Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commissioner, Professor Attahiru Jega has said that there is a special breed of politicians in this country who believe that election has to be captured by hook or by crook.
He described them as Militicians. Jega said this while speaking during the first University of Abuja Public Lecture Series with the theme Electoral Reforms in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects.
While commenting on his experience during the elections, he said “INEC faced perhaps its greatest challenge in containing the predisposition and reckless mindset of Nigerian politicians. Any wonder then that our political arena increasingly resembled a bloody battlefield, with maiming, killing, burning, and unimaginable destruction of lives and property.
“Navigating the minefield of do-or-die politicians as an impartial electoral umpire required nerves of steel, and we had to quickly muster the requisite thick skin, as well as appropriate containment strategies.
“A series of badly conducted elections could create perpetual political instability and easily reverse the gains of democratization. If adequate care is not taken, badly conducted elections can totally undermine democratization and replace it with authoritarian rule, of the civilian or military varieties.”
While comparing the conduct of 2007 and 2015 elections, he said At best, they can install inept and corrupt leadership that can herald, if not institutionalize, bad governance. There are many illustrations or manifestations of this throughout Africa.
“But nowhere is this as amply illustrated as in the Nigerian case, especially between 1999 and 2007.
“The 2007 elections were manifestly the worst in Nigeria’s history, as declared by both domestic and international observers. The EU observer mission, for example, noted that the elections fell ‘short of basic international standards,’ and were characterized by violence and crude use of money to buy votes.
“There was reckless mobilization of ethno-religious cleavages and heightened use of money and thugs to influence results.
“The pre-electoral processes, such as party primaries, were conducted in grossly undemocratic fashion. In many cases, the results were said to have gone to the highest bidder.
“The winner of the presidential election, late President Umaru Yar’Adua, himself admitted on the day of his inauguration that there were serious flaws in the election that brought him to power.”