Mike Igini, a lawyer and the Cross Rivers state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), in this interview, speaks on the crisis of confidence besetting the judiciary, saying it has turned the institution into the weakest link in the line of defence of democracy. He also shares his thoughts on the debate on whether or not president Goodluck Jonathan should contest the 2015 general elections, election umpires who betray the people's trust and why they should be severely punished, the refusal of some state governors to conduct local council elections, and sundry issues.YOU supervised the election that saw Liyel Imoke emerge the Governor in Cross River state, in a contest that was generally seen as free and fair, with little or no litigation from other contestants. How did you achieve this'We had only one petition despite the good efforts that we put in as acknowledged by almost all the parties that participated in the election, including the party that eventually went to the tribunal on the last day of the time for filing a petition. We should leave the tribunal to deal with that. However, a democratic election has clear laws, rules, guidelines, principles and practices that must be adhered to strictly. Those who stick to these will always often have acceptable outcomes. Moreover, I have the strong belief that evidence is the end of argument, and in conducting elections, my team made the point to ensure that the audit trail for every election is consistent with the outcome of the particular election. The last governorship election in Cross River state was therefore, the outcome of a consistency with the aforementioned principles and practices.This is not to say that there were no issues of deviant behaviour, but given my background in sociology and Law, I am a stickler for the psychologists' assertion that a rewarded behavior will be repeated, while a punished behavior will be reformed or avoided. Such simple principles are important for creating the social order that is essential for enabling the institutional super-structure, upon which economic and political progress can evolve, through complex societal organization.Those who have thrown their education in such matters to the dogs can afford to forget. But having drunk from the spring of the practical application of knowledge for the enhancement of human progress, I do not indulge in such costly amnesia. That is why, for instance, some misguided ad-hoc staff who during that election, despite their good education as University graduates, failed the society which entrusted them with the sacred ballot of citizens and went on a frolic of their own, by altering the total number of accredited to favour some interests, are now facing the very long arm of the law. This is in spite of the fact that we cancelled the elections in the affected areas to ensure that their misdeeds were not counted and reflected in the final outcome or allow the votes of other law abiding people to be tainted. I just play by the rules guiding democratic elections and ensure that those who work with me do so as much as is humanly possible.Wherever you are superintending, expectations of Nigerians are often high because of your pedigree. How have you always managed to measure up'I do my utmost to abide by principles guiding elections. In addition, I am able, like all progressively informed people and in the best traditions of the Universities of Benin and Lagos where I was nurtured, to defer personal gratification for the wellbeing of the society which has entrusted me with a sacred mandate to guide their ballots.More important, I remain committed to the transcendental aspirations of our founding fathers, that this land which has given us life and which sustains our people must never be sacrificed for our personal needs at the expense of our people who look up to us for guidance and place the hope of all future Nigerians under our watch. We must not extinguish the hope of our people that, a new generation will come one day to make a change, that hope is anchored on the ability of our people to believe that they can hold their leaders accountable through acceptable elections. I cannot, and will not betray that hope.How have been able to cope with advances for gratifications during elections conduct'Every successful electoral outcome begins with taking the right decision based on the objective condition. This, the commission, under our chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega has done commendably in the places you have mentioned where trust and confidence appeared to have been shaken or lost. On the issue of the good things of life and the so called advances, we all like the good things of life within the bounds of reason, but when it comes to choosing between material gratification and the higher principles upon which the wellbeing of society is anchored, it is foolish and self-defeating to choose immediate gratification. To be more explicit, by how much can one really pay, to be able to buy the potential destruction of society by a bad leader. When you collect money to allow a person to 'win' an election and such person eventually corrupts the society, it means you will need to send your children abroad for good education instead of paying for affordable schools near you; it means you may be rolled into a hospital where your life will be at risk because it is ill-equipped, and so forth. In the end, you spend all that ill-gotten wealth trying to obtain the quality of life, which you have helped to deny the society.If you allow the people to make a choice at the ballot, and they make the wrong choice, eventually they will correct their mistakes from experience. But when you make such correction unattainable, by making their votes worthless, it will come back to hunt all of us. So advances and gratifications can never influence an election umpire who truly knows the sacred trust which society has reposed on him or her. As a matter of fact, any election umpire who betrays that trust should be severely punished because of the potential and actual cost to society. I recommend not less than four years imprisonment and not less than ten years ban from any office of public trust without option of any fine.What is your reaction on refusal by many state governors in the country to conduct local councils polls'It is a very sad development because section 7 of the constitution expressly uses the term, 'The system of local governments under this constitution is guaranteed.' There are very few, if any other place in the Constitution, where the term 'guaranteed' was used again. To abase the seriousness which the Constitution places on the system of local governments by such deviance is most disturbing; moreover, the constitution in the same section expressly obligates every state government to comply without caveat. It is a constitutional matter. To defy it amounts to administrative anarchism and is an impeachable offence.Do you think Nigeria needs more political parties'No we do not! And I say it with all seriousness, based on our contemporary experience. The greatest period of our national political cohesion occurred under the two party political system, symbolized by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC). Furthermore, most of the political parties which we have today, with due respect to individuals in these parties, have only barely met the administrative requirement for parties. There is a lot more to what a party should represent to nation building and the development of society that only a few parties can truly say they have attained so far.Indeed, if we want national development, I would suggest that more parties merge or coalesce, but these are my personal views.How would you react to recent developments within the judicial arm of government with regards to the loss of confidence of the citizenry in it'I must express my reservations about the pace of reforms within the judiciary, which is my primary constituency. I am deeply worried over issues of corruption now openly associated with it and the attendant loss of trust and confidence of the Nigerian people. It now appears to be the weakest link in the line of defense of democracy. Its response to the challenges of our democratic experience is not encouraging enough. Those who violate the electoral processes are getting away with impunity. This is sad because democracy is always qualified with the phrase 'and the rule of law.' Thus democratic success will not be complete unless it is accompanied by the rule of law midwifed by the Judiciary. Here lies our worries and concern over issues of corruption now associated with the temple of justice.What is your view on the unnecessary debate over the impropriety of President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2015 elections'2015 is far from being here and it is very sad that people now feed us a constantly unhealthy diet of 2015-mania, to the point where we now have a psychological indigestion of 2015 politics, whereas we should be concentrating on national development. Elections are not an end in themselves, but the means to the end of development. At this point, we should be concentrating on holding those who were elected barely a year ago to their political promises. We should be talking about whether our developmental indices such as under 5-year mortality rate, number of households with access to portable water, good sewerage, affordable health-care, quality and affordable education is getting better. We should be asking questions about the number of Nigerians that can access housing mortgages or affordable housing, we should be concerned about the ability of our transport system to meet the economic needs of the future and to be able to compete in the global political economy. We should be worried about the pace of national integration and the challenges that beset it. This unhealthy politicking for politics sake is an affront to the Nigerian voter.
Click here to read full news..
