This is culled from http://www.patitospost.com/

Support Electoral Reform
By Pat Utomi

Many had heaved a sigh of relief that things were going to change when Justice Mohammed Uwais’s Committee on Electoral Reform (set up by the president himself) submitted its recommendations to the president in December of 2008. Now after 10 months, what has been heard of these recommendations? Think of the ‘do or die’ elections of 2007 and those who made it happen, then look at those who surround the PDP and the president. A word is enough for the wise. Our destiny is in our hands. Stand up and be counted for electoral reform so your votes can count. Pleases watch the video below, go to the site, sign the petition and tell others about it. Do not think that others will do it. No! Every lover of Nigeria has to take a stand in the peaceful but strong willed struggle for electoral reform.

Nigeria is steadily going down in all indicators of human development. Much as we criticized the previous administration, we must remember that unlike other administrations that handed over debt to its successor, the Obasanjo administration (with all its shortcomings) handed over about $45 billion dollars worth of foreign reserves in addition to $13 billion in the ‘Excess Crude Account’ to this administration, placing it in good stead to begin to trickle down benefits to the masses. But have the masses seen a trickle down effect? No! Life expectancy in Nigeria remains very low at 47 years and life continues to be short and brutish for the vast majority of our people who continue to live on just $1 a day.

And then we have the tendency of Nigerians to confuse cynicism with wisdom. When called upon to join the struggle for electoral reform we say things like ‘abeg leave matter‘ or ‘na today‘ or ‘na dem dem jo, wetin concern me‘. The truth is that cynicism is not wisdom or intelligence but is an act of cowardice that we need to expunge from our mentality otherwise we will keep on manufacturing false justification for the way we are and carry on (as the late Fela Kuti sang) ’suffering and smiling’.

One question we need to ask is why has president Yar’adua not done anything about these recommendations 10 months after receiving them? It has been accepted in the legal world that a man intends the reasonable consequences of his actions. And if the president has sat on the Uwais Committee’s recommendations for this long without any tangible effect being given to them and we have an election due in 15 months time, the conclusion must be that the intention is for nothing to change. We should not be beset by wishful thinking and hope that by some magical act these reforms will be implemented. The only thing that is needed to give effect to these reforms is just the political will that must emanate from president Yar’adua.

I urge my readers and all Nigerians not to let this issue die a natural death. Our leaders have been so long used to Nigerians having a short memory. We have to go against this trend and stop them taking us for granted. Our leaders are also not beneath exploiting our ethnic and religious differences and we need to learn to rise above such. Resist the temptation to see this as a North versus South struggle or Christian versus Muslim issue. We are all affected by the scourge of godfathers and cabals imposing leaders on us who in turn do their bidding and not that of the electorate, leading to poverty and invariably the clashes that arise from competition amongst interest groups for ever shrinking resources. Remember poverty has no tribe or religion.

Finally if you are satisfied with life in Nigeria being short and brutish and lasting for an average of just 49 years, then by all means do nothing. However, if you know you deserve better, then please support and push for electoral reform by whatever peaceful means you can. Watch the video, go to the site, sign the petition and tell others about it.

Once again, God bless Nigeria.

PU.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRQmn6F5X-I[url][/url]

Yar'adua isn't ready for Electoral Reform