What Uduaghan Said At His 1st Annual Lecture

Being text of lecture delivered by His Excellency Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, CON, at the 1st Governor Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan Annual Public Lecture under the auspices of Prof BIC Ijeomah Centre for Public Policy & Research at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) on Tuesday 9th April 2019.

PROTOCOLS

1. I want to begin my opening remarks by appreciating the UNN management for instituting a chair in the faculty of social sciences in my name. I am humbled by this kind gesture and I am pleasantly surprised by it. Some years ago while as Governor of Delta state, we set out in partnership with UNN to recognize and immortalize an intellectual giant of this institution and one of our great political leaders in Delta state, Prof BIC Ijeomah, by constructing the building that houses Prof. BIC Ijeomah center for Policy Studies and Research and Department of Sociology and Anthropology—a befitting edifice that was completed and delivered in good time, and as far as we were concerned, that was it.


2. Obviously UNN had a different view.  In what is now a gesture of reciprocity, a chair has been endowed in my name at a time I was no longer in office, making this gesture remarkable and especially gratifying. I want to assure you all that in and out of office, I will continue to hold UNN close to me and will remain a partner in support of its further development. I may have been trained at the University of Benin, a remarkable institution by itself and so UNIBEN’s alma mater, but I have become quite close to UNN. I think and I hope you will consider and accept me also as an honorary alumnus of UNN? Thank you!


3. I have selected as a topic of my presentation Making Nigeria Elections Cleaner, Transparent and Credible. I selected this topic because it is apt. We have just concluded the 2019 general election which has thrown up so many issues, that warrants further interrogation and more insightful perspectives.  I contested the 2019 general election as a senatorial candidate of APC in Delta south. I have participated actively in Nigeria’s election over the last 20 years. So there is no doubt that I have some experience in how elections work.


4. Have we made progress in the conduct of elections in this country in the 20 years we have had unbroken democratic rule? My assessment is that it is a mixed bag. Yes, some aspects have seen significant improvement and some have not, I shall explain as we progress.

5. Electoral politics is perhaps one of the defining moments in democratic politics. It defines the values that led to how power is won, retained and managed over a period of time, in this case over the next four years.


6. And so the intensity that we see in electoral contest is not unusual and should not be seen as unusual in a free competitive democratic system. What is however vile is when lawful boundaries are breached. In this context, when the political parties and candidates employ unwholesome tactics like violence, intimidation, kidnapping, manipulations of the ballot and other criminal acts that impair our democratic right. That stretches the security apparatus and that frightens the people from the exercise of their franchise as permitted by law.


7. Nigeria is in a peculiar episode. Since 1999 we have had for the first time different administrations seeking and getting mandate renewal or as the example of 2015 show, one administration losing out and being replaced by another administration of another party. This one sign of stability and growing maturity. As a concept democratic theory is idealistic, Government of the People by the People for the People. In simplified form it should not be so hard but in practice, it is a very difficult system to run. Perhaps that is why Winston Churchill once described democracy as the worse form of government but the best that we have. At a conceptual level democratic governance presupposes that the people have sound understanding of what their rights and needs are, are able to make the best judgment that offers the best solution to their interest, that the contenders for offices are doing so in the overall interest of the people, and that the contenders are ready to play by the rule, and that the election regulator is impartial, efficient and competent.

8. With 20 years that Nigeria has practiced democratic rule, these ingredients are very much in deficit. Overall it does appear that the voters may not always understand what their best interest are and how to ensure that their best interest reflect in the election. With a more informed electorate the rising culture of solicitation and vote buying would not have been so prevalent as we find today during elections. The argument that voters sell their votes because of hunger does not hold water. Eventually how much does each get? Pittance. An enlighten electorate will not readily sell their votes because to do so means you are forgoing your right to demand for prudent and accountable government. The real democracy dividend. And when a politician is buying votes he has calculated that in entering this bargain, he is going to devote considering amount of his time in office recouping what he has spent. And be prepared for the next election and repeat the same thing.

9. So it is a vicious game, with no end in sight. INEC, the election regulator, had introduced several measures to contain this problem in conjunction with the security agencies but it is unclear how much effect this had in the election. If we go by the news in the media and various other reports, it appears very little was achieved to curb this creeping menace of vote buying.  And so I am calling for intensification of voter education. Unless there is voter education that makes people aware of the self-harm in bargaining and selling their votes, we won’t be making as much progress as I think and believe we should. I should also say that when votes are sold and bought, the people are out rightly forgoing opportunities for jobs to be created, for infrastructure to be built and for a solid economy to be developed. Vote buying corrupts and distorts the most elementary part of electoral politics.

10. It was Charles de Gaulle who once remarked that politics is too serious to be left to politicians. This is true when it was said as much as it is true in politics of Nigeria today. Our people, the electorate are easily beguiled. When a people are bought with money then they lose the right to complain. So the people bear considerable responsibility and we must without belabouring the point stress that government in Nigeria must invest heavily in promoting political education at the grass root. The awareness of the people may have improved but awareness without commensurate political education can only go so far. The greatest empowerment the people need today is political education.

11. In all the ultimate responsibility in making our democratic system work for us and be an example has to be the type of political class we choose to be. In 20 years of democratic practice I am not satisfied that the politicians have risen up to the ideals of democratic system. In Athenian democracy, which is known to be the first democracy in the world, participation was not opened to all. In their time it was restricted to adult male and male citizens. While I am not asking that such restrictions be imposed and it is impossible because the Constitution makes clear who can and cannot participate in the democratic process but even then, there should be some way the political class can recruit decent, credible, public spirited and capable people for sponsorship for elections.

12. My point is that for democracy to thrive in Nigeria we have to raise the bar. I am invariably questioning the content of our democracy. I am questioning the quality of people who offer to serve and who are not sufficiently scrutinized and accepted into the leadership, people whose values are suspect. Some of these people because of access to money—sometimes questionable sources—buy their way into power and with the power of money compromise everything including state institutions. I am saying there should be rigorous oversight by all. The intrusion and damaging effect of money politics is the root of what is harming the growth of our electoral politics. And it starts by the sort of people elected into offices, what are their values?


13. Twenty years of democratic practice is still brief to definitively draw any meaningful conclusion on the success or otherwise of the journey we have embarked upon. Yet there are troubling signs as highlighted in the election of 2019 and indeed other elections before it. Each election is a building block upon the previous ones.


14. The role of INEC is central to everything concerning electoral politics. Is INEC truly independent and capable not just in Abuja but across the various states, local government and wards? If I am being fair I have to state that INEC standard has not always been kept across the states, local governments and wards. In those places that came short, I call on INEC to closely reset its team on the ground. In INEC, one can also retrospectively recall the significant improvement in INEC over the years.

15. There was a time elections in this country were such that the voters didn’t vote yet results were declared. Winners emerged. Then INEC introduced technology, which was aimed at determining that we move to a cleaner and credible election. The card reader technology was a revolution. In 2015 despite glitches it worked. For example, election results where the process is not interfered with you find the margins are tighter.

16. In 2019 some desperate politicians appear to have found a way to undermine this technology. Reports abound where card reader was bypassed in conduct of elections. Over voting occurred. Undercounting also occurred. Fake polling units, thuggrey, fake results were announced. Collusion between INEC staffers and political agents and operatives were rife. In short, all sorts of malfeasance happened in 2019 to discredit the election. Security agencies are accused of being used to suppress and intimidate voters; some of these were captured on camera. In spite of all these, the 2019 elections is still acceptable. Our elections are still "work in progress".

17. Look, it just does not matter what measure is introduced by INEC, federal government by whoever or whatever, unless we are determined to play by the rule, to respect rules and order and to see politics as an opportunity to serve the people our electoral politics will remain a sham.  The desperation, the do-or-die mentality in politics that makes electoral politics a zero-sum game is unhealthy and sad. Part of the reason for this is because democratic practice is still a relatively new system in our culture and so these challenges will occur. But it should not be the norm but rather should be identified and removed. Woe betide us if we call wrong right and right wrong. That is one.

18. The other factor impacting our political development is that social and economic mobility is seen as mainly through political offices.  And that is why we must do everything to diversify our economy, such that new opportunities are available. If stronger private sector dominated economy is created, you don’t have to enjoy social or economic mobility only when you are in politics. I want a time to come when political parties will be head hunting and begging people to run on their platforms and many of those they approach will say “I can’t leave my business for politics.”

19. The Judiciary is also a key factor in our political processes. There is no doubt that the judiciary has played a bigger role in the 2019 elections than ever before. As you may know I experienced a lot of turbulence in my political journey. In my Governorship history, I was taken to the election tribunal 19 times, passed through 77 Judges. I won 18 of the 19 cases and lost one. So you can call me an authority on judicial issues in elections in Nigeria. During elections, while some are preparing on the field, others are only preparing for the courts. They never appear on campaign grounds. It is important that the judiciary has to be strengthened to handle pre and post election cases. The courts have to co-ordinated, so that conflicting judgements are not given by courts of coordinate jurisdiction.

20. Security is also a critical area in our election process. Ordinarily, the security of elections should be handled by the police. However, for several reasons, other security agencies are drafted to assist the police. We have however seen a lot of instances where these other security agencies take total control of the security for elections. Election security has to be critically examined and proper strategy put in place.

21. As I conclude let me observe a few things that need to be done in preparation for 2023:

A. I call on Mr President to sign as early as this year the electoral Act after due amendment has been done by the National Assembly.
B. Gradual release of funds for INEC should begin with 2020 appropriation bill.
C. A manual should be developed and used by security agencies for election security management. All those arrested for violating the electoral law should be punished expeditiously as lesson to others. Am aware many offenders in 2015 election are still in court or have not made court appearance, this should change. obviously the setting up of election offences court has become overdue and should be setup as quickly as possible.
D. INEC should be more rigorous in its selection of adhoc staff. This should be done on time and series of training conducted long before the election, to allow for the local people to identify partisan officials that might slip through the cracks.
E. The continuing failure and or sabotage of card reader should be checked and rechecked again. INEC should come out with a safe system. There is need to further improve on the efficiency and efficacy of card reader. Nigeria should take a second look at the electronic voting and electronic transmission of results.


22. These are a few of my observations, I am sure there are many others that can be brought to the table for further discussion in our quest to make our elections better.



I thank you all for your kind attention.



EE Uduaghan, CON
Immediate Past Governor,

Delta State.