A fraudulently elected government amounts to a civilian coup d’état which Nigerians must rise up and reject, former Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] presidential aspirant Dr Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed said in Abuja yesterday. He spoke as guest speaker at the 16th edition of the Daily Trust Dialogue with the theme “Youth and Democracy: The Nigerian Challenge.”
Baba-Ahmed, who is the founder and Pro-Chancellor of Abuja’s Baze University, also said nothing demeaned democracy like electoral fraud. He voiced concern that majority of those who engaged in vote buying and selling that had been accepted as normal act were Nigerian youths. He said the youths had been perpetually enslaved by the ruling class who die in power and are succeeded by their children. Nigeria’s system is failing system and it currently lacked the capacity to correct itself, he said.
Baba-Ahmed also wondered why the youth who were elected into positions of authority had continued to sustain the old order of absolute loyalty to their political leaders. Such youths who cannot assert a new system are unfit to be considered the next generation of leaders, he said. He also said, “Nothing demeans democracy like electoral fraud. Now, it seems electoral fraud ended with the coming of APC to power; all that was happening before they came to power was electoral fraud, but all that happens now is not electoral fraud. This is not true. Three governments were challenged in court and distracted for a total of six years in the 12 years a certain presidency was sought.
“APC’s win was not challenged. And now card readers may or may not be used as the President has refused to sign an Amendment to the election law, and tension rising from fraud allegations as the worst performing government in the history of Nigeria schemes to return itself. Obama is not around [to exert pressure]; it is Trump [and he is] preoccupied with his wall and trade wars, and Theresa May is struggling with Brexit. My submission: a fraudulently elected government is simply a civilian coup.
“Vote buying is not only a fact of our democracy but a way of life. That is less a problem than the fact that it appears to be accepted. Buyers of votes are portrayed as villains and sellers are overlooked. A vote to say the least is a decision. Sadly, a large portion of the Nigerian electorates are accepted to sell this decision, a sale without power of attorney and without conditions attached.
“Against the background of the fundamental principles that underpin the system of democratic governance, one may be justified to ask if people who sell their votes actually deserve a civilized system as democracy. Vote selling, not the buying, is actually the evil that the electorate do to themselves, a majority of whom are youth.”
Baba-Ahmed said the Nigerian youth were having their psyche damaged, their morality stripped, their education denied, and their dignity depleted by the country’s propaganda-driven system that thrived on worsening their situation and destroying their future. He said, “The constructive roles for our youth to play in Nigerian democracy remain a myth. And all prospects are being diminished by yet preparations for the 2019 elections. For example, have we not recently observed the youth compromising delegates all over Nigeria, and is it not true that a certain serving political party of people who claim not to be stealing has set aside N250,000 each for 120,000 polling units totaling N30 billion? Anti-corruption indeed.”
The former federal lawmaker, who bemoaned lack of connection among the electorate, delegates and elected leaders, said the standard political configuration had been that of a demotivated electorate managed by a disinterested political machinery and driven by political elite conspiring to sustain the failure of democracy. Baba-Ahmed said any political system that could neither be corrected nor be allowed to correct itself was doomed, stating that “our system is evidently failing and not only lacks capacity to correct itself but destroys any attempts to correct it.”
He said any government willing to find solutions to the current problems must not promote corruption under the cover of assumed integrity, condone nepotism and fraternity, look away from insecurity and terror, and lack simple economic management competence. He pleaded against any temptation to rig the next elections.
