The President's Ballot Box Bombshell: Anarchy Above All Else

Certainly, a president who benefitted from due process in a time considered as the highest reign of corruption in Nigeria ought to have more trust in the process, especially now, in a moment supposedly seen as the reign of integrity. The president is aware he is a better dictator than a democratic president.

By Paul Aremo-Oluwa 

Talk is cheap. Maybe not! The talk draws its value from the talker.  The president of Nigeria, his excellence  Muhammadu Buhari has given an express directive to the police and army to be ruthless on thugs and ballot box thieves. If the word ruthless does not echo excessive force and brutality to your ears I wonder if such person ever read a thing on military regimes and junta.


The president’s comment is not some cheap talk. If it was, we could consider it just another treat of presidential gaffe. But it is not. In the president's own words it is an order. We are all aware orders are not suggestions, no, especially not to military and paramilitary forces. Orders are accepted in their ranks as spoken laws. You follow it to the letter because your life depends on it. No exceptions and no 'buts'. Which raises the concern, has the president successfully by that one unanimous order amended the Electoral Act?

The first noble deed anyone can do in the circumstance we find ourselves is to shelve personal opinions and bias aside then consider the Electoral Act and the position of the indepent umpire responsible for elections, INEC. For the benefit of those not aware what the law states or where Inec stands here it is:

Section 129 (4) of the Electoral Act states, Any person who snatches or destroys any election material commits an offence and is liable on conviction to 24 months imprisonment.

The Electoral Act (2010), further states that, anyone who directly or indirectly engages in electoral violence shall be liable to three years in prison or a fine of N1m

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, that the commission would stand by the Electoral Act which “states that persons who snatch election materials are liable to a prison term of two years or maximum fine of N500, 000.” The chairman further stress that, “The position of the commission is that all violators of the Electoral Act should be punished according to the provisions of the Electoral Act.”

It can be argued in Femi Adesina’s words that, wailing wailers are the vibrating proponents discharging negative vibes about the presidential order. But the Law is also wailing too. Some can say like Festus Keyamo that the opposition is reacting as though the president had called them out on ballot box stealing. In such moments like this, the vow of silence is what sets the stage for horror scenes.

For a second, think of the worse kind of criminal you can? Yet, he has a right to a lawyer, to certain liberties and his day in court as enshrined in the constitution the president had sworn to protect. A person alleged of a crime remains a suspect until the court passes a verdict. I do not intend to make a case for electoral malpractices for one split second. Those who seek to test our resolve as a people and upturn our collective aspiration by tampering with the process should incur the full wrath of the law not that of the president.

This parley is not intended to sway the president’s way of thinking to accept democratic norms. The president is aware he is a better dictator than a democratic president. I shall address those who believe we can replace corruption with another monster, anarchy!

Those who support the president on this order are a case study. In fact, studying them can help us unravel why a Customs officer blew out the brains of a Nigerian citizen in an ensuing argument. I bet The motive of the killing was to avoid complex procedures like that of due process by taking the law into his hands. Certain people who are in support of Mr President's order are claiming it is a direct approach to solve the problem of electoral violence and crime. This shortcut, or wuruwuru to the answer may lead to some devastating outcomes.
The Customs Officer is only as guilty or innocent as we hold the president on the issue of rules of engagements and Rule of Law.

Just weeks ago the president had damned due process in suspending the Chief Justice of Nigeria, swearing in another without the senate's approval. Muhammadu Buhari continuous distrust of the judiciary has made him become a law to himself. No! Pardon my uninformed verdict. Rather, he has succeeded in becoming a LAW to Nigeria.

I can  give one assurance, when the tenure of this president finally ends either this Saturday or next four years, as a nation we would be contemplating if we really need to use the constitution anymore because of the merciless rape of  our constitution that happened under President Buhari's watch.

The Nigerian Chief of Army Staff Buratai has voiced strong opposition to anyone who calls the president's directive unlawful order. Perhaps, Buratai can't really tell what unlawful implies. Maybe he is unaware that any order not manned upon the strength of the Law are meant to be discarded. Perhaps he wishes us to accept what we find hard to accept, that the barracks psychology  has displaced democracy in our nation.

   

Men in uniform endorsing president Buhari re-election

What makes the shooting of ballot box thieves more scary  is the news carried by Punch newspaper yesterday of certain military and police men in uniforms openly endorsing President Muhammadu Buhari for re-election. Those are the same guys who have been licensed to be ruthless and to shoot at the polling unit. If the polls at a unit does not favour the incumbent will the president's loyalists not shoot and cover up the plot as a case of attempted ballot box snatching? 

We are on the verge of experiencing what I term as the Zulu king effect - where the king’s comments inspired xenophobic attacks and killing of several African nationals including Nigerians in South Africa. In one of the viral videos of the babaric crime, two South African police stood with their guns  and watched a Nigerian victim beaten to death. Are we about to see Nigerians die again this Saturday because security operates have more leanings to their bias than to duty and the constitution?

It is on record that in 2015 election there was no order to the military either to be ruthless or to shoot ballot box thieves and that election has become a kind of success standard of sort for our elections. That same election saw the then  incumbent president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan lose and President Muhammadu Buhari brought into office. It is also on record today that to a large extent bloodletting was avoided in 2015 because the law of the land and the constitution was allowed to take it's natural course.

Certainly, a president who benefitted from due process in a time considered as the highest reign of corruption in Nigeria ought to have more trust in the process, especially now, in a moment supposedly seen as the reign of integrity.

Fools dance to the tunes of mediocrity when the wise decides to amuse his eyes a while watching the circus show. The misinformed generation are the dancing fools and the corrupt class is responsible for piping the tunes of mediocrity. The informed class are the ones still sitting. When the informed class  arise the bizarre orchestral must fade into oblivion's background as truth's curtain shuts from sight the choreography of fools.

Anarchy and corruption are twin terrors. Dictators don't build great nations that stand the test of time. The only way to lasting peace, true justice and inclusiveness is to keep democratic norms and obey our own laws and constitution. The hallmark of a true leader is one who doesn't bend the rules to solve his problems, rather he goes right through it to attain success. There is no justifications on whatever grounds for the president to void the Electoral Act.

Paul Aremo-Oluwa lives in Lagos, Nigeria. He is a writer and a Public Affairs Analyst.