Flawed polls may hurt Nigeria's bid for UN seat
From Martins Oloja, Abuja Bureau Chief

NOTWITHSTANDING the successful inauguration of the Umaru Musa Yar'Adua administration on Tuesday, the international community is yet to put behind it the controversial elections that produced his government.

Several nations, which are unimpressed with the conduct of the April polls, are reportedly reviewing the support for Nigeria for one of Africa's seats in an expanded United Nations (UN) Security Council.

The outcome of the polls, The Guardian gathered, had diminished the country's chances of securing the coveted seat.

In its latest report titled Nigeria: Failed elections, failing state? published yesterday, a global conflict prevention body, the International Crisis Group (ICG) based in Brussels, Belgium, says Nigeria's case for that honour "has now been seriously damaged."

According to the report, "many diplomats believe that if a permanent African Security Council seat had to be decided today, Nigeria would trail South Africa, Egypt and possibly Algeria ".

But in his inaugural speech, President Yar'Adua admitted pitfalls in the country's electoral process, and promised a redress in the electoral process when he declared: "We acknowledge that our elections had some shortcomings. Thankfully, we have well-established legal avenues of redress, and I urge everyone aggrieved to pursue them. I also believe that our experiences represent an opportunity to learn from our mistakes."

The President said he would set up a panel to examine the entire electoral process with a view to ensuring that "we raise the quality and standard of our general elections, and thereby deepen our democracy."

However, the influential group, which former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan once described as "a global voice of conscience and a genuine force for peace," observes that Nigeria's failed election had undermined its status as a democracy.

The bungled election, the report says, has diminished confidence in the democratic process, especially among the electorate who were the biggest losers, and exacerbated existing tensions in the Niger Delta. It may also be re-igniting separatist agitation by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) in the South-East, due to diminished trust in governing institutions.

On the international scene, ICG pointed out that the elections have weakened Nigeria's position as a broker of peace and a champion of democracy in Africa.

The report further said the transition to a hand-picked successor through a flawed election was more like a dynastic succession, which falls far short of international standards for democratic maturity. It says that with Nigeria's capacity to deal with its many internal conflicts now weakened, the country may be heading to a troubled future unless Yar'Adua acts urgently to pull it back from the brink.

"Nigeria's democracy has derailed", says Carolyn Norris, the group's West Africa Project Director. "Yar'Adua has to understand that no number of overtures will satisfy the opposition and especially the aggrieved civilian public, unless and until his administration engages seriously on the very broad agenda that needs to be faced if Nigeria is to confront its existing and pending crises effectively."

The report notes that engaging with these issues requires a government that enjoys legitimacy in the eyes of its people and can enlist their co-operation, but that Yar'Adua has assumed the Presidency with less legitimacy than any previous elected Nigerian President. He may therefore have less capacity to moderate and resolve Nigeria's violent domestic conflicts.

"Concerted measures are required within the next few weeks to heal the most evident wounds of the elections", ICG's Director of African Programme, Mr. Francois Grignon said.

He added that "immediate steps must be taken to build government legitimacy and avoid any further slide to state failure."

Foremost among those immediate steps, according to the group is for Yar'Adua to work hard and fast in building the legitimacy of his administration. Another priority is to work with the opposition to form an inclusive government of national unity, not by co-opting individuals but rather by accepting only the official nominees of opposition parties. He must also overhaul the discredited leadership of the electoral commission and set up an independent inquiry to identify responsibility for electoral fraud, the report adds.

The ICG also calls on the Senate to launch a judicial inquiry into the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC's) financial management, and initiate a national, all-stakeholder conference towards comprehensive electoral reforms.

Meanwhile, the group has urged the UN, United States (U.S.) and European Union (EU) to give material and technical aid to election tribunals. It equally asked the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to encourage the Yar'Adua administration to move fast towards ensuring electoral justice, inclusiveness and reconciliation.
http://: www.ngrguardiannews.com

Comment: As much as we pretend that everything is okay, and that things will work themselves out, we still have a lot of work to do to address the fruad called April elections.
Too many peoples horses were gored that it will be virtually impossible to placate everyone.
Not a suscriber to the agitations of MASSOB, there a tenable arguments to their grievances.
The Niger Delta area had been more marginalised than any other sector.
With the NASS and Senate and country virtually and firmly in PDP hands, the counrty in moving towards communism and fascism.
Can Ya'Adua address all these ills, can he build a solid house on a shakey and fruadulent foundation?
AS much as we don't want any outside interference, lets face it Nigeria or any other nation in the world cannot survive on her own without imput from foreign nations. We are a comity of nations.