT, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, for not employing this same tactics in winning the elections by any way possible for the ruling APC and President Muhammadu Buhari. This can be seen from comments, statements and even press releases by some disgruntled politicians who are pro-maintain the status quo of the old order of the past against the new form of politics regime of the Bello administration. When results of the recently concluded presidential and parliamentary elections began to trickle in and it was confirmed that the APC lost the majority votes in the FCT, alarm bell quickly went off in some quarters fingering the minister as being responsible for the APC’s defeat and that of the president.
The claim was that the minister’s reluctance to approve money in contravention of the change mantra of the Buhari administration for the purposes of elections in the FCT may have ruined the chances of the APC in the capital city. Those making this allegation are the ones that against all efforts by the Bello administration to see the change mantra as a policy that has come to stay, cling to the dark ages of our country’s electioneering history where our elections are characterised mainly by financial inducements of voters, electoral officers and umpires, among others.
The minister in conformity with the democratic wish of the present administration to deepen the democratic processes allowed the wish of the people to prevail, irrespective of the fact that the ruling party is a participant in the election. The election was conducted in a peaceful atmosphere while the people’s will was allowed to prevail but this is a democratic crime to those who did not wish our country any good. In keeping with the promise of making probity and accountability his administration’s watch word at all times, Mohammed Bello deserves to be commended by all rather than being vilified.
I have not seen anywhere in the world that a leader is criticised for doing the right thing as our amiable minister has demonstrated in the last three and half years of his appointed as FCT minister. He has been a respecter of the rule of law and all extant laws of the country which is exemplified by his creation of the enabling environment in the FCT to make our democracy grow.
I want to state clearly here that what happened in the FCT is that the will of the majority was allowed to prevail in a very peaceful atmosphere as the minister promised before the elections. It is a promise fulfilled to the glory of God. The minister at no point promised that he would deliver the FCT to the president or anybody as he had only one vote to deliver to the president and the people have the right to cast theirs to any party or individual of their choice; this is democracy in action. He only gave reasons, and soundly too, of the need for the electorate to vote for the APC and invariably the president to continue the people-oriented policies of his administration. He also promised that the elections would be conducted in a peaceful atmosphere unlike the past dispensation where elections are seen as do-or-die affair.
We should also recognise that FCT is not the only stronghold of the APC supposedly that did not live up to the expectations of the ruling party in the presidential election and even the parliamentary election. In Edo state, which is the home state of the APC chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, the will of the people prevailed over the expectation of the chairman and that is democracy in action. All of this portends that our democracy is being allowed to evolve. This government by deliberately making democracy flourish will go down in history as the administration that has pragmatically taken us away from the old ways of doing things democratically to new ways of playing politics.
The words going round that the minister is to blame for the president’s loss in the FCT was because he did not dip his hands in the government’s coffers to make funds available for electioneering, violation the constitution of Nigeria and the Elector Act, should be seen as a patriotic. He has done his work as required of the minister of the FCT, which is the provision of security and other incentives legally required of the FCT administration to complement and facilitate the work of INEC.
This is not to say that the recently concluded election in the FCT was perfect as there is no perfect election anywhere in the world. Elections even in advanced democracies are always improved upon in subsequent elections as there is always room for improvement. The common denomination of elections is that the vote of the people should count and that in the FCT the minister is proud of this common feat even though he regrets that his party lost.
It is important for us Nigerians to see the outcome of this election as the will of the people and not the failure of the minister of whom some critics see as a supposedly appointed strongman that should do the bidding of vested interests electorally against the choice of the people. The mandate given to the minister by the president is that all votes must count and that is what happened and our president is happy that his orders where strictly obeyed.
What happened in the recently concluded elections in the FCT shows that the presidential election in Nigeria was substantially free and fair as the president was peacefully elected to serve our country for another four years, God willing.
Musawa writes from Abuja.
