Until October 3, 2012, Dr Abdullahi Modibbo was the Head, Political Science Department, Nasarawa State University, Keffi. Now he is the chairman of the newly constituted management of Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission (NASIEC). He spoke with Joshua Uma on his vision for the commission and how he intends to use political education to achieve a free and fair local government election in the state.
Can you share with us your dream and vision for Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission?
The responsibility of any electoral body is to conduct a free and fair election, which is one of the most important features of democracy. My vision is to see that, in Nasarawa State, the electorate’s votes count. It is also to try and conduct a free and fair election to ensure that whoever wins an election, regardless of the party, is declared the winner.
The second is to improve the political education in the state, because the problem we witness in Nigeria is that the electorate is not politically conscious, particularly at the local level. People up until the moment do not know the value of electing credible leaders at the grassroots levels. If you go to local government areas, you will see councillors who are nonentities in terms of knowing the rudiments of administration being? elected. In fact, election at that level is seen as a business for the unemployed people or semi-employed people in the various communities. There is serious leadership problem at the local level. People with the experience of governance are not there. Also, it is at the local level that people are manipulated by the elite because they do not know their rights or because of the poverty-stricken nature of the society and because of ignorance.
One of my cardinal plans is to ensure sound political education of the people. Generally, electoral bodies in Nigeria assume that their responsibility is just to conduct election; it is not just that: there is more to election. If you want to conduct a credible election in Nigeria, certainly, there is the need for political education; people must be politically up to speed. Make sure that you educate them to know the value of their votes and to make sure that they know the importance of electing the right leadership at the grassroots level. So these are my basic plans: one, to give sound political education to the people of Nasarawa State on the importance of local government elections; two, to ensure free and fair and credible elections at the local level.
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Political apathy is one of the major factors you find among our electorate, how do you intend to achieve this political education?
Basically, people tend to be apathetic because of certain factors. Most Nigerians today do not have trust in the electoral bodies we have now. We have cases where elections are not conducted and, before the end of the day, results are announced, and opposition is not given level playing?? ground. Because of this, people develop political apathy; also people are apathetic because of political violence. So what I intend to is to rekindle the interest of people in politics, to give them the assurance that there is going to be free and fair elections, and this will go through political education. We have to ignite the consciousness of our people; we have a programme of action. The stakeholders will be involved; we are going to reawaken them; who are these stakeholders? The press men, the security agencies, members of staff of the commission, ad-hoc staff that will serve in the election. These people must be educated on the value of public trust, to know that we are here to ensure that democracy survives at the grassroots level. We have to give them education to shun corruption, and we have to make sure that people work? in? conformity with the laws establishing the commission. We will do that and anybody that violates the law will be sanctioned. If you go against the electoral law, you will be punished. If we ensure that and people see that from the top leadership people are conforming, everybody will follow suit.
As the chairman of the commission, as far as I am concerned, all parties are my party. We have to give a level playing ground to parties. We have to inform people, including the the security agencies, and educate them so that they can fall in tune with our own guidelines and processes in the upcoming elections. I am happy that my governor has that mission too in his thinking. He has assured me that he detests injustice and that he is going to give us a free hand to conduct a free and fair election with all the support.
Whoever wins, we want to assure the people of Nasarawa State, regardless of party inclinations, that every vote must count in local government election in this state. We hope and pray that the media will assist us in achieving this goal. We are going to use the media seriously in educating our people. Also, we are going to mobilise the security forces because they have been involved in a lot of undemocratic activities; they have been a party to scuttling democracy in some aspects. The Police, the Army, State Security Service – all will be given sound education. There must be a change in this country, a change that will bring a laudable democracy, a democracy that will provide good dividends that will ensure development.
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In states that have conducted local government election, it appears to be a one-party affair, the ruling party, with the opposition parties always crying foul; how do you intend to shield Nasarawa State from this type of political manipulation?
I am happy I have a governor who has given us all his words that he detests injustice. He is here for a transparent election and has the belief that the electorate will vote for his party if he performs. He gave us his word after our swearing-in ceremony. I think my task is going to be very easy. I want to assure the people of Nasarawa State that we will not allow ourselves to be manipulated by anybody during this election. You see, the fault a times; the opposition also has a part of the blame.
The mentality of the average Nigerian when it comes to issue of election, people tend to identify with the party in leadership. The opposition does not form a formidable opposition and this bandwagon effect of following who is in charge of political power has not helped politics in our country. The ruling party always wins elections because of their commitment, and genuine dividends of democracy on the ground for people to see. But, you see, Nigerians will complain of manipulation. But I agree that the ruling parties at times tend to manipulate electoral institutions; that will not happen in Nasarawa State under my chairmanship, and I know my governor will never do that. We know the governor to be a democrat; we know his credentials right from the old days of the Second Republic. He is somebody that cherishes the value of democracy.? If you look at his history, the way he came into CPC, he was also a victim of political manipulation and I think it is going to be bad on his side to begin to think otherwise, which I do not think so. He gave us his word: he is going to conduct free and fair election. He encouraged us to do that and right from his verbal language to his body language, he stands for a true and transparent election ,and we are going to do exactly that. I want assure every person in Nasarawa State that they should understand that that their votes will certainly count. Nobody will manipulate elections in favour of the ruling government in Nasarawa State.
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It appears some of the state gvernors are scared of conducting elections at the grassroots level; when is Nasarawa State going to have its own local council elections?
Immediately after our swearing-in ceremony, the governor said we should start planning our programmes and the programmes are on paper, awaiting the arrival of our chief executive for his approval before we make it public. But I want to assure you that it will come within the shortest possible time. We have started preparations; the programme is there, and our budget for the election is ready, and the date for the entire programme. You do not just wake up and organise elections like that; you have to start with sensitisation programmes where you meet the stakeholders, the political parties. We also have a date for meeting the media, the security agencies, and there is date for the purchase of nomination forms.
Also, there is date for party primaries, a date for screening of candidates and the day for return of nomination forms, then the final election date. These things will pile up to days but we are working on the shortest possible time to make arrangements for an election in Nasarawa State, but the final date of the election is something I cannot say now until I get the approval of the state governor, who is the chief executive of the state. I do not want to give a date that will not be in agreement with the state government but I can assure you that it is going to be a short programme.
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On Election Day, a lot of voters usually notice that their names are missing on voter register; how do you plan to tackle that kind of challenge?
Yes, so many factors are responsible for that: one is political manipulation by the political elite, and another is the Nigerian factor where we do not do things the right way. People try to manipulate the election process right from the registration of voters. If, for instance, in one particular area you know the party is dominant, then you want to bypass the law; we are not going to allow that to happen. We will go strictly by the names that are in every ward. We are also working with the federal INEC which is the custodian of the registration of voters. We will get the correct voter register from it and we will ensure that no name is altered, no manipulation is made, and if we are able to do that we will be able to overcome some of these problems. I want to assure you that Nasarawa State will not allow that to happen as some are deliberate.? That is why we need to give them a sound political education. It is even against our religion for somebody to acquire power through dubious means. Whatever you gain from that power, God will not bless you; you may enjoy a little here on earth but on the day of reckoning, you are going to pay for it dearly. It is there in the holy books, whether you are a Christian or Muslim; we must be guided by the teachings of our religions. If you acquire what that does not belong to you, it is not your own; and so if you are elected chairman through dubious means, what you get from there, God will never bless it. But if you get it rightly, you will get the blessing of God because God will be happy with you. This is the kind of education we want to instil in our people, the electorate, and the security personnel. The security personnel that are used in intimidating the people and manipulating election need to be educated very well. The voters themselves who mortgage their political rights and conscience because of money need to be educated. With that, we will able to achieve transparent election in Nigeria, but basically, the umpires must show example – from the (NASIEC) chairman to his commissioners; his principal officers in the commission must show good example. I told my staff in my first address to them that if any of them tries to dance to the tune of any of the political parties, that person will have himself to blame.
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How do you intend to deal with money politics in Nasarawa State?
Actually, it boils down still to the same political education and not any other way. If people mortgage their conscience because of money and they vote for a wrong leader, the consequences will be upon the electorate. If you get somebody that does not have the knowhow of leadership, certainly, if he is the office, his effort is to recoup his investment. So politics is not a money making venture; politics and leaderships are not a money affair.
People must understand that they are supposed to elect leaders with high integrity, people that can do the work and deliver dividends of democracy to them. A substantial part of our work in the commission is to give people the right education because if the people have the education necessary in an election, you will have a hitch-free election. From my experience in the defunct MAMSER in the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida administration, I have come to realize that mass mobilisation for an event comes through proper education. It is true that there are some fundamental problems: there is no way you will give sound education to a hungry man; so, the economic system has to be restructured so that people can at least be above board in terms of their material condition of living – they should have the basic necessities. This is a general problem in Nigeria but, at times, a hungry man listens to advice and also listens to preaches, and I think our poverty situation is not so endemic because people at least listen to good preaches and counselling.
We are going to organize our public enlightenment unit so that we will have programmes of action that will not only terminate at election but will go beyond elections. Since we are going to be organising periodic elections, our political education will be sustained over time because that is the only way democracy can be sustain. We also want to organise community town hall meetings, local tours and then look at various interest groups within the communities and talk to them in the language they will understand. I want to tell you that Nigerians are getting wiser; the days of rigging elections and going scout free are over. So we will not allow that to happen in Nasarawa State by the grace of God.
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How would you describe development at the local government level in Nasarawa State in the last one year?
To be fair to the present leadership, it is trying to open up the rural areas in terms of development. If you look at the rural development programmes of the government, you find road construction, provision of water and, recently, the governor has launched a programme in which? over 25 villages will be connected to the national grid. All the villages along Akwanga-Keffi road all have pipe-borne water supplied from the Mada Dam. There is programme on ground where the Doma Dam will be used for irrigation for the villages and towns around the area. So I think the state government has a viable programme for the state. There are changes in the health sector and other vital areas that add value to the life of the people.
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