Jega has shown 2015 is in jeopardy – Igbokwe

■Implement  Justice Uwais report on INEC

An interview with Joe Igbokwe

Engineer Joe Igbokwe is the acting Publicity Secretary of All Progressive Congress (APC), Lagos State. He was in Anambra State for the just-concluded gubernatorial election, which he described as a charade, accusing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Federal Government, state government and the governor of conspiracy.

In an interview with VINCENT KALU, he, therefore,  doubted the capability of electoral commission boss, Prof Attahiru Jega, to conduct 2015 general elections. He also called for the implementation of Justice Uwais  report on INEC.

You are APC member, stakeholder in Anambra, what was your experience of the guber election in Anambra?

As a citizen of that state and a critical stakeholder from Nnewi, I didn’t register there, I registered in Lagos, so I didn’t vote.  What I did was to move  around to see what was going on.

I was also in touch with the human rights community who were election monitors and they were calling me repeatedly about the irregularities going on in other places and in some places, they couldn’t find INEC officials.  In Nnewi North, there wasn’t much problem.

The only problem is that I went to a particular unit where there were multiple polling centres, I couldn’t find our party agents and I was told that some policemen came and arrested them on the pretence that the agents had fake identity cards. If you look at it from outside, you will think that it was peaceful and nothing happened but they have done what they wanted to do.

Like everybody knows, nothing happened in Idemili North and Idemili South and many other locations where voting materials were diverted.  Somebody did that and is now in prison custody. A lady also ran away with the result sheets.

Also, the voters register that was shown to the contestants even before the election was changed 48 hours to the time. These were some of the issues and I came to an unhappy conclusion that there was no election, because it was planned by the incumbent, the Federal Government, Anambra State government and few other interest groups working to install Peter’s stooge in power.

Your party is calling for cancellation but Jega has said none of the candidates has shown enough evidence.

We call for total cancellation. In his own statement, he admitted sabotage on the part of the INEC.  The man involved is in prison custody.  He also apologized.  There is a good number or gamut of evidences to declare the election null and void and without any effect.

The sheet of paper the result was written was not worth it. What evidence are you looking for when you have accepted and apologised? Is it that of ego that you cannot say you have failed? Having admitted failure, sabotage and you saw it, what else are you looking for? In a candidate’s stronghold where he is a serving senator, there was no election, what evidence is he looking for.

We are asking for his removal because if he cannot manage an election in a very small state like Anambra with good motorable roads, Idemili North and Idemili South are just 30 kilometres from Awka. If he cannot handle election in that state, it means he cannot handle election in one local government. To talk about handling elections in 36 states, he would make a mockery of the whole thing and he cannot handle it.  He is a failure and he has to go.

Is it a sign of what to expect in 2015?

Of course yes, if a man cannot handle one state, then what are we going to do?

After what I saw in Anambra, I unhappily concluded that we might not have been having elections in 85 per cent of the 36 states since 1999. I left out 15 per cent because of states like Edo, Imo, Lagos, etc. Other ones, people just decided on what they wanted and they ended up putting  anybody.  This portends great danger.

If Anambra people were so resilient to have allowed that and never resorted to violence, and this repeats in about 30 states where election would be conducted. Would the people take it like Anambra people?

We have not accepted the election in the first place. But if this charade is repeated all over, we may have a revolution.  I don’t want Jega to run away with the thinking that we have accepted what happened in Anambra. We have told them, either it is repeated or nothing.

The PDP stands to break the rank because they were the people that put Anambra where it is now.  The PDP candidate said he was not going to contest the supplementary election but the party headquarters in Abuja was saying he must contest.  You can see the shame and ridicule. INEC has no capacity to conduct election in one local government let alone conducting election in 36 states.  The parties should forget about 2015 and start working for election reforms.

We have to go back to Justice Uwais Report. We should implement what is in that report and get INEC constituted; not by the president appointing somebody. We have to get a body that will do it – National Judicial Council to fuse together with eminent Nigerians from different backgrounds and political parties, human rights and pro-democracy groups and formed real INEC that would be independent.

If we don’t do that, they can swear anybody in 2015 and ask you to go to court as they are telling us now when you have weighty evidence before you to stop a criminal process. You are asking us to go to court, sustaining criminality, sustaining impunity and brigandage? It is not acceptable to us.

What pains us the most is that the characters that are doing this damage to our democracy didn’t know how we got here. Go through my book, Heroes of Democracy written in 1998, over 5,000 people died defending this democracy and here are characters you don’t know where they were then seizing the entire political landscape and rigging election and asking us to do our worst.

If we don’t address these little things, there may be implosion. Nigeria has been managing a lot of crises and is not going to last forever.  Some day, one little mistake will cost us this country.

NBA, NUJ, eminent Nigerians and Anambra people have spoken that this fraud cannot stand in Anambra and Jega is going ahead and telling us to go to court that you don’t have evidence – when you have apologized; when you have seen somebody diverting elected materials from a zone of a candidate.

The fact that the PDP candidate could not find his name in the register is enough to nullify the election.  These people are not intelligent. They couldn’t even consider that let us leave the name of the man that is contesting so that he can vote. They just removed his name. INEC went and wasted money on the supplementary election. Voters shunned the supplementary election.

Your party didn’t  participate  in the supplementary election?

We did not. They just went  to ratify their fraud. It was a mockery.

It added to our evidence.

Five of the G7 governors of PDP joined APC. What is the implication in Nigeria politics?

I’m thanking God for that because we cannot just fold our hands in the face of these provocations that are just emerging with people rigging with impunity and telling us that they are going to rule Nigeria for over 60 years and there is nothing anybody can do about it.

That is why I’m praying that we sustain APC and this development is what is needed now. I pray that these men, who are the drivers of this move to stop the decimation of Nigeria, will sustain it, setting aside their personal differences, their ambition or whatever they believe in and focusing and making Nigeria the big picture and I think if that happens, this impunity we are seeing today would cease.

This is a wonderful development. Our plans to rid Nigeria of nitwits, to build a new Nigeria; to checkmate impunity and all kinds of unacceptable behaviour on the parts of politicians are beginning to manifest.

Every right thinking Nigerian must pray for this new APC.  We are praying that there would not be internal wrangling.  These men cannot be bought with money, men that can stand the test of time, men that believe in themselves to set aside their ambition and differences to liberate this country. I know very soon, PDP would come with bribes, money, cronies and all kinds of appointments and contracts to lure some of them away. But the money belongs to Nigeria and if you work so hard, you will still see it.

We are praying to sustain this 18 states by APC. The decimation of Nigeria that started in 1999 will come to an end as APC is a party of ideas that has a destination, a party that has drive to move Nigeria to join the country of civilized nations. A party that is worried about the state of our infrastructure, our image in the world, that every sick Nigerian must go abroad for treatment.

Our party is not happy about what is happening to our education sector, unemployment, etc.  We feel this country has the capacity to be one of the best in the world.  We have been on barber’s chair-syndrome -  All motions without movement.

What is the implication for PDP?

They have ruled for 16 years and have less than two years to quit the stage and begin to learn about leadership.  PDP is not a party of ideas.  When we get there, we are going to reform INEC to be independent.

After going to the drawing board, if for any reason they return, they would never have the opportunity of rigging election again because they will not meet anybody appointed by the president.  They will have a lot to learn from the leadership by APC as a party of ideas.

In 16 years, they have made little progress in their own eyes but we have not seen anything.