NATIONAL Coordinator, Rights Monitoring Group (RMG) and Country Director, Centre For Convention On Democratic Integrity, Olufemi Aduwo, has monitored many elections in the country since the return of democracy in 1999, his last assignment being the gubernatorial election in Edo State two weeks ago. Aduwo shared his experiences on the election with some journalists. He also spoke on the proposed constitution review exercise by the National Assembly and expectations of Nigerians, corruption in the polity, among other issues. ONYEDIKA AGBEDO was there.Edo State gubernatorial election was held recently and many of your members observed the election. Why do you think the PDP lost in that election'Edo State PDP has problems. There were internal crisis and as a result, they worked at cross-purposes. They worked against themselves. Many of the stakeholders marveled at how the General emerged the candidate of the party. They felt it was not proper to come from nowhere and be made the candidate. Forget what they called reconciliation. They were just cosmetics.Imagine a situation where former candidates for the same position were not given any nod like Professor Osunbor, among others. Do you think they were happy' Some top PDP members shifted ground for their own selfish interest because as far as they are concerned, it is better for them to lose the election now than in 2015 when they may likely contest. If the PDP candidate had won, won't he seek re-election after four years' That is a food for thought for you.I am also not saying that the winner of the election was the best candidate because in Nigeria, all of them are the same. What we have is just difference in names.Do you expect any of the candidates to go to the tribunal especially the PDP'I think the PDP don't need to go to court because they lost the election within their own arrangement. They don't need to go to court for Edo election. Even though it has unfortunately become the norm that when the PDP wins an election, they will say it was rigged but when it is ACN or CPC, then it was a free and fair election.We recorded a lot of scenes where in a polling unit, beer was being served openly; people were drunk. We witnessed where people cast their vote and collected money at the back of the booth. So, in that situation, election may be free at its best value but people are not voting according to the dictates of their conscience. I think Nigerians should be able to change this mindset that whenever PDP wins an election, the election was rigged. PDP may win, it may be rigged also, CPC may win and it may also be rigged.The Constitution amendment process has once again been set in motion. Do you think this amendment will be in the interest of the people'After getting Nigeria off the military chains, the next liberation struggle that needs attention is how to be free from modes of political structural arrangement imposed on us by non-democratic elements of the past military governments. In a functional federation where the fiscal relations among the federating states are properly established, it should not be the responsibility of the president, for instance, to make pronouncement on policy issues that are bound to disproportionately affect the people in the different states of the federation like wage issues. This is because of differences in the resource endowments of the states.It was the operating of genuine fiscal federalism that allowed the regions run by the founding fathers of Nigeria to develop their resources individually, competitively and to the benefits of their people. The workers in Western region at a time were paid a minimum daily wage of five shillings well above what was paid at the federal and other regions. Today, it is however ironical that the oil producing states and highly commercial and industrial states like Kano and Lagos feel incapable of paying the level of wages being paid to federal employees. This is a manifestation of the distortion of fiscal federation.People who are calling for National Sovereign Conference believe that if the National Assembly members since 1999 till date are sincere with the Nigeria project, some critical aspect of the constitution, like fiscal federalism and devolution of power could have been amended. I am afraid that what we will get at the end of this exercise may not be in the interest of the country and majority of Nigerians. The National Assembly is not serious about the exercise.Corruption appears to be the biggest challenge with this government. Should constitutional powers be given to judges to initiate and force the executive to investigate and prosecute erring public officers'It will not work. Some members of the Bench are corrupt. Hong Kong was probably the most corrupt country in the world. Corruption was a way of life and existed from womb to tomb there. In 1974,the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) swung into action and within three years, 247 government officials including police officers were prosecuted for corruption and related offences.So, fighting corruption requires a well thought out and comprehensive strategic plan. We need to examine the various factors that mainly affect the fight against corruption. For example, you may ask, is there adequate political will to fight corruption' Is there any political interference in investigating corruption cases' Is the political system defective' Is there any corruption in the election process' Is there adequate support from the legislature in fighting corruption' Is there adequate accountability and transparency in government' Is the fight against corruption based on a reactive or proactive approach' These and many factors are impeding against the war. Grating constitutional power to force the executive to prosecute corruption cases will not help the matter.At the state level, would your organisation support the removal of immunity clause for governors'The late Chief Gani Fawenhimi succeeded in the case of forgery against Bola Tinubu; the court ruled that immunity does not prevent police from investigating governors or president while in office, though he may not face prosecution until he leaves office. It was a welcome development. But did the police have the courage to investigate those governors both present and past who looted and are still stealing from the commonwealth' So, removing immunity will not achieve anything tangible unless the will is there to fight corruption.The agitation for more states is intensifying, can we afford more states or even local government councils'The agitators know that they are not sincere in their demands. Many states are not viable and many local government councils only operate on papers. Instead of more states and local councils, merger of many states should be the answer. And since the local councils have been bastardised, it should remain the states affair, as it is done in America, without monthly allocations from the Federation Account.Local government councils are the closest to the people but have been compromised. Before now, they used to execute projects and assist the communities but what you have now are local councils where only workers' salaries are paid while the executive shares the little that remains. So, state governors have bastardised local councils. That is why they will never support the independent accounts for local councils. When monthly allocations from the centre come, they send just a token to the councils in the name of imaginary deductions. Are you also aware that many states are bankrupt' In the light of all these developments, why should someone agitate for more local councils and states' It is selfish. This country needs to be properly restructured.There is still the widely held view that electoral constituencies are not evenly distributed in the country. Why, in your view, is INEC not doing anything ahead of 2015'In 2008, we organised a seminar on 'Participatory Democracy in Nigeria: The Challenges of Constituency Delimitation' at Rockview Hotel, Abuja. The INEC Chairman then, Prof. Maurice Iwu came to the conference with all the National Commissioners because of the importance the commission attached to the subject matter. The 1999 Constitution as amended is eloquent on the imperative of delineation before election. Sections 71-74 and 112 define the statutory mandate of INEC with strict regard to delimitation of constituencies. The credibility of any general election conducted by INEC without taking into cognizance these salient statutory provisions is questionable. The truth is'delimitation exercise is technical and the stakeholders are not supporting INEC for selfish reasons.I remember some of the INEC National Commissioners during Prof. Iwu's tenure went to the South-South on a delineation sensitisation programme and paid a visit to a first class royal father. When he was told why some local councils should be moved from their present Senatorial districts to another, he sent them out from his palace. This was because restructuring will affect the five per cent local council fund he is collecting monthly.When delineation is not properly done it affects development projects and the people may not be adequately represented. Take a look at the Lagos Senatorial District. In the last general election, 5,574.680 voters registered in the district whereas the number of registered voters in both Lagos Central and Lagos East Senatorial districts was 3,438,851. Edo South Senatorial district voters are half of the total number of voters in the state. The INEC and National Population Commission need to work together in this regard.
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