Anambra State in Nigeria occupies a position of
both historical and political importance. It
produced the first (non-executive) President of
Nigeria and a major force in Nigeria’s
independence struggle in the person of Nnamdi
Azikiwe. The Vice President under the 2nd
Republic Chief Alex Ekwueme was also from
Anambra State.
It boasts of an array of distinguished Nigerians
who have made their mark locally and
internationally such as Chief Innocent Ifediaso
Chukwuma who pioneered local production of
automobiles in Nigeria. Belying this geographical
enclave with less than desirable urban planning
and infrastructure is also the biggest market in
Africa which is found in Onitsha bordering the
famous Niger River.
Sadly, this great state has achieved
unprecedented political infamy since the return
to civilian rule in 1999. It created a new record
in political god fatherism when a sitting
governor was kidnapped and nearly forced to
resign.
It was the state where an election petition for a
governorship election lasted for nearly three
years in a four-year tenure. It was also the state
where the impeachment of a governor was
found to be without merit and it took months to
get the governor back in office. The local
government structure in the state has been
under constant battering. Given its chequered
history, Anambra is a lesson in what is wrong
with our ‘democracy’.
Thus the election on the 16th of November was
not just an election but a huge opportunity to
navigate away from a history of dysfunctional
democracy that is gradually tilting towards
normalcy. This tilt to normalcy however
appeared to have been brutally stopped on its
tracks.
I travelled down to Anambra state with hundreds
of other civil society observers who not only
understood the significance of the governorship
elections but also its implications for Nigeria’s
general elections in 2015. INEC had also framed
the election as a test of its preparedness for the
2015. The stakes were clear to every participant
including political parties who were keenly
aware of how the outcome of the elections will
boost or diminish their chances in the 2015
general elections.
It was in this electrifying atmosphere that the
elections commenced.
In the morning when we made our rounds
across the state, it appeared normal and we
were very optimistic that the elections were
going on fine. By midday, it all took a disturbing
turn. What become obvious was the chasmic
difference between the glowing rhetoric of
Atahiru Jega (The INEC Chair) and the
dysfunctional system on ground.
It is important to point out that INEC has never
been in deficit of good intentions. It has always
by words and posture coupled with the
impeccable goodwill of its chair portrayed good
intentions. However, these ‘good intentions’
seems to be restricted to the words and office of
the chairman.
The reality is that there is a disconnect between
policy framework and practice; between
projections and the on-ground structures to
achieve them; between assumptions and realty
and most worrisome between principles and
practices. Inherent in this disconnect is the
constant cry against late arrival of election
materials or bungled logistics arrangement; poor
deployment and capacity of election staff and
poor sensitization of the public. These factors
reared its ugly head in Anambra in a manner
that severely damaged the credibility of the
election.
The worrying question is how long INEC will
continue to make the same mistakes all over
again. Like the Civil Society Election Situation
captured it in their report, this is a case of
perennial incompetence. With this kind of
incompetence (though some Nigerians argue that
it is more of sabotage), the 2015 election with
all its strategic importance is in grave danger.
The events of the election also revealed the
disappointing quality of our political parties. It
is not just the usual case of election malpractice
which cuts across the three major political
parties contesting for the election, but sadly the
inability of the political parties to perform the
basic functions required in an election. It was
pretty obvious that most of the political parties
did not review the voters’ lists that were shared
to them which resulted in the omission of
numerous names in the voter register.
There was poor sensitization of the people
resulting in very poor turnout. Vote buying,
thumb printing of ballot papers, and other
electoral offences were routinely carried out. It
was really sad to hear stories of voters
dispensing with their votes for about N500 ($3).
This not only exposes the poverty in the land
but the fact that rather than address poverty,
political parties exploit it.
Another sad reality of the Election Day was the
level of faithlessness that people had in the
process. Across the board, many people I
interacted with said there was no point in voting
since the result of elections were already
determined. People had no qualms aiding
electoral malpractices. You get the sense that
the election is just a season of activities with
little relevance to the quality of governance.
This citizens’ apathy is sustained by the poor
quality of governance and is not also helped by
INEC putting its credibility and character to
question.
The death knell for the election in Anambra was
the fact that for some reason (sabotage from an
INEC staff) elections were not held in Idemili
North the stronghold of one of the opposition
candidates. INEC management of this crisis was
disastrous. While acknowledging its fault, it did
nothing to elicit confidence; and the hurried
announcement for a supplementary election the
next day which was a Sunday felt more like panic
than troubleshooting.
The lessons from Anambra election were painful.
The events of the day captured in my view the
dysfunctionalities of the Nigerian state. INEC
cannot be removed from the larger challenges
facing the country but it has created a standard
for itself which it has acquired notoriety for
falling short. The fragility of our democracy, the
twisted nature of value system and the weakness
of our institutions played out in Anambra in a
manner that raises fundamental questions about
the sustainability of our democracy and the
diminishing fortunes of our development.
Driving away from Awka on the evening of the
17th with a report of an inconclusive election
after months of preparation was heart breaking.
As I drove through the weathered and
embarrassing road network in the Anambra
capital city, I wondered what manner of
democracy imposes this kind of regression on its
people. When I joined the federal road that will
take me from Awka to Enugu State, I had to hold
firmly to my seats because of the debilitating
nature of the road.
I sadly realized that the road has been in decay
for almost a decade. These kinds of
infrastructural failures mirroring the
insensitivity and failings of governance reinforce
the gravity of undermining the ability of people
to speak through the votes. I couldn’t help but
shed tears for a country that has so much but
enjoys so little.
Udo writes from the Civil Society Election
Situation Room. Twitter handle-@udoilo

EFULEFU!!!