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By Mideno Bayagbon
In the past three weeks, there has been a rash of court cases, contrived street protests, sponsored media lynching, general hoopla and confusion about whether the Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, should still be left to breathe free air, live among the civilised society and continue to parade themselves as occupiers of their high offices. Question yet unanswered is: should they be found cosy beds in one of the nation’s maximum security prisons? The answer, if you ask me, should be a no brainer. But then, in the heat of the moment, are we not lumping luscious apples with rotten oranges?
So strident, and of top national importance, are the calls that even the highly placed national security organisation, the Directorate of State Security got embroiled. It had gone to court to surprisingly seek an order to arrest one of them: the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who some have, before now, suspected is headed for jail on, before or after the expiration of the current government. This is mainly on account of the embarrassingly deplorable way the CBN, under his watch, has mismanaged the economy to the tears, sweat, death and regret of many Nigerians. Corruption is said to have developed unfettered wings under him, soared to heights unimaginable, like a drunken eagle, with him as the major facilitator. But funding terrorists? That’s a new one.
Among his many perceived sins is the use of the dual foreign exchange window to service his political interests, making emergency billionaires out of members of the Buhari Aso Rock cabal, some select traditional rulers, his friends and cronies in an ill-disguised ambition to supplant the politicians of both parties and impose himself as president of the federal republic, a move which fell flat to his agonised astonishment.
But these are not the sins, for which a segment of Nigerians do not want him to join the INEC chairman in going to jail. I must, on behalf of the gladiators, mostly politicians, who are prepping themselves for elective offices all over the nation, join in the call for both men to be thrown into the gulag for attempting to play the hero, for daring to turn their bad belle into national salvation policies.
Let me explain. Take the instance of the INEC chairman. For four years he tolerated one gadfly, called Mike Igini, who was INEC Commissioner in Akwa Ibom state. Despite the huge cry of politicians led by the self-styled uncommon former governor of Akwa Ibom State, that Igini was not allowing them to simply write results and thrust themselves on the raped people of the state as their elected representatives, Yakubu not only turned a blind eye, he turned deaf and dumb as well. That and the results of some of the recent elections should have been pointers to those who wants him out. There are many other rascalities not befitting of an INEC chairman whose loyalty, occupiers of the office assume, is to the appointing authorities and their party and not to Nigerians and Nigeria. What silly bravado got into his head that he now wants to play the hero? What nonsense nationalism is he playing at? Why won’t he let our elections be unfair, shackled, disreputable, for the highest bidder or for the one who can shed more innocent blood?
Conclusively, the most jarring of his sins, it now seems, is the hurried introduction of what is now commonly called Bimodal Voter Registration System, also known as BVAS; and its brother, the Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV). With this, INEC wants to do a complete ojoro, and change the face of elections in Nigeria. INEC wants to spoil our elections with technology. Yakubu wants to write his name with indelible ink as the one who started the journey to credible elections in Nigeria. For with BVAS, most of the wuruwuru and magomago of election rigging will be greatly curtailed. Yakubu is dreaming that a day will come when the votes of Nigerians will count, when elections will reflect the true wish of Nigerians. And such audacious nonsense.
It beats me and most politicians why the INEC chairman and his team want to sanitise our electoral system now. We just can’t understand the rush, and why it must be started with this year’s election. What does he expect politicians to do with the billions of naira and the hundreds of millions of foreign currencies they have amassed, stored away, to blind the eyes of the elections and coat them in their own desired victory? How does he want to conduct an election where ordinary Nigerians will not be able to sell their votes or voters card for N1000, like we saw the Borno State government officials do, not so long ago? Has he not seen how that has empowered tens of thousands of those Internally Displaced Persons? Has he not watched the trending video making the rounds on social media? Why does Yakubu want to spoil the game this time around? Why this proposed Yakjayakja elections?
And as if he has taking an oath with Yakubu’s INEC, the highly politically exposed CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has jumped into the fray. He now wants to do a me-too. First, he secretly redesigned the Naira. Then he is hurrying those who have stacked trillions of Naira in soakaway pits, underground strongrooms, bullion vans, refrigerators and all such like, to take them to the banks; something which is practically impossible, except the supervening authorities decide to turn a blind eye. Now, both individuals and corporate bodies cannot withdraw more than N500,000 and N5 million weekly. Who does that? To make matters worse, the old notes cease to be legal tender from the end of this month! What other definition do we need of bad belle? This is a good 25 days before the presidential and national Assembly elections. Infra-dig!
What does Emefiele intend to achieve with this policy aimed at the jugular of the marauding politicians who want to buy their way into political offices? Did he actually think he would go scot-free? Did he assume that if the EFCC and DSS were truly doing their jobs sincerely, and in the interest of Nigeria, he would not long ago be in jail for the many other real atrocities which time will unveil, which he has perpetuated to gain the favours of the powers that be in Aso Rock and across the north and a section of the south? Not for this policy, but a day will surely come that serious questions are going to be asked of him, where forensic audits of his management of the official dollar rate became a tool for corrupt manipulations. Even if for killing the Naira alone and turning it into a worthless piece of paper, Godwin Emefiele deserves collective odium. Is Emefiele hoping that this smart move against election manipulators will be a redeeming feature of his perfidious reign at the CBN?
I refuse to believe that the Director General of Directorate of Secret Service, without concrete evidence, will approach a court of law in Nigeria to ask for authorisation to arrest the CBN Governor for funnelling money to known terrorists because some aggrieved politicians, somewhere urge him to. I refuse to believe Emefiele is being prosecuted for political reasons. His many sins may have been swept under the carpet now but a day is coming wey breeze go blow and fowl yansh go open. That day any attempt to use the current political reactions to the CBN laudable redesigning and short circuiting of the zeal of the politicians to buy their way to power, will not hold water.
Unlike him, however, President Buhari, shun of any concrete achievements to his eight year misrule, is now, and can always claim that he ordered the INEC and CBN to put these policies in place so that elections henceforth in Nigeria, will be credible, free and fair. And we will believe him, if truly the elections of February 25th and March 11, 2023 achieve a semblance of these. It will be a redeeming feature for a drowning man clutching at what seems a passing shadow that ends up a hand of rescue.
Mideno Bayagbon: [email protected]