http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/policy_politics/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=100809&ptitle=Yar%27Adua%20must%20do%20electoral%20reform%20now,%20he%20might%20not%20have%20the%20chance%20again,%20says%20Tinubu


Yar'Adua must do electoral reform now, he might not have the chance again, says Tinubu

The name summarizes the mission, a single-issue objective: electoral reform. Top politicians from across the political spectrum gathered in Abuja two weeks ago to launch the body known as Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform (CODER) and as a key initiator of the agenda, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, makes out in this interview, Nigeria's democracy could be slammed to its knees beginning 2011 if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, fails to institute a comprehensive reform of the electoral processes based on the recommendations of retired Justice Muhammad Uwais committee. Tinubu, Asiwaju (leader), immediate past two-term governor of Lagos State has advice for Yar'Adua: keep your eyes on history rather than ephemeral political gains. He spoke to Group Political Editor, Akpo Esajere, in Lagos.



You have been declared persona non-grata to Aso Rock, haven't you?

Well, I have not got any official or security report to that effect. The only newspaper, which wrote that is noted for attack and unreliable stories about the politics of the current situation. I will describe that story as a creation of the newspaper itself because no other newspaper had reported such a thing. In any case, the occupant of the villa is a tenant of the entire nation, holding the property and the assets in trust on behalf of all of us. I have not tested it. I am not a political contractor or jobber, like many of them who are scavengers on the corridor of power.

[b]It was alleged that you are fond of dropping President Yar'Adua's name,

For what! I am a known politician in my own right, why should I drop anybody's name? Since 1991, I have been very active. I was elected on my own. I scored the highest vote in a single Senatorial District in this country in the 1991/92 Election. I was an active member of Mallam Umaru Yar'Adua's late brother's group, that is, the late Shehu Yar'Adua. I can claim greater closeness to the late brother. The President and me have had interactions as governors - I believe he inherited some principles and ideology of his late brother. I have known him as far back as since then. Sometimes, we were the last to have group discussion and evaluation with his late brother in SDP. He was then in SDP, he contested election for Katsina governorship under the SDP and he lost the election. We have had good rapport; done things together, we share the same faith, performed Ummrah together. So, I don't want to lay claim on people because they are powerful or in position of authority, it is demeaning to me personally. Maybe, they are sending a message.
[/b]
What would this message be?

The message is that the PDP do not want me close to the President because I will tell him the truth. I will be honest and firm and blunt to my beliefs and my principles. If that is the case good luck!

It was speculated that Abuja was not happy that the opposition, including you went to Ghana to see the US President Obama during his visit to that country,

They created their own unhappiness if there is any. Nobody is out to please or pander to their happiness, that is not my business, my business is this country and the national greatness; pride of our country is to be truly a giant and a good model for Africa, particularly West Africa sub-region. If we are losing our leadership role, every good Nigerian must be concerned. I credit President Obama for choosing Ghana. I am unhappy but as a democrat, I see the country as small as Ghana as a great model of democratic values. If they had conducted an election and transferred power from Rawlings, a former military dictator became a good democrat, lost an election, conducted under an electoral body appointed by his own parliament and transferred power peacefully to Kuffour who spent two terms, whereas Prof. Atta Mills didn't give up, who won this time around with a narrow margin. And Kuffour played by the rules. You have an electoral umpire, the chairman of Ghana's national electoral commission standing firm on honesty and integrity and that election was protected. That is good modeling; that is a great example. Kuffour is my hero for making that possible. You cannot blame President Obama for our own failure; he wouldn't have been a President as an African American, the first black man to break the political barrier believing positively in the system and the system operated well for everybody - the sovereign right of the people to choose their own leader was fully exercised and allowed to work. No racial or religious bigotry, no manipulations, no mismanagement. He will be contradicting all his fundamental beliefs and the principle that brought him into office if he comes to Nigeria or Kenya first. He needs to show Africa that this is leadership and this is his philosophy.

Recently, J.J. Rawlings was quoted in a Ghanaian paper that but for Yar'Adua's intervention Ghana's election would have been rigged,

I don't want to contest that but charity begins at home, they say. The recent example from Ekiti to Bauchi to Imo State, there is no reflection of good charity in our constitutional democracy. You have a leadership that is going about converting people from their own party, from the platform which elected them into office, while it has a bill on cross carpeting before the National Assembly and whereas the constitution provides no room for independent candidate. People elected as governors on the platform of their party and they are supposed to be leaders and responsible for the security of their state, if they are being illegally, overtly or otherwise, converted or induced to cross carpet to another party, is a violation of the constitution, both the constitution of their party and the electoral Act of the country, that is no good role modeling. That is not the kind of leadership I would respect.

How did the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform come about?

It has been in the pipeline, but let me point to particular moments: my friends and my former cabinet members along with the governor (of Lagos State) did a surprise or more or less a social coup on me on my 57th birthday. They know how strongly I believe in free and fair election, they know how strongly I am committed to constitutional democracy. They organized a colloquium as a surprise for me at my 57th birthday. They invited the chairman of Ghana's electoral commission to deliver a lecture. Among the major discussants were Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Kola Awodehin (SAN), Niyi Akintola (SAN) and Tunji Bello from the media. The topic was, "every vote must count;" that we should play by the rules and deepen constitutional democracy by all means necessary. That colloquium touched my heart. I listened to the Ghana experience and the various discussions. The chairman of Ghana Electoral Commission was at the colloquium. I took it within me that yes we need a coalition for electoral reform.

During the June 12 anniversary, there was a lecture organised and delivered by the faithful who believe that June 12 is democracy day. Prof. Bayo Williams was the lecturer. After the lecture and various speakers, there was a resolution by the community that we must establish a coalition of democrats for electoral reform. I took it up as a challenge, which reinforced what I was thinking about and so I started consulting across the party line, partisan politics and across religion.

Don't you think that building the coalition around you could make some people shun it?

Why? I am not a political leper like many others. It is not about me; it is about our country, our development. We cannot continue to have social and political instability and believe that we will have rapid economic transformation of our country. What would you do as a father if, suddenly, you were called upon by your child's teacher who caught your child cheating in an examination? How would you feel? What would you tell the teacher? If people who are supposed to be role models and leaders are the ones cheating, they have no moral ground to tell school children not to cheat in the exam. A lawmaker who got into office through fraud; where is his moral right to make law for us? It is not about Bola Tinubu, it is not about anybody. It is about the meaning of patriotism-putting the country before self, being ready to carry the burden for national greatness. In 1993, we had one of the best electoral processes unfortunately it was aborted but we succeeded in that election. The process was transparent, clear and respected and it was accepted. When Abiola was announced on his way to win, there was no single riot-North, South, East, West, -because they saw the process. Abiola even defeated Tofa in Kano, his own state. That is the arrival of Nigeria.

Unfortunately, we didn't preserve that legacy. We didn't preserve the two party System and the process of that electoral Act. In 1999, we had opportunity again. Instead of adopting the old Nwosu formula, we tinkered with the process, but because of our commitment to democracy we accepted the result. In year 2003, they brazenly rigged; they respected the electoral Act in the adverse, abused the process with thuggery and everything. But because of our commitment to democracy nobody reacted that much. We brought the judiciary in -what ordinarily should not be; the presidential election was challenged up to the Supreme Court, various governorship elections were challenged. Nobody learnt a lesson because we didn't raise a finger, didn't protest, didn't put up any movement, because of our love for democracy. They now became more brazen in year 2007. Ah! Ah! wait a minute! You slap me, I didn't react, you slap me again and again I didn't react, then you kick my butt! I have to react. For the sake of this country, if we know the meaning of patriotism, of loving one's country, being ready to die for one's country in the same way that the Armed Forces do; that they should commit their lives to defending the sovereignty of this country, then we must patriotically defend our democratic institutions too. It's so bad that the judiciary is over burdened, the courts are complaining of being over loaded with electoral petitions. Look, we cannot continue to complain if we can do something about it.

There is the body chaired by Chief Anthony Enahoro, which is also campaigning for electoral reform based on the Uwais report. How do they feature; are you bringing them in?

We are bringing everybody in as long as you are a democrat. Everybody should come in but some people will be hesitant. You know, how many people will dig a grave and how many people would attend a funeral? You don't need the entire people to dig a grave, but you need an entire family of sympathizers to be in the cemetery. You need a few mechanics to do the job. We are just starting as mechanics (laughter) and then we will bring them in.

But they started before CODER and they are talking of mega Summit Movement,

That is partisan, we are saying this is non-partisan; this is the rainbow coalition, the movement that is committed to national greatness. If we want to be part of the democratic world, we should be able to hold free and fair election that is acceptable to all. Let's put partisan politics aside, let's put political ambition aside. If you need a house, even if you have the land, if you want to live in it in peace and harmony and be safe, you need to build that house on a solid foundation. The foundation must be right regardless of which political party. The evil of electoral rigging must be removed. It hampers progress, it destroys the people's hope, and it makes nonsense of our political campaign and ideology and principles and ambition of great people in the country.

Former President of Ghana, Kuffuor is great hero. He could have manipulated; take a do-or-die approach, manipulate the process for his party to win. Ghana had a close election, yet he allowed the process. The integrity of the chairman of that electoral commission is not impugned up till now. Several court pronouncements have impugned the integrity of Iwu (INEC, chairman Professor Maurice Iwu) and till tomorrow he is still defending it, he is talking as if he is the only brilliant, only knowledgeable person around; very vociferous. He even has his own hired NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to sing his praise. He is not ashamed of all these comments from various tribunals. Were he a man of conscience, he should have long resigned.

Don't you think it is because he has the cover of the federal government?

If he has cover of the federal government personal integrity matters too, personal commitment to values is something that human beings must develop and adhere to. If you are asked to commit a crime against humanity, to abuse and subvert the system in your own country, then you lack of patriotism. You are not patriotic. There is no abuse without the element of collusion. The most unfortunate aspect of it is that ruling party has gotten used to electoral manipulation to the extent that they would even rig where ordinarily they could have won the election if free and fair. They are used to it and that is dangerous for the country. Look at where violence has been used in the elections-look at what happened in Ekiti and several other areas where violence was perpetuated, don't forget, no party has the monopoly of violence. If you don't have developed already there are many to hire from the army of unemployed. So you develop machinery. You can only kick me once, if you kick me the second time I am a fool. If you kick me in this election with violence, ballot snatching because you have gun and a few police with you, next time I'll be ready with my own army of thugs and all sorts of weapons. Then, it would become mutually assured destruction and put our country at the brink. If we don't correct this, that's likely to happen in 2011.

Who is going to carry out this correction, Yar'Adua?

He did not conduct the previous election and we accepted his explanation. He said the process was flawed, and the international body respected him for that. Now that he is in charge and he has the opportunity to do something about it, he must keep faith with that statement. He voluntarily promised Nigerians that he would show uncommon leadership and embark upon reform. To embark upon it, he put one of the best brains, not in science, but in social conscience. He put the best brains- men and women of integrity. Our hope loomed large immediately we saw that. Hope was rekindled; we saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

Then, the recommendation came and so we have a swarm of political bills on the recommendation. What the President should have done was to send the report and draft bill to the National Assembly. He set up a body of politicians who ordinarily would not be ministers without the rigged election and they saw the loophole that if they followed this, they would lose the next election. Somebody like the Attorney-General, who had never been in politics before, who was practicing in Gboko or somewhere before, brought out a white paper on what a panel had deliberated. I beg to disagree with Mr. President that nowhere in the world would you accept the recommendation of a commission unfettered. You set up the commission, you believed in them in the first place. He didn't cite the example of which nation. They brought out a white paper, which watered it down; that is what we are pursuing now, gathering support for Uwais report and amending it where we feel it is weak. They went around the nation and outside the country, they heard several open hearings, consulted several professionals, they did a good job. Let's respect them let's salute them by implementing the report.

Are politicians not all the same? If you were in power, won't it all be the same as PDP and Yar'Adua are playing it?

No, we are democrats. A true democrat will not be afraid to lose election. I will institute changes. Let me take one of the greatest issues that used to threaten my re-election, which was the return of the mission schools. That was the most difficult decision and I was warned privately and openly that I was going to lose the election, but my conscience told me I was right and I won the election. If I am in power as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I will make those changes. If Yar'Adua did and there is a turn around for this country, he can still win the election. Let him not be afraid of losing election. Let him not believe in his party, some of them don't even know how to conduct election. They will still rig where ordinarily they would have won the election, because they believe in rigging. If he should lose the election, he should be prepared to lose the election and leave a great legacy for the country. Is it not about service, about patriotism? It is patriotic duty, he is given this position by God, let him do what is right now he might not have that chance again. Given a free hand, the Yar'Adua that I know would want to do it. Hawks, bad advisers, surround him. He should do it for his brother who died for democracy, if only to leave the legacy in the memory of his brother, whose death gave him this opportunity. I am saying so because it is true. He should just do it and make the changes that Uwais committee recommended.

CODER is saying Uwais plus few amendments that will strengthen the bill. We just made amendments on the electoral offences commission and the process of selecting the chairman of Independent Electoral Commission, otherwise, remove the world independent, change it to Dependent Electoral Commission. We are not contesting the power of the President, we are saying, let the process be transparent, let the candidates be advertised, vetted by an independent body, who would now pass on the recommended candidates to the National Assembly. We would have been able to criticize, expose, and evaluate the integrity and character of those who are recommended before they are appointed. No president can know everybody, no governor can know everybody before they were appointed and there is no angel in politics. If there is any angel on earth participating in politics, we won't need good governance, we won't need all those laws, we won't need EFCC and ICPC, we won't probably need the judiciary. Therefore a President who is elected on a party platform would have the tendency to appoint any person who will be sympathetic to his or her party no matter how well he may be. If you say you don't want to go through that process that is transparent, that would give clear information of the nominees to all Nigerians and those who will administer our electoral future, then you have something to hide. You can't argue that it is because the executive will surrender power to the judiciary, why didn't you refuse to be sworn in by the Chief Justice of the federation?

The National Assembly is controlled by PDP, what are you expecting from there?

Let us not be in a hurry to judge the National Assembly. The problem is well known, and the answer is starring us in the face, so we expect them to do what they have to do.

How did you react to Yar'Adua's letter to Governor Fashola on the local council development areas that were created under you?

That action is unwarranted, it is done to fuel social tension and economic aggravation when the country needs leadership. I agree with the governor. It is to destabilize and distract him and I trust that the governor is responsible enough to focus on his job. Yar'Adua's plan was rule of law not to be misadvised to intimidate or to declare war on another state in the country when the social and economic status of the country is not threatened. I believe he was misadvised. We are both claiming the judgment of the Supreme Court. We won the case. His predecessor was advised not to resort to self-help. There actually should be no threat from him. He paid the balance that was held back when he assumed office. There is a similar condition in Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Adamawa and other states. Why were they not threatened to revert, they are operating like Lagos, as additional development centres.

How do you give an ultimatum to a government? That is not in our constitution, and the Attorney General got the President to sign such a letter, threatening the peace and stability of the most urban centre of the country, where you have the busiest international airport and the busiest seaport. For an Attorney General to stimulate tension and promote instability at the time that the nation needs the peace and focus on the economic frustration of this country, it is not a good judgment. To now start to cite and assume that a High Court of a state ruling is superior to Supreme Court of the country is lack of understanding. That is not the Attorney General that Nigeria needs and the President needs, acting like a fifth columnist. He is patently arrogant and the utterances of the PDP demonstrate the fact that it is nothing but all politics.com. therefore, all is fair in war and political competition to them.

Aondoakaa says the law is clear and cautions Lagos not to twist it,

The question you must ask the Attorney General is this, is the Federal Government within the constitution or not on the revenues of the local government. That is the cause of the various grumblings that is on. Since 1991, there has been no new revenue allocation formula for this country. In any federation, there are two types of government. That is why the constitution assigns the disbursement of the revenue to the state. Now, can the sum total of the part be greater then the whole? Regardless of the number of local governments, you can't have the number of the hospital bed that is greater than that of the state. You can't have enrolment, like say; about three million pupils are enrolled in this state, which will be spread across the number of local government. If you take the sum total of the enrolment it can never be greater than that of the state.

So, if you use a formula to give the state the revenue, say 30 per cent, if the local governments are entitled to 20 per cent, based upon the indices, it could not be different from what you give to the state. So, what is wrong; the injustice here is what should be addressed. Lagos State has lost much funds using the number of local governments to determine the distribution of that revenue and that is what the Federal Government is doing. They are the ones violating the constitution. We had a case and I am surprised that the local governments are yet to reactivate that case since 1999. When we challenged it in 2002, we won in Supreme Court. We challenged the formula and the means of false charge, we challenged the deductions from Abuja on the local government, and we won that case. Suddenly, by fiat, without reference to the National Assembly, Obasanjo used executive order to circumvent the judgment and up till now, that is what they are doing.

They didn't talk about that, they are talking about the guy who conducted election to 37 local governments. Who is a better democrat? It is the Federal Government that is abusing the law? If I want to have 200 development centres and you want to recognise only 774 on for your administrative purposes, don't use 774 to break the revenue horizontally, that is illegal, and that is what they should address for peace and stability, not Lagos State development centres. The injustice was from the Federal Government, Lagos State was denied because of its active role in the revalidation of June 12. Abacha created several local governments even gave his hamlet, one local government, yet, he

Denied Lagos.

Quote: 1

If we want to be part of the democratic world, we should be able to hold free and fair election that is acceptable to all. Let's put partisan politics aside, let's put political ambition aside. If you need a house, even if you have the land, if you want to live in it in peace and harmony and be safe, you need to build that house on a solid foundation. The foundation must be right regardless of which political party. The evil of electoral rigging must be removed. It hampers progress, it destroys the people's hope, and it makes nonsense of our political campaign and ideology and principles and ambition of great people in the country.