Male peacocks are resplendent creatures with iridescent blue-green-plumage and elongated trains tipped with “eyes” colored in hues of gold, red, and blue. They are strikingly beautiful birds, but they have ugly feet! And like the male peacocks ugly feet, Nigeria’s hard earned democracy is simply vanishing with what transpired across Nigeria for all the elective offices in the 2019 general elections.
Alexander III The Great of Macedonia was an ancient Macedonian ruler and one of history’s greatest military minds, who at age 28 years conquered nearly one third of the earth in military conquest within eight years!
Former Nigeria’s Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke fired the first ‘vote-buying’ [corporate corruption] mantra in Nigeria in 2015. Mrs Diezani Alison Madueke estimated ‘corporate corruption’ [vote buying] in 2015 election was put at $115 million dollars to bribe INEC officials in order to secure victory for the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] in the 2015 election. N472 billion and $487.5 million dollars in cash was traced to Mrs Diezani Alison Madueke account according to Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC].
2019 Nigeria’s elections was simply the most ugliest in the annals of the nation election history. From Nigeria’s first Federal Election Commission Chairman; Chief Eyo Esua, 1964 – 1966; Chief Michael Ani, 1976 – 1979; Justice Victor Ovie Whiskey, 1980 – 1983; Eme Awa, 1987 – 1989; Professor Humphrey Nwosu, 1989 – 1993; Okon Uya, 1993; Summner Dagogo Jack, 1994 – 1998; Justice Ephraim Akpata, 1998 – 2000; Abel Guobadia, 2000 – 2005; Professor Maurice Iwu, 2005 – 2010; Professor Attahiru Jega, 2005 – 2015; and Professor Mahmud Yakub, 2015 – till date.
June 12, 1993 presidential election between Social Democratic Party [SDP] candidate, Bashorun Moshood Abiola and his running mate Ambassador Babagana Kingibe and National Republican Convention [NRC] candidate, Alhaji Bashir Tofa and his running mate, Dr Sylvester Ugoh was described as the fairest, freest and rancour free election in Nigeria. The said election was devoid of rancour, arson, thuggery, and ballot boxes snatching. The election ‘umpire’ headed by Professor Humphrey Nwosu was simply a phenomenon, not until the then military president General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida annul the election.
2019 elections across all board in Nigeria was simply ‘back from hell’. The ‘angels’ must have rebuked INEC in their flight! Kano State Chairman of the All Progressive Congress [APC] Alhaji Abdullahi Abbass has threatened the Saturday March 23rd, 2019 re-run gubernatorial election as a ‘do or die’ affair and true to his words, Kano State was ungovernable in the re-run election in some parts of the state. Kano State witnessed an influx of ‘imported’ thugs from neighboring states. And All Progressive Congress [APC] won the re-run election in chaos and conflicts’ with gang-thugs.
The state governor even foresaw the outcome of the re-run Kano State gubernatorial election when he said, ‘just wait and see what will happen” and hell was let loose by the agents of destruction and thugs rained sticks, and cudgel on voters especially in Gama Ward, Nasarawa Local Government Area, Kano State. River State was militarized by the military, all in the name of protecting Nigeria’s democratic norms and values.
The elections reports by observers, journalists, Civil Societies Organisation’s [CSO’s] & Non Governmental Organisation’s [NGO’s] were damaging and it was a clear case of 2019 election in Nigeria; the Shame of all elections in the history. Underage voters in possession of valid Permanent Voters Card and were allowed to vote!
The rampaging arsonists struck in; Oyo, Benue, Reivers, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Taraba, Bauchi, Sokoto, Plateau, Lagos, Kaduna, Kogi and Kano States leaving in their trails; sorrows, agonies, destruction’s, tears, pains and death! The wanton destruction and disruptions, retrial-corruption [vote-buying], ballot boxes snatching, collisions and collusion’s that envelope the 2019 elections in Nigeria was indeed a minus in Nigeria’s march to democracy.
Electoral officials are forced to announced results at gun point and under duress, result sheets are falsified and altered. And in the gory of all these the presidency seemed care less about what happened during the gubernatorial and state assemblies elections. The result of the March elections was like a cyclone and in the aftermath, some states results were declared inconclusive and the results of the inconclusive elections was simply a bizarre scene to behold thereafter, especially in Kano State.
In 2015, Corporate Corruption [Vote-Buying of INEC officials] by Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke as the order, and in 2018 kick staring from Ekiti State, ‘Retail Corruption’ [Vote-Buying] ‘dibo ko sebe’ –‘vote and cook soup’ was institutionalized and incorporated from where it was extended to Osun State election and was massively used in the Osun State gubernatorial election in 2018.
Imo, Oyo, Sokoto, Bauchi, Benue, Adamawa, Osun, Rivers and hopefully Kano State [with much damning electoral fraud and violence that was perpetrated by agents of All Progressive Congress [APC] for the re-election of Abdullahi Ganduje] States are surely a battle of ‘pounds-for-pounds’ and ‘man-to-man’ by the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP].
The eventual victory of these states is still like when Muhammed XII left The ‘magnificent’ Alhambra Palace, Granada after it’s fall on January 2nd, 1492. Mohammed XII turned around and looked back upon the ‘magnificent’ Alhambra Palace and the mother, Aixa replied, “Do not weep like a woman, for what you could not defend as a man.”
Male peacocks are resplendent creatures with iridescent blue-green-plumage and elongated trains tipped with “eyes” coloured in hues of gold, red, and blue. Male peacocks are strikingly beautiful birds, but they have ugly feet! And like the male peacocks ugly feet, Nigeria’s hard earned democracy is simply vanishing.
2019 elections across all elective offices in Nigeria is simply the ‘ugliest’!
Taiwo Lawrence Adeyemi,
Research & Data Analyst, Premium Times Center for Investigative Journalism [PTCIJ].
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Twitter: @Taiwo387