BY LAOLU AKANDE
My Dear Bob Dee!
One could have easily made up his mind not to read or respond to
anything you wrote after seeing the rather unprincipled queuing up
behind Senator Bukola Saraki and then abandoning him, moving on to
former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and then deserting him as well.
But I felt one should respond to your attempts to create a false
narrative from the very hollow lamentation of the recent elections as
the “worst in our history”.
In my view, those like your good self, veteran journalists, who
have built a formidable platform in the public arena must strive always
to use the platform for the larger public good. There have been several
interventions from you that reflect such true public spirit, but some of
us stridently disagree with what at times could be perceived as a
self-serving journalistic conduct. Many would seem to agree that this
was obvious in your recent open letter to the Vice President, Prof. Yemi
Osinbajo, SAN.
But first, let me thank you for your gracious words of
congratulations to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice President,
and your admiration for the VP’s commendable performance in office. I am
certain that your quest for public accountability derives from that
admiration.
It is important to state that a citizen’s open letter to public
figures or government authority is always welcome here and not
necessarily a matter of right or exclusive access. For us, such matters
of access for the people to their elected leaders is of normal cause and
ought not to be a matter of exclusivity nor should we make a play of it
as so special.
As is typical of your propaganda machinery, it begins with an
outrageous lie by the principal then the operatives like yourself repeat
it ad-nauseum. It appears you were not in this country when foreign and
local observers accepted the results. Independent Foreign Observers
commended the transparency and credibility of the Presidential and
National Assembly elections.
Also, the Independent Election Monitor group, supported by the
French Embassy, concluded that “based on the analysis carried out in
this document as well as the actual observations of the election
activities across the country, it is Election Monitor’s considered
opinion that the 2019 Presidential Election results are consistent with
the will of the majority of voters who took part in the elections
notwithstanding the various infractions which also occurred as they were
not on a scale significant enough to affect the overall outcome of the
election.
YIAGA Africa’s Parrallel Voting Tabulation, relied on by
international agencies, embassies and funders also said its "findings
show that for the presidential election the All Progressive Congress
(APC) should receive between 50.0 per cent and 55.8 per cent of the
vote." And that “the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) should receive
between 41.2 per cent and 47.0 per cent of the vote; these figures are
consistent with the official results as just announced by INEC.
“For both APC and PDP, the official results fall within the PVT
estimated ranges.” That YIAGA AFRICA results statement was based on
reports from 1,491 polling units which are 98.4 per cent of sampled
polling units. YIAGA AFRICA’s projections were reportedly also
consistent with the officially announced vote shares for the other 71
parties who contested in the presidential election. It is also believed
that the group’s projections were based on the results announced in the
polling units and would have detected any significant manipulation
occurring during collation at the ward, local government area, State and
national levels. Also, "INEC’s official results for turnout and
rejected ballots were also generally consistent with YIAGA AFRICA WTV
estimates.”
These are empirical facts, my dear Bob Dee, especially if you put
your analysis through any rigorous tests. Propaganda and falsehood only
need a willing sponsor.
Yes, observers mentioned pockets of violence and some malpractices,
but none felt that these were sufficient to affect the credibility of
the elections or its results. Frequently cited is Ago Palace in Lagos.
One unit in a city of 20 million! In any event, the real question is,
how did the violence in the comparatively few places where it happened
favour the President? And how come the strong allegations of foul play
by the likes of Godswill Akpabio in Akwa Ibom, George Akume in Benue and
Ndoma-Egba in Cross Rivers State (all APC Senatorial aspirants!)
escaped your eagle eyes?
It is sometimes forgotten, and Bob Dee, you chose to forget, that
for the previous 16 years before 2015, the PDP governments had conducted
elections. Everyone is familiar with the incredible excesses of the
elections and the election-observer reports so poignantly describe some.
In the 2003 elections which gave Atiku Abubakar and his boss a
second term, Wikipedia observes that “Millions of people voted several
times. The police in Lagos uncovered an electoral fraud, finding five
million false ballots."
But the 2007 elections got even worse reviews: “Following the
presidential election, groups monitoring the election gave it a dismal
assessment. Chief European Union observer Max van den Berg reported that
the handling of the polls had "fallen far short" of basic international
standards, and that "the process cannot be considered to be credible",
citing "poor election organisation, lack of transparency, significant
evidence of fraud, voter disenfranchisement, violence and bias." They
described the election as "the worst they had ever seen anywhere in the
world", with "rampant vote rigging, violence, theft of ballot boxes and
intimidation"). One group of observers said that at one polling station
in Yenagoa, in the oil-rich South-South, where 500 people were
registered to vote, more than 2,000 votes were counted.”
Your choice of words such as “theatre of war” to describe the
presidential polls is not only inaccurate and questionable by and large,
but also surprising considering the recent history of past presidential
polls. And you have to tell us who described the elections as “the most
dreadful and desperate”?
Besides these facts that you carefully chose to ignore, the
contents of your letter read in part like a brief for the opposition,
and, at other times, a judgment of an electoral tribunal in favour of
the opposition. And such bias undermines the credibility of the author
such as yourself.
It could even render the write-up confusing rather than informing
the readers. For good measure, Bob Dee, maybe we should just remind our
readers that not only are you an active member of the opposition, you
have also benefited from significant business relationships with some in
the opposition circles. And this is entirely within your right.
But that certainly discounts your assessment about the direction of
our administration. It also devalues your criticism of the narratives
that hold those who raped this country in the past responsible for the
consequences of their corrupt activities while in government.
One also wonders whether it is your well-known personal
relationship with the opposition that has beclouded you so much that you
seek to assail the anti-corruption efforts which ordinary and
well-meaning Nigerians have embraced.
Let me make it clear that the facts show that while some old
members of the opposition have joined APC, that has not shielded those
responsible for corruption and graft. In any case, even if old PDP
members are now APC members, the current leadership of the country under
the APC stands out as it is made up of two gentlemen with impeccable
integrity.
Old PDP members and all Nigerians are welcome just like sinners are
embraced in the church, Inf act, the church was opened for sinners to
be converted. And what is skewed about the anti-corruption campaign when
the two governors who have now been convicted for corruption are both
APC?
Having said that, be rest assured that the APC as a party will
articulate its defences to any allegations. For the records, it is an
obvious fact and this must be reiterated that the Buhari administration
has a commendable record of respecting the independence of INEC, a clear
departure from what occurred under previous administrations. This
government also ensures that it provides all the support INEC requires,
as well as respects the independence of the judiciary and has ensured
that security forces act within the ambits of law. Even international
observers have made their comments accordingly and positively.
As the Buhari administration always noted, every single loss of
life is sad and lamentable. And previous elections have regrettably
caused even far more losses. We must achieve an electoral system that
doesn't result in any such loss of life. However, the record of
improvement from the past is clear as it were.
To characterize the will of the people as Pyrrhic victory
represents what exactly needs to change in and about our nation. Indeed,
our privilege as elites imposes the responsibility of trustees of
power, wealth, values and direction of and for a nation in the interest
of the people upon us. To narrow this interest or substitute our
amplified voices as the vocal minority for the silent majority is not
only taking liberties a little too far, but also losing tune and touch
with our national realities. As leaders, we must reflect introspectively
on how we have prioritized the people, and how we must continue to do
so going forward.
This is what President Muhammadu Buhari is known for and it is what
played out in the elections. It is the voices of the few and the
devices of the privileged that the Opposition regarded and expected to
hold up. That did not happen.
We respect the right to disagree and exercise that right through
the established mechanisms, but we reject any denigration and the
diminishing of the electoral outcome which is the true voice and
expression of the people of this country.
As you noted, the whole concept of sin in the worldly context is a
violation of the law of the land, and in the spiritual context, a
violation against God. That you judge either as a matter of law, or
ecclesiastically when you by yourself determine that this administration
is "committing sin" is a departure from what your letter identifies as
its objective. Victory in an election is a nation speaking up, while the
victor is the symbol of that nation's victory.
Both life, by its temporal nature, and the Constitution, by its
term limitations and periodic elections, already ensure that we all know
that everything but eternity is transient, and the example of that in
our nation today is the rejection of the old order four years ago, and
the most recent confirmation of that rejection by preferring the new and
current order, and the Next Level of our national restoration and
growth.
Finally, thank you for declaring your belief that the APC “would
have won” a handsome victory because that was exactly what happened! It
is your equivocation about Atiku’s loss expressed in the same letter
where you said you expected an APC “handsome victory” that left me and
other readers confounded. What are we to believe?
Again, thank you for your open letter. Be rest assured that the
Vice President and the President would continue working for the good of
all Nigerians in the Next Level.
Laolu Akande is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President.
With a little bit of background check, Laolu Akande, the Vice
President's spokes man is regarded as the longest serving African
correspondent at the United Nations, and the only Nigerian journalist so
far to have interviewed a sitting American president in the White House
when he interviewed former President George W. Bush. He has also
exclusively interviewed American folk hero, General Colin Powell,
billionaires like Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the then real estate
billionaire Donald Trump now President of the United state of America
and several African leaders and presidents. In this piece he gets into
details of how the last presidential polls cannot be mischaracterised
with tact, facts and wit.
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