Good change is all we need.

GEJ cannot bring that change, because he lack ideas.

He does not have anything to offer.

OBJ lacked good ideas, he assembled a vibrant economic team.

GEJ lack ideas, he is busy doing nothing only telling stories about his humble background. What a shame!

GEJ is just a drunk fisherman, who doesnt even have any vision or goals.
How can we have a president who cannot even identify our key problems.

BB all the way

Most of us are voting against Buhari and we see GEJ as the only man that can stop him. Its way too dangerous to hand a complex country like Nigeria to a stiffnecked extremist like Buhari.

Because he thinks my future and the future of my children can be bought with:
I know he is a cheap not so smart person, but my childrens future is worth way way more. Abd his wife is a rude, greedy klepto

read 22 Reasons why Buhari can never rule Nigeria


> 1. He is an oligarch who does not believe in equality before the law. The way he jailed Lateef Jakande, Jim Nwobodo, Ambrose Ali, Pa Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Ayo Ojewumi on cases that had no foundation and allowed Awwal Ibrahim, the then Niger State governor, who was arrested in Heathrow Airport in London with 14 million pounds sterling and several millions of Niara and dollars to be under house arrest is my evidence. He also allowed Shehu Kangiwa, Sokoto State Governor who conducted and supervised the famous Bakolori Massacre of poor peasant farmers whose land were appropriated without compesation to remain under house arrest.

> 1(a) Ayo Ojewumi became blind as a result of his imprisonment over false charges and died shortly after.

> 1 (b) Prof. Ambrose Alli also became blind as a result of this false imprisonment. When he died, he had only one undeveloped plot of land to his name.

> 1© Pa Adekule Ajasin was never the same after his eventual release and remained sickly for the rest of his life. Whe he died, he never had any property anywhere in the world except the one he had built from his sweat as long term teacher and school principal in Owo township.

> 2. He put in place a retroactive law that killed three men, innocent men in my book, by public execution. He left untouched an alleged well-known drug baron in Ibrahim Babangida who later overthrew his government.

> 3. He jailed Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson of the Guardian on stories that were factually true under Decree 4. He had told the Nigerian journalists then that it did not matter whether the story reported was true or not.

> 4. He supervised the smuggling of 53 suitcases filled with cash througth the MMA against the protests of General Tunde Idiagbon and ironically, Abubakar Atiku (then Comptroller of Customs who later became the Vice President and a compromised politician himself). This smuggling of the suit cases were supervised by his ADC, Col. Mustapha Jokolo, now Emir of Gwandu.

> 5. He jailed Fela Anikulapo -Kuti on trumped up charges under emergency law which prompted the sentencing Judge to confess that he was ordered to do so and apologised to the late musician. It was Buhari's administration that said it has "decided to deal with this Fela problem once and for all."

> 6. He convinced all the northern political leaders against allowing the National Identity Card program because according to him, this would unravel the myth of Northern population majority

> 7. He is an Islamic fundamentalist, the Bin Laden of Nigeria, who told his northern followers never to vote for anyone who was not a muslim.

> 8. He is a coup plotter.

> 9. He has never been able to account to Nigerians what he did with the 20 billion Naira of the Petroleum Trust Fund of which he was the chairman under Sani Abacha.

> 9(a) He has not been able to point to any project that he prosecuted outside the Northern Nigeria with the so-caled Trust Fund.

> 10. He was in full support of all the atrocities of Sani Abacha against the Nigerian people. There is no single record of his criticism of Sani Abacha during those dark days when Nigeria was on the precipice. It shows that he is a patriot of convenience and as such unfit to lead the country.

> 11. Buhari, as part of his tribalistic practices placed President Shagari under house arrest inside a palatial mansion in Ikoyi, while he locked up Shagari's Vice, Alex Ekwueme in Kirikiri Prison. Shagari is Hausa/Fulani like him while Alex Ekwueme is an Igboman.

> 12. Ikemba Emeka Ojukwu, another Igboman who returned from 13years exile just a little over a year then was as well locked up in Kiri Kiri Prison by mean-hearted Buhari.Up till today we are not told what was Emeka's offence.

> 13. Busari Adelakun died of ulcer because Buhari refused him to be taken out of prison for immediate medical attention.The then Governor of Ogun State,Bisi Onabanjo suffered similar fate which we were told led to his untimely death.

> 14. Buhari ransacked the house of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and confisticated his International Passport. Which civilized democratic society would elect the likes of Buhari as President,the same individual who overthrew an elected President? Never!

> 15. Plus Buhari having Sam Mbakwe in jail, he went for one of Mbakwe's wives. He established himself again for what he was/is letting Mbakwe receive in jailhouse news of the death of another of Mbakwe's two wives. One (I can't remember his name now; Odenigbo?) also died in jail.

> 16. Buhari's henchman and sponsor, CPC governorship candidate for Kano State, is Mohammed Abacha, the same person that had/ran a personal killing squad, co ordinated the killing of Kudirat Abiola & attempted to kill Ibru; and also stashed money in underground tanks, all less than 13 years ago, Nigerians have very short selective memory. Shame!

> 17. Buhari discriminated against persons from other ethnic groups/faiths; and that as PTF Chairman, he employed an overwhelming number of Fulani/Hausa/Moslem people; to the detriment of other groups and concentrated PTF projects in the North. If in doubt read El Rufai's testimony where he wrote about Katsina boys who used the money they made at PTF to bankroll Yar'Adua's election as Katsina Governor in 1999.

> 18. Buhari is unforgiving! When he "took over" by coup in 1983, he even remembered an article written a very very long time ago by Bisi Onabanjo ('The Mallams are coming') and a later one in which Onabanjo wrote that people should watch out for that "gangly officer from the north" after Buhari gave a no holds barred speech at some Army function where he was reported to be very openly pro-Fulani and pro-Islam to the exclusion of all else and also talked about termination of democratic rule. For that, Onabanjo got one of the harshest jail terms and treatments.

> 19. Buhari's intolerance is worse than Obasanjo's. When he was adopted as the ANPP's candidate on the night of the party's Primaries (without prior warning to the other candidates) and a few of them protested, Buhari got up and made a speech that those people must be disciplined.He subsequently spoke on BBC's "hard talk" and he frightened his listeners and the interviewer with his archaic and fundamentalist intolerant views. His understanding and articulation is very much in doubt.

> 20. The evil genius, IBB and his crew similarly ran rings around Buhari. On the 10th anniversary of Abacha's demise, Buhari said that Abacha stole nothing from Nigeria! Despite millions of Dollars recovered from banks around the world and the Abacha family signing a formal agreement to return over $1 billion dollars, Buhari still said that Abacha's stealing remains an unproved allegation!!!! Why? Because Abacha set Buhari up like an emperor and let him use oil money from the Niger Delta to develop the North without supervision or questions.

> 21. Buhari snubbed the same Nigerians he now wants their votes by refusing to appear before Justice Oputa Truth and Reconciliation Panel, despite the fact that Buhari knew how inportant reconciliation is to the stability of democracy. Buhari has never apologised at anytime.

> 22. Buhari executed Lawal Ojuolape (30), Bernard Ogedengbe (29) and Bartholomew Owoh (26) for trafficking in drugs. To put it quite plainly, one of those three - Ogedengbe - was executed for a crime that did not carry a capital forfeit at the time it was committed. At the time Ogedengbe committed the crime it did not carry that punishment. If we must live as civilised citizens we must go by the rules. Article 11.2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: "No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission WHICH DID NOT CONSTITUTE A PENAL OFFENCE, under national or international law at the time it was committed. NOR SHALL A HEAVIER PUNISHMENT BE IMPOSED THAN THE ONE THAT WAS APPLICABLE AT THE TIME THE PENAL OFFENCE WAS COMMITTED. Killing people with retroactive laws is not the civilised thing to do - and for as long as we will have people who refuse to see the truth only because their heroes are itching to rule when they have not purged themselves we will continue to wallow in misery.

> If Nigerians reward dangerous, insensitive, dishonest, mean, cruel, partial, egoistic, religious fundamendalist, conscienceless human being like MOHAMMADU BUHARI with the Presidency of Nigeria with his kind of track record, then why do we still wonder why Nigeria has not and will not make it?

> I cannot in good conscience support Buhari's candidacy on the above grounds. I wish we have intelligent people who know what democracy means. I wish we have civilized minds. However, I am 100 percent sure that Buhari will never again rule Nigeria.

> For the good of Nigeria, vote any other candidate, but SAY NO TO BUHARI!

naijangel7:

Wow, i never heard that quote! Did he really say something like that? One thing i noticed about him is his inexperience and incoherence in presenting his points. I thought he attended a leadership training course at some point in time? The effects of the training don't show in his speech at all! He represents a clean slate, sha. He would have been the best option. shekarau is just shakara, no action.

Yes he did my sister, he said that!

solajacobs:

read 22 Reasons why Buhari can never rule Nigeria

Why You'll Never Vote For Goodluck Jonathan? Not Why You'll Never Vote For Buhari.

You don't know how to read and comprehend ni? Or you're of the numerous GEJ umblerra can't read and write illiterates?

kcjazz:

@Agaba Since you are the countering guy, any reason why you left out his achievement in Bayelsa?
The killings in Jos? Even though he swore to protect Nigeria citizens?

By the way there is a similar thread for Buhari, list your problems there I think Seun is conducting a NL poll, don't derail the poll

I just noticed your age
I must confess I do not know much about Bayelsa. However he was a deputy in bayelsa most of the time and you know Deputies in Nigeria are figureheads.

@agaba123 shey monica don cook some of that rice nd indomie abi? abeg still try go una own thread go post ya comments. abi u don de c how majority of NL de against gej now abi lol.

[size=19pt]I cannot vote for Goodluck Jonathan because he is Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. [/size]

and his leadership has witnessed the [size=13pt]greatest looting, stealing and mismanagement[/size] carried out in the shortest possible duration ever in the world.

I cant leave the future of this country to Luck

dayokanu:

I cant leave the future of this country to Luck

[size=15pt]THE WORST SIN AGAINST MY TWO KIDS IS TO VOTE FOR LUCK AND GAMBLE THEIR DESTINIES[/size]

I think we've mostly been unfair to GEJ.
I actually think he is a lot more sincere than the baggers we've gotten in the past. He's nothing special, just a regular guy who wants his chance. He doesn't seem particularly greedy, cynical, arrogant, or opportunistic. He's just a fellow countryman just like everyone else.

However, I think this country has seen enough of PDP, broken dreams, and failed promises, not to mention mindless looting and waste. It's time for a new set of dudes to run the show, period. Twelve years was time enough, now its time for the regular thieves to take their loot and leave us in peace. My take.

fried-rice:

[size=19pt]I cannot vote for Goodluck Jonathan because he is Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. [/size]

and his leadership has witnessed the [size=13pt]greatest looting, stealing and mismanagement[/size] carried out in the shortest possible duration ever in the world.

opalu:

[size=15pt]THE WORST SIN AGAINST MY TWO KIDS IS TO VOTE FOR LUCK AND GAMBLE THEIR DESTINIES[/size]

There are four cogent reasons are enough to prove that  President Goodluck Jonathan has shown that he is incompetent in leadership, 1. He failed to tackle corruption and instead compromised by including his corrupt godfathers in his government, because he is  complicit in their misappropriations of public funds.  2. He has failed to tackle the worsening calamities of insecurity in the country. His incompetence was responsible for the Abuja terrorist bombings on the 50th Independence Anniversary of Nigeria and  even absolved the Niger Delta militant coalition MEND until Interpol and SSS proved him wrong. He has failed to protect the innocent citizens from identified homegrown terrorists and perpetrators  of political, ethnic and religious riots in PDP states. 3. He has neglected health care and exposed the majority of Nigerians  to the dangers to poor health care in public hospitals while he and his fellow ruling party members waste public funds on foreign medical trips and services. 4. He has failed to tackle the underfunding of public education and sends his own children to well funded private schools.

AjanleKoko:

I think we've mostly been unfair to GEJ.
[size=18pt]I actually think he is a lot more sincere than the baggers we've gotten in the past. He's nothing special, just a regular guy who wants his chance. He doesn't seem particularly greedy, cynical, arrogant, or opportunistic. He's just a fellow countryman just like everyone else[/size].

Ajanlekoko, WHich of his actions has shown that he is better than OBJ for example.

Lets start with the handling of the October 1 bombing, MEND claimed responsibility and he came out telling us it wasnt MEND , next thing said Dokpesi was responsible showing us text messages. Now whats Dokpesis punishment? You guessed right. Campaign manager to GEJ.

Jos crisis? I guess the ppl there are less human, When a president tells us prayers are the solution to crime then you begin to wonder where his certificate of retardation was hidden all the while.

The way he celebrated Bode george and Folarin How is this different from the other baggers you blamed

I cant vote for a man who lacks articulation.That would amount to disgrace for Nigeria,internationally.Financially reckless,anyone who votes for him would be mortgaging Nigerias future.

Clueless personified

nairalanders ,,,,,GEJ must gooooo.he is just a RETARD 2 this nation

Orikinla:

There are four cogent reasons are enough to prove that President Goodluck Jonathan has shown that he is incompetent in leadership, 1. He failed to tackle corruption and instead compromised by including his corrupt godfathers in his government, because he is complicit in their misappropriations of public funds. 2. He has failed to tackle the worsening calamities of insecurity in the country. His incompetence was responsible for the Abuja terrorist bombings on the 50th Independence Anniversary of Nigeria and even absolved the Niger Delta militant coalition MEND until Interpol and SSS proved him wrong. He has failed to protect the innocent citizens from identified homegrown terrorists and perpetrators of political, ethnic and religious riots in PDP states. 3. He has neglected health care and exposed the majority of Nigerians to the dangers to poor health care in public hospitals while he and his fellow ruling party members waste public funds on foreign medical trips and services. 4. He has failed to tackle the underfunding of public education and sends his own children to well funded private schools.

talking about corruption,he has to explain the shocking reduction of our external reserves.He has practically shared Nigeria out.Incidentally,the guy dished out 7.5 million to the SNG calling it ''Transport fare'' .Its unheard of

Gbenge 77:

talking about corruption,he has to explain the shocking reduction of our external reserves.He has practically shared Nigeria out.Incidentally,the guy dished out 7.5 million to the SNG calling it ''Transport fare'' .Its unheard of

I forgot this one. The list is long

Gbenge 77:

talking about corruption,he has to explain the shocking reduction of our external reserves.He has practically shared Nigeria out.Incidentally,the guy dished out 7.5 million to the SNG calling it ''Transport fare'' .Its unheard of

Imagine. What a r3t@rd

God forbid me voting for Clueless GEJ!!!!

I cannot vote for a man who doesn't know how to control security in a small nation like Nigeria, wat do u say about America then?

He is also a man that has told us serveral lies, so how can I vote for a liar?

Hope he wont win.

Because he is highly irresponsible.

A true leader bears responsibility and does not waiver on his stand to issues. Jonathan is worse than a pendulum!

Orikinla:

There are four cogent reasons are enough to prove that  President Goodluck Jonathan has shown that he is incompetent in leadership,


1. He failed to tackle corruption and instead compromised by including his corrupt godfathers in his government, because he is  complicit in their misappropriations of public funds. 


2. He has failed to tackle the worsening calamities of insecurity in the country. His incompetence was responsible for the Abuja terrorist bombings on the 50th Independence Anniversary of Nigeria and  even absolved the Niger Delta militant coalition MEND until Interpol and SSS proved him wrong. He has failed to protect the innocent citizens from identified homegrown terrorists and perpetrators  of political, ethnic and religious riots in PDP states.

3. He has neglected health care and exposed the majority of Nigerians  to the dangers to poor health care in public hospitals while he and his fellow ruling party members waste public funds on foreign medical trips and services.

4. He has failed to tackle the underfunding of public education and sends his own children to well funded private schools.       

He doesnt even know what governance is all about

Jonathan, as I see him, appear dull and common place; he does not even seem to know what leadership is all about. He presents as a nice fellow, perhaps, a university lecturer but a man lacking strong convictions. He seems shy, fearful, and anxious and lacking in courage; he seems the type of timid chap that strong willed criminals, the type that Nigeria grows like mushroom, could easily exploit.

Jonathan does not seem a doer and only God knows that what Nigeria needs at this point are not idle talkers but doers. Nigeria needs leaders who would mobilize the nation’s economic and human resources, as in a war, and use them to win the war of developing the country and rooting out the corruption that is holding her down.

I do not see Jonathan championing well-articulated goals and objectives for Nigeria. He does not seem to believe in anything with his whole heart and is dedicated to actualizing it. He comes across as a nice man but not a man one should like to entrust the leadership of the nation with.

I believe that Jonathan is an accidental leader but not a committed leader who entered the political fray because he has strong convictions that he wants to realize.  He seems easily manipulated by Nigeria’s lords of corruption; in fact, those lords of disaster would like to have him in office so that through him they continue the vast spoils and patronage system they have established.

Jonathan comes across as a figure head under which the lords of stealing raid the Nigerian treasury. He lacks personal power, authority and charisma to get people to do anything that serves social interests. He lacks that oomph that we see in notable leaders. The man has no vision of where he wants to take Nigeria to. See, he has been in office for nearly two years and has actually accomplished very little. He talked about making sure that the power sector works. Well, Nigerians still do not have electricity twenty four-seven. The man may talk all he wants few persons are probably willing to follow him.

PDP has been in office for twelve years. That is sufficient time for a political party to have accomplished something useful for its polity. As we all know the PDP is the party of lootocrats and the most they have done is offer their members the opportunity to loot Nigeria, to rob the country empty.

It is time to give another political party the opportunity to try and see if it could clean the mess that is the Nigerian house and set Nigeria on the right path.

If the PDP continues on the path it is I have no doubt that Nigerians will turn to the Tunisian, Egyptian and Libyan example: revolt and chase away the thieves that that have so far pretended to rule them; we probably do not need the chaos that such revolt would engender.

I'm voting to kick out CORRUPTION !
Vote for CHANGE
Vote BB

[b]The reason we must vote GoodLuck and PDP out. They set up rugged government

Former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke, has given a sensational account of how elections are rigged in Nigeria. Recently in Abuja, as part of renewed moves to contest for the presidency in 2011, he gave a frank and factual account of the collusion of governors, state Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and the state Police Commissioners in the malaise.


Former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke


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He spoke to civil society groups and politicans.

“Let me start this way. Prof. Maurice Iwu is truly an enigma; he enjoyed the limelight. He enjoyed all the attacks, thrown and meted at him. He remained undaunted. I think, he belongs to the school of thought that believes that bad publicity is better than no publicity.

“So, even though he was being attacked and scolded and all sorts of things were said about him, he didn’t shy away from even going to the United States and talking to Nigerians in the Diaspora about his work, he didn’t shy away from it. I was told he organized a rally to ensure that he will come back to do the work he was appointed to.

“Why do I call him an enigma? The truth is, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has little or no bearing on the success of elections, that’s the truth. To me, it’s actually immaterial because he is head of the administration. He takes the brunt.

“The best he can do is perhaps, draw up a blueprint, but the implementation of that blueprint is outside his control. So, if elections are rigged in say - Taraba State- we don’t do that stuff in Cross River State (laughter),

“Every one looks at Iwu and he proudly says, we did this or that. Hogwash!

Let me now take you through the process of an election. We have 120,000 booths in Nigeria . At the hierarchy, you have the Chairman of INEC, then you have the zonal commissioners, then you have the RECs and they are the heads in every state. The zone as the name implies; we have six zones in Nigeria , so you have six of them.

“Then you have the RECs and there are 36 of them, of course, and Abuja . Then for each local government, you have an electoral officer. Beyond that, you have 120,000 polling booths, headed by presiding officers. The people think that at the end of the elections, the PDP would just decide who wins, and who doesn’t announce the results. I think the process is a bit more sophisticated than that.

“This is what happens; the Resident Electoral Commissioner is usually from another state. The electoral officers, they move around. They are usually from that state, but for the conduct of elections itself, you would probably move from Cross River to Akwa Ibom or to Abia, but these musical chairs don’t mean nothing.

“When the REC comes before the elections are conducted- of course, when he comes to the state, usually, he has no accommodation; monies have not been released for the running or conduct of the elections and all that because we always start late. He pays a courtesy call on the governor. It’s usually a televised event you know, and of course he says all the right things. ‘Your Excellency, I am here to ensure that we have free and fair elections and I will require your support.’

“Now, at that courtesy call, most governors, at least I did, will invite the Commissioner of Police because he is part of the action and he sits there.

“After the courtesy call, the Resident Electoral Commissioner now moves in for a one-on-one with the governor and says, “Your Excellency, since I came, I’ve been staying in this hotel, there is no accommodation for me and even my vehicle is broken down and the last commissioner didn’t leave the vehicle, so if you could help me settle down quickly;’ and the governor says, ‘Chief of Staff, where is the Chief of Staff here?’

“And the Chief of Staff appears. Governor says: ‘Please, ensure that the REC is accommodated–put him in the Presidential Lodge, allot two cars to him, I give you seven days to get this done. Then, the relationship has started; I am going to share some of these things with you so that we don’t leave here with any illusions.

“A lot of us, folks who have gone through an election or have been elected for one thing or another, see groups like Save Nigeria Group (SNG), the CLP as woolly-eye dreamers, you have to come down to the backsides, since I am now a hybrid between both. I want to bring you both down to backsides. Let me take you down to what happens so that you can change it because if you don’t change it, we here won’t suffer but I think our children will.

“We the elite, I am one of them, we send our kids to the best schools around the world, when they come back they are misfits, they cannot fit in and so ultimately we are designing a system that would destroy us in the end”.

“Let me take our minds back to Somalia . Somalia is mono-religious, mono-ethnic; they only have clans (but) they have one tribe. What has happened there? It’s a failed state because the elite in Somalia were so disconnected from the people that once they had some money, they buy houses in England, Washington and all those places; they were not investing, putting their best foot forward and I think that was what Pastor Tunde Bakare was talking about.

“If you want to be in a contest, you put your best foot forward; at the end of the day, there was such a disconnect that even till today, they cannot bridge it. Let me tell you, the last recognized President of Somalia is buried in Lagos- Siad Barre.

“We are multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-problematic. The reason why most people worry about us is if we explode, who will contain us? Let me also say this, I know what I am saying now is an aside, I will go back to the elections. When we conducted the census in 2006 or so, the raw figures said we were over 200 million; when they went and processed the figures, it came down to 140million.

“When you look at those figures and compare to those we had in 1991 at a growth rate of 2.1 or something like that, it is really just an extrapolation, because we were too embarrassed to admit our true numbers. If we get it wrong, we will fail like Somalia; in Somalia, half of them are in Kenya, Ethiopia, and a few are in Europe here and there; who will contain us in all of West Africa and Central Africa and for that it is imperative not just for ourselves but for the rest of the continent that we get it right.

“Now, back to the elections, once that relationship has been established between the governor and the REC, if you are a governor who is ‘A Governor’, maybe two nights after you just stopped by at the Governor’s lodge and see the REC and say ah, ‘ah, REC how are you doing? Are you?’ He says, ‘ah! Your Chief of Staff has been wonderful. He has been very nice to me; he supplied me the vehicles and everything is ok.”

“A few weeks to the elections, the REC sees the governor; you probably have on the average about three thousand five hundred, four thousand depending on the polling booths in every state. So, REC goes to the governor and says, ‘Your Excellency, could you please, give us the names of about four, five thousand people so that we can hurriedly train them, we need them as Presiding Officers.’ You need experience. A good coach is one who has played and has lost matches in the past?

“The REC now goes down and says, ‘we need to conduct a training programme for the presiding officers and em, headquarters hasn’t sent us any money yet, you know.’

“And the governor is like: ‘How much would that cost?’

“REC replies: ‘N25million for the first batch, we may have about three batches.’ Governor: ‘Ok, the Chief of Staff will see you.’

Now, the Chief of Staff, you call him: ‘Make sure, that we arrange N25 million this week and in two weeks time another N25 million and N75 million in all.’

“Chief of Staff: ‘Your Excellency, how do we do it?’ Governor: ‘Put it under security vote.’

“In other words, is it cash, ok, now, cash in huge Ghana Must Go bags – some of my colleagues will shoot me- (turns to the audience) is any former governor here? (Crowd replies no!)

“Good. Cash is lodged in huge Ghana Must Go bags for the REC and of course, to be fair to them, they call their electoral officers and say the governor has been very benevolent; he has given us this and that. I say three batches because they have them in senatorial districts.

“So, you have one in Calabar, you have one in Ikom and Ogoja, those are the headquarters of the senatorial districts. Each one costs N25 million. Of course, the sums are not properly retired. I don’t know how much of this N25 million worked. But, there is a rapport this is going on.

“The governor now turns round and says: ‘Call me the party chairman.’ The party chairman appears and the governor says: ‘INEC requires 50 thousand people for conducting the elections. See to it that we meet their needs.’ The chairman goes and you hear in the evening on radio and television: There will be an urgent meeting of all chairmen and secretaries of XYZ party at the headquarters.

“They should report promptly at 10am (because) matters of urgent interest would be discussed. End of announcement. Now we have texts messages, so its easier, in no time everyone is here.

“It’s a very short meeting, please, go back and within 48 hours submit from each local government 250 names of trusted party members. So in a week, the deed is done. The names, sometimes even passport photographs if required, are sent to INEC.

“And the training programme is carried out. Let me pause a bit. This is at party level. They are usually civil servants. They may be teachers, whatever, but they are party members. The remuneration, for each of them for the elections from Abuja is 10,000 Naira for the day’s work. But the state in its benevolence gives 50 to 100,000 Naira to each of these folks right before this election.

“This is even where it gets even more interesting. So, you have each of the three or four thousand polling booths; they are manned by party stalwarts. They are usually party stalwarts. You don’t send any peripheral member. The remuneration from Abuja has not arrived but that of the state was received 48 hours prior.

“On the day of elections, each polling booth has no more than 500 ballot papers, that is standard.

“There is no a polling booth that is more than 500. So only 200 people appear here, 300 there, 100 there, 50 there, 400 hundred there, at the end of election what happens. The Presiding Officer sits down and calls a few guys and says, ‘hey, there are a few hundred papers here, let’s thumbprint. This is the real election.

“Well, this is not a PDP thing. I am not here to castigate the PDP; it’s a Nigerian thing. This process may sound comical and jovial, it happens throughout the country, whether it is Action Congress or APGA it’s the same thing. We are all the same. They start thumb-printing, some are overzealous. So at the end of the day, you find some voting more than the number of people that were registered to vote.

“Otherwise they do it, you have 95 per cent turnout. You start wondering where were the voters, I didn’t see so many people. And the election results are announced; XYZ party wins and it takes a week for this paltry N10,000 for each presiding officer to arrive.

“Listen to this before you ask your question: Who is the most important person in an election? – The Presiding Officer. And if there are 120,000 of them (booths) there are 120,000 Presiding Officers, they are the most important people in the elections, not the chairman.

“So, as long as we keep applying that same method, you will get the same results. It’s crazy to think that because you substitute Iwu for Jega all will change. In other words, Iwu is a crook, Jega is a saint. Jega is great, he has an impeccable reputation. Iwu was great, now he seems not so great. Ok, they are both professors, they have reached the peak of whatever discipline that they profess.

The point is that it is the system and the personnel and the chairman has little or no control over that.

“Where are we now. We don’t even know when the elections will be. The Constitution amendment seems to be stalling somewhere. So it’s either in January or in April. Sometimes, we behave as if we invented democracy. We always want to draw new rules.

We should know the day of elections. It should be fixed. We should know that on so and so date I think, America is the 4th of November or so and if it falls on a Sunday it doesn’t make a difference.

“The point I am making here is that date is fixed, you know; because in a democracy, election should be a norm, not an event. In our democracy, election is an event. It’s like, we are going to spring on to you with fire works, hey, we are going to have an election, we are all running around- I know most politicians are broke right now, so we are all running around the field.

“Secondly, if you have your ears to the ground, there are whispers that maybe, we need to postpone this thing. The whispers are there. In a democracy, you postpone an election? You postpone things you didn’t plan for, not things that are there in the Constitution, that says you must do this, that and that, you can’t but –you know two ways of moving forward. This is where I like what SNG and CNP are doing.

“We need a critical mass of Nigerians to get out and vote. It is important because the more ballot papers that are legitimately used on election day, the fewer available to be used to rig the vote, that’s the truth. Don’t keep to yourself and think that they will announce results. They are more sophisticated than that. And that’s why the aspirants who felt cheated and had the resources to employ forensic personnel, like those elections had the elections upturned in Edo and Ondo, because they could establish multiple voting by thumbprint.

“So, if it’s an AC state, the procedure is the same. I remember a state, that state will remain nameless. I hear the story that the then President was so determined that he must change the leadership of this state and he called the IG and said, ‘look, that Governor is a security breach. Let’s have elections and flush the governor out, and the governor knows he is under siege. A week before the elections, a new police commissioner arrives.”





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