2018 Electoral Act: What Buhari should do

It is in moments like this, when elections are fast approaching, that you see the really immature democratic character of Nigerians. The desperation, the reckless vituperation, the unbridled partisanship show that Nigerians do not realise that elections, as a former Indian Prime Minister, Indira Ghandi, once said, should not be so much about those who win or lose as about strengthening the country.

Last Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari returned the Electoral Act amendment bill, 2018 to the National Assembly unsigned and the country’s political firmament has caught fire ever since.

It was the fourth time Buhari would reject this draft legislation for reasons that have kept changing. Each time he did, the legislature had gone on to effect the changes that the President requested and returned the bill to him, only for it to be rejected again until what seemed like the end serial rejection on Friday.

At the announcement of this decision however, Nigerians picked up their partisan garbs and retreated into the parochial prejudiced cocoons in the analysis of what was the President’s decision. And that is the most worrisome thing about public commentary as well as the appreciation of policies in Nigeria.

Where the country is at the moment, most Nigerians are like the proverbial elephant’s leg, adopting inflexible postures that contradict the ideals of democracy. So, what you get is a situation in which those who support the All Progressives Congress or belong to the group of adorers of Buhari, those known as Buharists, are now tone deaf to the failings of the President, no matter how glaring they are. On the flip side are those who either by virtue of loyalty of affiliations to the Peoples Democratic Party or any of the other opposition parties, never see good in the action or otherwise of Buhari. Now, how is that even possible with a living being?

For instance, in Buhari’s decision to decline assent to the electoral bill is the demonstration of his democratic right donated to him by the 1999 Constitution, as amended. Even if Buhari had ulterior motives, he did not do anything illegal, so the debate now should be how to get the National Assembly, which is also empowered by the constitution, to override Buhari’s rejection of the law to perform its constitutional duty if it is able to mobilsea majority of its members. All of that would be democracy in practice.

But no, Nigerians, the leader and led are far more interested in fighting for personal aggrandisement than the growth of democracy or the country. Here in Nigeria, what is described as national interest is the thing that would ensure the survival of the incumbent alongside his allies and possibly perpetuate his party in power for as long as possible. There is no such thing as anything, not even disasters that bring Nigerians together in unity on behalf of their country. That is why terrorist attacks that have hit Nigeria in the last one decade have become open opportunities to vilify the government in power rather than seen as vistas of national unity against evil.

Now, concerning elections, those periodic rituals present an opportunity for societies to form a new consensus without which elections, no matter how much their managers try, would be devoid of trust. Leaders bestowed with the responsibility of conducting elections should therefore seek the understanding of everyone involved in the process before taking any far-reaching decision.

And this is where the current Nigerian leadership fails. While the President legally exercised his prerogative on the electoral bill, the question to ask is did he exercise that right judiciously? As the father of the nation, Buhari is at this moment not expected to be so focused on his ambition or the ambition of his party to the detriment of the nation.
That is not to say that refusing to sign the law is injurious to the interests of the country because the argument can go either way. What this says is that the President, while declining assent, should have done more to seek the understanding of other political actors and bring them to speed on the reasons why he considered signing the bill irregular at this time.

Although Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara have moved away from the APC with what the ruling party has continued to refer to as its stolen mandate, they remain on the list of the first four people in the hierarchy in Nigeria. What would Buhari have lost if he had invited these men into his office to discuss the complications as he anticipated a new law to impose on the upcoming elections ahead of the letters that he sends to the chambers?

What would the President lose by having a meeting with chairmen of all political parties fielding candidates in the 2019 elections? What would he stand to lose by even calling a meeting of all his co-contestants and opening up on his fears and counselling, as the sitting president, on the need for everyone to obey the rules and forestall the excesses of their supporters? Rather than lose anything in the process, he would indeed have gained the confidence of his opponents and of Nigerians. He would have assured the international community of his commitment to fair play and contributed to dousing the tension that currently grips Nigeria.

Granted though that consensus-building is not a competence that the President is heavy on, a reason for which his party, even though it had the majority at the National Assembly, has hardly been able to get the executive and legislative arms to agree on anything or garner support for most of its programmes.

For instance, one of the most contentious provisions of the first draft of the electoral bill under discussion was the re-ordering of elections. At the time that this draft was sent to the President in February, Saraki and Dogara were members of the APC, yet it was impossible for the two arms to come to an understanding that would have saved the country the drama that has continued to follow the National Assembly’s attempt to amend the Electoral Act, 2010. And with the usual personalisation of issues by Nigerian leaders, the country lost a good opportunity to find an electoral sequence that would truly reflect the desires of the people rather than the preference of a select few.

That tendency to suspend the good of all for the satisfaction of the benefits that accrue to a few leaders is the very reason that the country has continued to fail in the development of a democratic culture, hinged on selflessness and upon which the country can hope to attain its potential.

What President Buhari and all those who currently occupy prominent positions in the government of this country should do, is to temporarily bury their personal interests when rules that govern the 2019 elections are being considered and put the nation first. Democracy is a serious business that thrives on the deference to institutions and respect for the interest of the general over the few. Unless Nigeria is trying to build its own model of democracy for which it, unfortunately has not even presented a road map, this system of administration that thrives in the pursuit of personal interests and the cuddling of cronies will not take Nigeria too far.

Twitter: @niranadedokun