Many Nigerians are saying it in murmurs, some were able to burst it out at different fora. Inescapably, a charge has been laid at the International Court of Conscience -call it ICC or better still, the Court of Public Opinion that the civil society activists, pro- democracy leaders and sundry NGOs have been selective in their activism against undemocratic issues, injustice and human rights violations. While it is 'acceptable' for some leaders to commit fraud or engage in corrupt practices against the people and get away with it , it's a cacophony of voices and condemnations when this same kind of undemocratic or corrupt practices are witnessed or even rumoured against some other national institutions or persons. Is it selective amnesia or selective activism 'This pattern of behaviour came to the fore with the recent Lagos local government election, which for many Nigerians, was a test of the political integrity or the democratic credentials of the main opposition party- the Action Congress of Nigeria (A C N) whose leadership have risen to the national consciousness for mouthing democratic ideals. By the various accounts of voters, of election monitors, of news media, the local government election, right from the primaries was characterised by undemocratic practices and the election itself was marred by irregularities, such that one can say that Professor Maurice Iwu deserves a national apology for the various invectives poured on him while in office as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman. The Sun, on October 30, 2011 in a post mortem had reported: ''Not only that the election was characterised by voters apathy and low turn out, the voting process was also marred by a number of irregularities, ranging from lack of adequate materials and late arrival to ballot snatching and stuffing as well as other logistics challenges' However in most council areas where the Sunday Sun monitored the election the performance of the umpire in the overall conduct of the poll was less inspiring''The Thisday newspaper of 27 October, 2007 reported under the headline'Post Election Protests Spread in Lagos', 'Four days after the result of the chairmanship and councillorship elections were announced in Lagos State, a wide range of post-election protests continued to break out by the day in different parts of the metropolis over alleged rigging and manipulation'' To Fred Agbaje , a Lagos constitutional lawyer:'' it was no election. I used to blame the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) for lack of internal democracy but that of the Action Congress of Nigeria is worse.ACN is not a party. What happened on Saturday showed that people are dissatisfied with the party. I wonder how and where they got the figures they are laying claim to'' (Nigerian Tribune, Saturday, October 29, 2011)Yes, the elections have come and gone, but the singular question has been :How come the season of anomie from the usual avuncular pro-democracy groups, who are eager to demonise the national electoral umpires -INEC , and the screaming headlines on how the national elections have been corrupted or manipulated were missing' Then why have the Wole Soyinkas, the Femi Falanas, the Itse Sagays, the NBA presidents, former and present, the Odumakins, theTMGs of this world, who are eager to pontificate on how to conduct credible elections, suddenly gone quiet even when most of them live in Lagos. One is almost sure that the National Publicity Secretary of AC N, Alhaji Lai Mohammed found it difficult to spin this disgraceful outing'Firing the charge against human rights leaders, the President of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACL), Dr. Debo Adeniran ''accused some pro- democracy and rights groups of compromise hence their failure to condemn the alleged manipulation of the result. Only biased civil organization(sic) were accredited to monitor the LG election and they can't release the outcome of their monitored election because of public outcry''( Nigeria Tribune of Saturday October 29, 2011)The charges filed before the '' Court of conscience'' or Court of Public opinion reads thus; 'That you pro-democracy activists otherwise known and addressed as civil society activists, particularly the Soyinkas, Falanas, Sagays, the NBA Presidents past and present, Odumakins, theTMGs commit the offence of bias or selective criticism of breach of civil, human and democratic rights by condoning such breaches in some opposition controlled states particularly Lagos , Osun, Edo, Ekiti etc while condemning such practices in other states, particularly the Federal level,thereby breaching the trust of Nigerian public. 'That you pro-democratic activists commit the offence of bias, aiding and abetting of breach of democratic principles when you support or keep quiet over the breach of judicial principles when it benefits the opposition as in the case of Justice Salami's conviviality with opposition parties during the pendency of suits concerning them in Osun , Ekiti and Sokoto. That you, however, cry blue murder when such breach of judicial principles are rumoured against other judges. 'That you pro-democracy activists commit the offence of bias, aiding and abetting of breach of judicial principles when you neglected or refused to warn Justice Salami not to seat over the Election Tribunal or constitute Election Tribunals during the pendency of a suit filed by the PDP Osun, challenging his competence to constitute the panels on allegations of possible bias, whereof Justice Isa Salami indeed, made himself chairman of the panel in breach of judicial principles, whereas the pro-democratic activists condemned the National Judicial Council (NJC) for exercising its disciplinary powers to suspend Salami during the pendency of a suit by against NJC. 'That you pro-democratic activists look the other way and commit the offence of bias when you ignore the incidence of lack of internal democracy and breach of electoral principles in areas controlled by the opposition parties while crying foul when such incidences occur with other political affiliations 'That you pro-democratic activist commit the offence of bias, aiding and abetting ,when you keep quiet over the poor performance of governing authorities in areas controlled by opposition parties, particularly the A C N controlled states of Lagos , Osun,Ekiti, Edo, Oyo, Ogun etc while you cry to high heavens in criticising governing authorities of other political affiliations.The court is now in session daily examining the allegations and Nigerians are watching out for what defence will be proffered by activists concerned. For starters,the Campaign for Democracy otherwise known as CD seems prepared to offer an alibi for its loud silence on the Lagos election fiasco when its President, Dr. Joe Okei Odumakin in a statement quoted by the Nigerian Tribune( of Saturday, October 29, 2011) stated that her group '' did not issue a statement because it did not monitor the election''she was outside the country when the election was held and '' no member of CD monitored the exercise.'' Convenient excuse by an otherwise active election monitor of national elections .There is the theory of long-term friendship and goodwill laundering backed with financial lubrication enjoyed by the so-called activists from the NADECO days from the political strong man of Lagos. This, pundits say, had weakened the firmament of pro-democracy groups such that they no longer see or hear evil, if the matter concerns the interest of Tinubu. Nonetheless, the people are waiting to see the emergence of a new face of pro-democratic activism that is not held down to the apron string of local and international paymasters, whose democratic credentials are suspect. Definitely there are times when silence is not golden!Adebanji, a public affairs analyst writes from Lagos
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