Stabbing of The Major Artery of Trust -By Tony Osakpamwan Agbons

There are some vital ingredients used to decorate the interior corridors of the Hallowed Chambers of the Temple of Justice. They include fairness, equity, mercy, and trust. In the context of the current mood of the nation, the ‘plexus of the organ of trust’ in Nigeria has been punctured. The arterial supply of `oxygen of trust` to the `aorta of patient Nigeria’ has been shunted. In their blog, the Western and Southern Financial Group defined trust as “a legal arrangement that allows a third party, known as a trustee, to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries. The individual who creates the trust is called a trustor, a settlor, or a grantor”. It went further to describe the different types of Trust viz: Living, Testamentary, Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts. At any material point in time, the type of trust used depends upon the wishes and financial priorities of the trustor or benefactor.

The Presidential and National Assembly elections held in Nigeria on 25th February 2023 has left a sour taste in the mouth of millions of Nigerians who came enmasse to vote for the candidates of their choice. The election which was highly sugar-coated and marketed to the Nigerian people as the `best ever` has unfortunately not lived up to its billing. The electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has ostensibly sold a dummy to the citizens of the Federal Republic. One would therefore ask what kind of trust transpired on Saturday 25^th February. Who was the trustor and who are the benefactors? The jury is out.

At the time when there were rumours (in the last quarter of 2022), that the much vaunted use of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation, BVAS would be jettisoned for the 2023 elections, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu was quick to jump on the podium in poetry. His commission quickly released a carefully worded press statement on 11^th November 2022. The INEC chair followed up with a well-choreographed Press conference. This writer like many other Nigerians has read (severally) that INEC press release and watched and listened over and over again to well-articulated speech of the INEC Chairman a few days later in Abuja.

Speaking to Journalists and by extension Nigerians at the Abuja Press conference, Prof. Yakubu Mahmoud said and I quote, “On this note, let me seize this opportunity to respond to a story emanating from a section of the media that the commission has decided to jettison the uploading of polling unit level results in real-time on election day. It should please be disregarded as fake news. He went on to say; “the commission will upload polling unit level results and citizens will have access to those results in real-time as we upload your polling units. This innovation was introduced by the commission and the commission cannot turn around and undermine itself. So, this technology (BVAS) has come to stay. We will upload polling unit level results from the polling units and citizens would have the right to view these results”. Prof Yakubu then concluded; “After all, who are we serving? The citizens. How can we deprive the citizens from having access to the results of the process conducted by them at the level of polling units. So, I welcome you to the commission and I want to assure you and reassure you that the 2023 general election is going to be our best ever elections. We are committed and that the votes cast by Nigerians will determine the outcome of the election. Nothing more, nothing less”.  Fantastic! Fantabulous!! Please clap for yourself Mr Mahmoud Yakubu. You are doing well!!!

At the Chatham House in London on 17^th January 2023, Prof. Yakubu repeated his Abuja rhetoric before the world media. Nigerians believed him but fast-forward to 25^th February 2023, and the table was turned. So, what changed? How come the BVAS that transmitted House of Reps and the Senate elections to the INEC portal suddenly could not do so for the Presidential election? How come for an election that was held same day, same time? Wonders indeed shall never end in the Land of Comedus Nigeriana. Millions of voters trusted INEC to keep its promise of delivering a free, fair, credible, and transparent elections. Like the proverbial master dribbler, INEC has succeeded in dribbling itself out of the football pitch. Trust has been suffocated and asphyxiated on the altar of compromise, greed, and corruption.

The strength of the base of the pyramid of democracy is the peaceful change of government in each election cycle. For Nigeria, the 2023 election is our 7th consecutive general election. The expectation was that there would be improvements in this 2023 elections compared  to those of 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019. Rather the events of the past few days are on the contrary. The outlook of the Presidential election of 25^th February has taken Nigeria back to 1963 or 1979 days. The 25th February 2023 election was even worse. What a retrogression that is! Nigerians had hoped that this election would be tech-driven and savvy. The incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari has at several fora promised to deliver a free, fair and credible election as his legacy. However, what played out on 25th February was thuggery, agberoism, ballot box snatching, voter intimidation, inducements, violence, and logistics inefficiency of the highest order. The violence and intimidation from supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC on their nemesis, the Obidients especially in Lagos and Rivers State was breathtaking. More worrisome was the manner security operatives turned a blind eye while thugs and non-state actors held sway.

The international observers that monitored the election across the country has stated unequivocally that the election did not meet the minimum standards required. The International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI) Joint Election Observation Mission (IEOM) led by Her Excellency Joyce Banda, former President of Malawi submitted that “lack of transparency and inadequate communication by INEC during the elections created confusion and eroded voters` trust in the electoral process”. On their part the European Union Election Observation Mission to Nigeria (EUEOM) opined that “lack of transparency in the 2023 election deflated public trust in INEC”.

For a sick ‘patient’ like Nigeria, the stab on its major artery as happened on 25th February 2023 is fatal. As the ‘patient’ called Nigeria gasps for air and wheeled into the surgical theatre of the Judicial Temple of Justice, the good people of Nigeria must not give in to despair and despondency. We must not give up. We will fight using the right `medication`(Laws of the Land) as set out in the Electoral Act 2022. INEC has flagrantly disobeyed its own rules and guidelines as elucidated in that Act. The Nigerian people cannot be cajoled or silenced. Our collective mandate cannot and will not be stolen. Let it be said that it was in our time and generation that our `beloved patient`, Nigeria was treated and saved.

Dr Agbons is Lead of the Institute of Good Governance and Leadership @www.twin2.org