Based on the report of my party’s field officers and other Alliance for democracy (AD) local observers with whom I have been in contact, I wish to place on record my carefully-considered opinion that the just-concluded governorship election in Anambra State, including the re-run, was generally free and fair, though, like many elections in Third World democracies, there could be some logistical problems here and there. But I am convinced that the final results represent a true expression of the electoral will of Anambra people.

But I will propose that, apart from taking full responsibility for any minor lapses that may have occurred at the elections, the Independent National Electoral Commision (INEC) should carefully note the lessons learnt and make sure to apply them in a way that re-assures all Nigerians and all political parties that we can expect a thorough and professional job from them in the next general elections. However, I am convinced that, on balance, INEC had done a good job in Anambra State. The Commission nonetheless needs to intensify its planning, logistical and administrative systems so that its independence and integrity as a neutral electoral umpire are clear to all and sundry across the nation.

I wish to emphasise that electoral perfection does not and cannot happen overnight. More efficient and effective election management by INEC will evolve incrementally over time. In fact, given our peculiar context in Nigeria and the desperation of some political leaders, the successful conduct of Anambra elections shows that INEC has come some reasonable distance in terms of election management. All people of good conscience should commend INEC’s effort, minor imperfections notwithstanding. For me, the sponsored protests, a show of shame that we have witnessed against the election are a welcome development, even if fraudulent, hypocritical and insincere. The opportunity to organise such sponsored protests actually reflects our hard-won freedom of expression, made possible by the majesty and beauty of the democratic and electoral process, after a long period of military dictatorship.

But I must sound a note of caution to all Nigerians about the nature and underlying cynicism of the sponsored protests. The rag-tag coalition of contradictory interests called the All Progressive Congress (APC) must not be allowed to hold the Nigerian democratic process to ransom, nor should it be allowed to over-run the nation’s electoral system, or take for granted the wishes of other stakeholders in Nigeria’s democratic governance.

APC’s desperation to capture power at the centre (so far, I have not seen any other reason for the party’s existence) must not be allowed to overshadow the mountain of contradictions and laughable ironies that this party represents. When I saw pictures of the politicians involved in the sponsored protests against INEC and the Anambra elections, and especially when I heard that it was all about human rights and democracy, I shook my head at the hypocritical and thoughtless action by those who should know better. I will cite a few examples.

Do they think Nigerians have forgotten? General Muhammad Buhari, was toppled from government for his total disrespect for human rights, his double-standards between the North and the South and his obnoxious and widely hated Decree 4, targeted especially against journalists. Is Buhari now marching for justice and human rights side-by-side with my good friend, Bisi Akande? The same Buhari who cooked up allegations to jail him, that is, Akande for 10 years, and put me in detention for almost two years for no offence whatsoever! We had both served as commissioners with Bola Ige in the old Oyo State, a fine and exemplary governor Nigeria ever had, before Buhari toppled the 1979-83 democratic government! He jailed Ige for 25 years, Jim Nwobodo for 50 years, among others for no just reasons (Jim would probably still be in jail now, but for the timely intervention of Babangida). Buhari and Akande are now both ‘progressives’ marching against a duly-conducted election. Seriously? Is it not Buhari who sent soldiers to ransack and scatter Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s residence in Apapa, Lagos State, and had his passport seized – for committing no offence other than being the (UPN), party leader?

They tell us that APC is not a political party in any normal sense. It is an assembly or a conglomeration of different and varied ambitions, plans, interests and intrigues. My experience of Nigerian politics and my reading of current evolving scenarios in the polity convince me that the APC charade may implode sooner or later as they go from one electoral defeat to another (with Anambra, it’s their fourth electoral failure in less than one year!), because it is not a party populated by individuals sharing any conviction politics among themselves, not an ideologically based party. It is all about cornering and capturing Nigeria’s wealth.

APC will ultimately fail because it is only playing the politics of opposition to something and somebody. It is not playing the politics of proposition of anything striking, nor standing for anything different from what we already know. For those who follow American politics closely, APC reminds us of the extremist, right-wing American Tea Party within the Republican Party barack, which simply exists to oppose President Barack Obama and America’s Federal Government on virtually everything! While the Tea Party does not propose any respectable health-care alternative to Americans, it has based all its politics and policies on simply opposing Obamacare, which is meant to help about 50 million Americans who are too poor to get on a health insurance.

No wonder many American analysts say that the Republican Party will again lose the 2016 presidential election if they nominate a Tea Party candidate as their flag-bearer. To be taken seriously, APC should first show Nigerians a unique and coherent ideology for governance before they seek power at all costs. The Yoruba’s have a beautiful proverb that is relevant to the APC’s ambition to rule Nigeria at all costs, which roughly translates thus: If someone plans to sew a beautiful dress for a poor man, we should first see the beauty of the dress he himself is wearing.

APC’s electoral excesses need to be curtailed. If the government had not been careful in managing the rabble-rousing protests orchestrated by APC against INEC on the Anambra election, thugs and hoodlums could have taken over and caused unimaginable mayhem in that state and perhaps beyond. Why didn’t APC go to court to press their case against the Anambra election, instead of trying to cause disaffection and confusion in the country, by falsely projecting their action as a popular uprising? In that regard, I want to make a specific citizen request to the Federal Government and the security forces: to please ensure that we – the majority of Nigerians (including AD members nationwide) receive full protection of our rights against the attempt by a rag-tag, minority gang-up to intimidate the evolving Nigerian political system.

Should the whole country unravel just because APC has suffered yet another defeat in Anambra State? Virtually all other parties in that election have agreed that it was generally free and fair. But not the APC, which has an over-bloated and false idea of its popularity and electoral strength, wanting the rest of us to submit to its blackmail and intimidation.

When they won re-election (as ACN) in Edo, the election was free and fair. But when they lost the Ondo governorship election, or the Offa (Kwara State) local government by-election, or the recent Delta State Senatorial election, it was all ‘massively rigged.’ Now that they have again lost in Anambra, that election too was massively rigged.’ INEC must fold up, and Professor Attahiru Jega, who supervised and declared their gubernatorial victory in Edo State, must be sacked. APC’s definition of a ‘massively-rigged’ election is the one they have lost, while a free and fair election is the one they have won! So typically clever and so typically fraudulent! I hope when APC loses the 2015 general election as I know it will, the party will not organise rallies demanding all Nigerians to be relocated from Nigeria for not voting for it.

The shameful irony about APC’s Anambra protest is that their core group (former ACN) has conducted controversial council polls in the states it controls, where its leaders have earned a foul reputation for naked imposition of candidates and rigging in its own primaries. Across the world, elections can, and sometimes do have, minor hitches. While Nigeria does not need to copy bad electoral examples from other countries, it is noteworthy that even in the mature democracy of the United States, we all saw how in last year’s presidential election, it took almost a full week after Obama’s re-election was declared, before the final election results from the State of Florida were announced.

Like in Anambra, the Florida case was due to a relatively few logistical, administrative and perhaps vote-manipulation problems. But no one asked for the entire Florida election to be cancelled. So, let us put things in perspective and not spread a false perception that the Anambra election failed.

That election was generally free and fair, INEC has done a good job on the whole, and nothing that has happened justifies any call for a state-wide cancellation.

Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa is the National Chairman, Alliance for Democracy (AD).


Source: http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/politics/item/27847-anambra-poll-free-and-fair.html

....... Just for the records the Chairman said !

will should forget the past and allow unity as a nation that is why you cannot see any development in southeast due to cheif obafemi awolowo they seen as their great enemy still they choose southwest as home buhari was still a best militry president in nigeria and for you mr chairman instead of you to call for revolution you are talking rubish better mind your business and your dead party called ad

Akinfenwa,former senator is an honest man.He will always tell Ɣ☺u that
every political party participates in election rigging.
Apc is a fraud as long as Tinubu remains their leader

AD ke!..... or part of leaking umbrella?

Do they think Nigerians have forgotten? General
Muhammad Buhari, was toppled from government for
his total disrespect for human rights, his double-
standards between the North and the South and his
obnoxious and widely hated Decree 4, targeted
especially against journalists. Is Buhari now marching
for justice and human rights side-by-side with my
good friend, Bisi Akande? The same Buhari who
cooked up allegations to jail him, that is, Akande for
10 years, and put me in detention for almost two
years for no offence whatsoever! We had both served
as commissioners with Bola Ige in the old Oyo State,
a fine and exemplary governor Nigeria ever had, before
Buhari toppled the 1979-83 democratic government!
He jailed Ige for 25 years, Jim Nwobodo for 50 years,
among others for no just reasons (Jim would probably
still be in jail now, but for the timely intervention of
Babangida). Buhari and Akande are now both
‘progressives’ marching against a duly-conducted
election. Seriously? Is it not Buhari who sent soldiers
to ransack and scatter Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s
residence in Apapa, Lagos State, and had his passport
seized – for committing no offence other than being
the (UPN), party leader?

BUHARI IS A TESTED, TRUSTED AND A CONFIRM JIHADIST. SMH FOR MY SOUTHWEST BROTHERS