Shettima and sham election anniversary

At the 62nd Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in August 2022, Mr Kashim Shettima dressed in a manner that got tongues wagging. He was then the vice-presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). His oversized suit and red tie with a pair of sneakers made him look odd in the midst of lawyers who invited him as a guest at the conference. That outfit has come to define the character of this administration – odd.

Or was it not odd that Shettima said at the NBA conference that he would be in charge of security while President Bola Tinubu would be in charge of the economy? “I have been in the theatre of conflicts for 18 years. I will lead the troops; my principal is an economy wizard who has transformed Lagos into the third largest economy in Africa. He will concentrate on the economy,” Shettima enthused. Today, none of them appears to be in charge of anything. Now, terrorists and bandits have taken over almost the entire country. The economy has wobbled to the dismay of even the “economy wizard” himself. Ironically, government officials blame everyone but themselves for the problems of the country.

Speaking penultimate week at a Public Wealth Management Conference in Abuja where he represented the President, Shettima blamed some forces for allegedly undermining the efforts of the Bola Tinubu administration to stabilize the economy. Cost of living has been so high with inflation rising to 29.90 per cent in January from 28.92 per cent it was in December 2023. Food inflation rose to 35.41 per cent in January from 33.93 per cent it was in December 2023. In January 2023, food inflation was 24.32 per cent.

According to Shettima, smugglers and politicians who could not get power through the ballot box caused the current food crisis being experienced in the country. These forces, he said, “are hell-bent on plunging this country into a state of anarchy, those that could not get into power through the ballot box. Instead of waiting for 2027, they are so desperate that this country can fall apart as far as they are concerned. But we are going to visit them.”

Shame! It is pertinent to note that the one-year anniversary of the 2023 sham presidential election took place on Sunday, February 25, 2024. It is annoying for Shettima to accuse politicians “who could not get power through the ballot box” of being the masterminds of the country’s current woes. In the first place, did the APC even win the presidential election? The election was anything but free, fair and credible.

On that very day, there were widespread reports of violence, voter intimidation and harassment as well as falsification of results. Some people were killed. Some were seriously wounded. In some places such as in Rivers State, outright rigging took place. The then Governor Nyesom Wike helped in no small measure to see to the ‘victory’ of the APC in Rivers State. He has been rewarded with a ministerial position.

The worst was that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) displayed incompetence and suspicious actions that day. The presidential election was held the same day with that of the National Assembly. But while the results of the National Assembly were seamlessly uploaded on the INEC result Viewing (IReV) portal, those of the presidential election could not be uploaded because of sudden ‘technical glitches’. This greatly compromised the credibility of the election. While Nigerians were still complaining and asking for remedies, INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, hurriedly announced the result of the election and pronounced Tinubu winner in the wee hours of March 1, 2023, when people were still sleeping. The man had assured Nigerians that there was no going back on the deployment of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for voter accreditation and the transmission of results to the IReV portal in real-time on the election day. Many Nigerians were not amused at the later turn of events. The aggrieved parties were asked to go to court. Well, they have gone to court and we have seen the jaundiced judgement of the so-called learned justices.

Now, the political gladiators have started preparing for the 2027 general election. President Tinubu has planted his loyalists in strategic places. The three arms of government now appear to be serving the interest of the ruling cabal. Or how do you describe what the lawmakers did at the budget presentation of Tinubu at the National Assembly recently. They gleefully sang Tinubu’s campaign song, “On your mandate we stand.”

Many Nigerians have taken the outcome of the election in their strides. What baffles many citizens now is that the government is yet to mark one year in office and there are protests here and there over hardship in the country. Such protests have occurred in Niger, Oyo, Lagos and Kano States. Members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) also had a nationwide protest on February 27.

Tragically, this government has continued to take one faulty step after another. The President announced withdrawal of fuel subsidy on his inauguration day without thinking of the adverse effects of the sudden announcement. Now, the economy is bleeding. Naira has been on a free fall against the dollar and other major currencies.

Vice-President Shettima said the Federal Government set a goal to raise $10 billion in order to increase foreign exchange liquidity so as to stabilize the naira and grow the economy. Besides, the government has also resorted to strong-arm tactics. It sent the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to raid Bureau de Change operators in places like Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Oyo states. Will all these strengthen the naira? Even if naira gains strength now, it may not last because the fundamental problems that pushed it down in the first place have not been resolved. We are yet to migrate from being a consuming nation to being a productive one.

We need economic and political reforms to engender growth in this country. We need a total overhaul of the INEC. A new INEC that will emerge should understudy how a country like Liberia managed to conduct a free and credible presidential election late last year. That election saw the candidate of the Unity Party, Joseph Boakai, defeating the then President and candidate of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), George Weah, who quickly congratulated the winner.

As former INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, recently suggested, there should be a transparent process for the appointment of the Chairman and National Commissioners of the electoral commission. The President should not be the person solely nominating the persons for such positions. The National Assembly has a lot of work to do. It should ensure, first of all, that before another cycle of election, electronic voting should be made compulsory in Nigeria. Restructuring, which should come with a new constitution, is the best way to go.