…Asks Judiciary to live up to expectations and restore people’s confidence in the processes
A coalition of Labour and Civil Society leaders on the 30th of April, 2023 met at the Labour House, Central Business District, Abuja to launch a new citizens’ Action Movement to save Nigeria from destruction.
The group which consisted of Olisa Agbakoba, Shehu Sani, Nkoyo Toyo, Prof. Udenta Udenta, Salisu Mohammed, Olawale Okunniyi, and 70 other Labour and Civil Society groups said clearly, INEC in cahoots with some members of the political class have driven a death nail into the democratic experience of most Nigerians thus leaving the electorate despondent to resort to self-help in their effort to salvage whatever is left of their vibrant political engagement with the 2023 elections.
Speaking further, the group said, unfortunately, majority of Nigerians, especially the youths who fought with patriotism to reset their country through the ballot box, are now wondering if elections have not become the tool for legitimizing the corrupt takeover of Nigeria. “This dark cloud of angst arising from a terribly mismanaged 2023 General Elections has jolted the confidence and hope of many Nigerians, thus propelling us as *Citizens of Conscience* to take the bold step of beginning to resist and mitigate the intended and unintended crisis looming over our dear country.
On charting the Course forward, the Citizens’ Action Movement (CAM) stated clearly that, as Vanguards of Nigeria’s democratic heritage, “we are calling for a return to a *RULES BASED DEMOCRACY* in which Nigerians can remain hopeful that their sacrifices of participating in elections will ultimately count.”
CAM said for this reason, as affected individuals and parties resort to the court as the main conflict resolving mechanism, it hoped that the judiciary, as the final Arbiter, will ensure that the malfeasances of those powerful individuals and their corrupt allies will not be rewarded but rather, they will be discredited and punished. It said that it was in the light of this hope, that they are calling on all Nigerians to *BELIEVE AGAIN* (not in INEC, not in the Executive but in the *Judiciary*) and give the Judiciary the benefit of doubt. In the same vein, it called on the Justices of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court to rise up to the occasion by restoring the people’s confidence in the processes that were abused by INEC and also stem the deep decline of our democracy.
These were the results of a press conference organized to mark this year’s May Day Celebration as stated earlier at the Labour House on the eve of Workers’ Day.
Find below a full text of the press statement by the Citizens’ Action Movement:
OLISA AGBAKOBA, SHEHU SANNI, NKOYO TOYO, SALISU MOHAMMED, OKUNNIYI, SEVENTY (70) OTHER LABOUR AND CIVIL SOCIETY LEADERS LAUNCH A NEW CITIZENS’ ACTION MOVEMENT TO SAVE NIGERIA;
BEING THE TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE HELD IN DEFENCE OF NIGERIA’S DEMOCRACY AND FOR MAY DAY SOLIDARITY WITH THE NIGERIAN WORKERS AND CITIZENS.
*TITLE: THE THREATENING DECOMPOSITION OF DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA AND THE URGENCY OF CITIZENS’ INTERVENTION*
DATE: SUNDAY, 30TH APRIL 2023
VENUE: LABOUR HOUSE, CBD, ABUJA
PROTOCOLS,
Gentlemen of the Press,
*BACKGROUND*
- The 2023 General Elections have taken place but its ripples and aftermath for our promising democracy have been worrisome and frightening. Some of us, who are architects of Nigeria’s current democratic experience, being human rights leaders, political rights advocates, progressives, civil society and labour movement activists that fought the military for the restoration of democratic governance in Nigeria, have watched with utter astonishment, how the processes and procedures meant to consolidate our 24 years of democratic wins have been greatly eroded through the 2023 general elections.
- We entered this season of elections with a strong consensus by Nigerians that the New Electoral Act 2022 will improve the level of electoral accountability and that the huge financial investment of about N355 billion in electoral processes (involving the deployment of Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) technology), will make a marked difference to the elections. Sadly, the 2023 general elections became an anti-climax, dashing the hopes of Nigerians for credible elections and denying citizens the emergence of qualitative political leadership across Nigeria.
- Clearly, INEC in cahoot with some members of the political class have driven a death nail into the democratic experience of most Nigerians thus leaving the electorate despondent to resort to self-help in their effort to salvage whatever is left of their vibrant political engagement with the 2023 elections. Unfortunately, majority of Nigerians, especially the youths who fought with patriotism to reset their country through the ballot box, are now wondering if elections have not become the tool for legitimizing the corrupt takeover of Nigeria. This dark cloud of angst arising from a terribly mismanaged 2023 General Elections has jolted the confidence and hope of many Nigerians, thus propelling us as *Citizens of Conscience* to take the bold step of beginning to resist and mitigate the intended and unintended crisis looming over our dear country.
- We recall the hard-earned democratic reputation of many seated here today, who organized in the early 1990s through actions of coalitions of citizens’ groups, labour and human rights organizations for an end to military dictatorship. Their voices held sway as they resorted to citizens’ actions, demonstrations, strikes, global solidarity action and other civil resistance measures to compel the regimes of Presidents Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha to concede to the wishes of the citizens.
- From all indications, the 2023 General Elections has become a rude reminder of how quickly things can degenerate and that the emergence of what was then termed ‘gun powered democracy’, through which incumbent military regimes manipulated political processes to transmutate themselves into ‘elected democratic’ governments, has given way to corrupt money powered imposed rulership, using the trajectory of democratic processes and elections to capture and perpetuate themselves in power.
- In what we see as a democratic redemptive mission, We the Vanguards of concerned citizens and democrats; with a front seat in the history of democratic transitions in Nigeria, are committed to ensuring that political leadership is not foisted on the country at the expense of the democratic gains made so far. As a first step, we have decided to signify our public displeasure at INEC and those behind the political coup against the well-laid out and established electoral norms and standards contained in the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2022. Therefore, we condemn the outright manipulation of the electoral process and abdication of responsibility by INEC as it has not only destroyed trust in the democratic process, but has rewarded wrongdoing, making it possible for persons of stupendous wealth, who lack legitimacy, to become the real beneficiaries of our electoral process .
*NIGERIA: A DECOMPOSING DEMOCRACY*
Pre-Election Concerns
- Prior to the 2023 general elections, INEC showed early signs of inconsistency by shifting electoral deadlines, which favoured the ruling party. INEC also discouraged new voters from registering through an abrupt decision to halt the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR). And as if that was not enough, INEC deployed technical personnel manning sensitive positions to non-technical roles, thereby interrupting the seamless and effective deployment of technology in the elections. As a decoy, INEC initially displayed a high level of preparedness during off season elections in Anambra, Ekiti, and Osun governorship elections. INEC’s use of technology in those elections gave Nigerians reason to believe that technology will apply in the subsequent 2023 General Elections thereby causing Nigerians to be caught off- guard.
- Though not unexpected, INEC and Security agencies failed to act when in some areas, such as Lagos, attacks on non-indigenous groups wanting to vote were unleashed by the ruling party. Similarly, the use of hate speeches and other criminal behaviours were treated with levity, thereby incentivizing the subsequent use of electoral violence, brigandage and outright impunity during the 2023 elections. To give one graphic example, the LP Senatorial Candidate for Enugu East was brutally attacked, set ablaze and murdered a few days to the February 25th Presidential and National Assembly election with little or no consequences.
*Election Day Concerns:*
- On 25th February as well as 18th March 2023, INEC operations were poorly carried out (see reports of various observer groups) as deployment of election materials to polling units witnessed deliberate lapses, while security personnel could not contain the criminal activities of well-armed thugs that took over some strategic polling units in violation of the Electoral Act 2022 and the 2023 Election Guidelines. These weaknesses were further worsened by huge and open enticement of voters with cash and gifts by political party operatives in the full glare of security operatives. Additionally, the speed with which INEC and its officials were willing to disregard the provisions of Sections of the electoral act 2022 and their own electoral Guidelines to hurriedly announce election results, not minding the fact that the processes were severely undermined, gave grounds for deep concerns. For instance, Sec 60(5), and 149 of 2022 Electoral Act and Clause 38 of INEC 2022 Guidelines and Regulations for Conduct of the 2023 General Elections were ignored and manual accreditation of voters for both the presidential and governorship elections were endorsed thus opening the floodgate for the destruction of the sanctity and credibility of the 2023 elections.
- The most phenomenal failure by INEC was her refusal to upload the presidential election results from BVAS unto IREV at real time as stipulated by the Electoral Act 2022, as contained in INEC Guidelines for the 2023 elections as repeatedly espoused by the INEC Chairman . This happened even as the NASS elections conducted at the same time and on the same day were seamlessly uploaded, while INEC was unable to upload results of the Presidential elections as required by the law. These blatant inconsistencies by INEC in applying different electoral standards in conducting same day elections for Presidential and National Assembly elections point to a deliberate manipulation of NEC’s well publicised Guidelines, which INEC mindlessly replaced, opting for administrative arbitrariness.
- In summary, Nigeria suffered a monumental reversal in her electoral and democratic gains through the criminal mismanagement of the electoral process by the INEC and security agencies, who both compromised their duties and donated their power of election refereeing and law enforcement to unscrupulous politicians bent on imposing their self will over and above that of the people. A brazen and most shameful example was seen in Adamawa, where INEC emboldened by its many earlier infractions, decided to go for broke, by declaring Senator Binani as winner of an unconcluded governorship election.
*Charting the Course Forward*
- As Vanguards of Nigeria’s democratic heritage, we are calling for a return to a *RULES BASED DEMOCRACY* in which Nigerians can remain hopeful that their sacrifices of participating in elections will ultimately count. Therefore, as affected individuals and parties resort to the court as the main conflict resolving mechanism. We hope that the judiciary, as the final Arbiter, will ensure that the malfeasances of those powerful individuals and their corrupt allies will not be rewarded but rather, they will be discredited and punished. It is in the light of this hope, that we are calling on all Nigerians to *BELIEVE AGAIN* (not in INEC, not in the Executive but in the Judiciary) and give the Judiciary the benefit of doubt. In the same vein, we are calling on the Justices of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court to rise up to the occasion by restoring the people’s confidence in the processes that were abused by INEC and also stem the deep decline of our democracy.
- In the meantime, we are aware that should the judiciary fail to act expeditiously, it will amount to a denial of justice and an invitation to self help and anarchy. Our recent exposure to attacks on the media by agents of the ruling party and their resort to the NBC for punitive measures against media channels, send frightening but real-life experience of an evolving future which is very ominous for democracy. To stop these menacing actions and attacks against the media and the civil liberties of individuals and youth groups, the courts must act NOW. We also wish to state categorically that our duty as Vanguards of Nigeria’s democratic advancement is to speak out and alert Nigerians in clear conscience of these inescapable impediments. Nigeria’s democracy was earned on the blood and sweat of many of our colleagues who have paid the supreme price, but for those still here with us today, we celebrate and appreciate them as we remind ourselves of the sacrifices of our forebears and democratic champions.
- Our calling is to stay focused as Citizens with a vested interest in the survival of a healthy democracy. We are drawn from the Nigerian civil society, labour movement and many other progressive constituencies with nationalistic conscience, fully conscious of our historical experiences and with strong ties with the present generation of activists and youths, who are willing and ready to rally behind the recent electoral reforms as contained in past and recent Electoral Act. This new push for holistic popular and judicial rescue based on democratic principles shall not be dimmed by what we see as thwarting tendencies facilitated by State Actors. We believe it is our responsibility to protect and uphold the democratic gains our country have made and by standing up for a RULES BASED DEMOCRACY as required by the 1999 Constitution of the FRN and Electoral Act, 2022, we shall preserve that which we have laboured to build in the past 24 years. Our belief is firm that with these democratic principles, we can continue to resist through peaceful means, the heinous dangers of allowing compromised, discredited and flawed elections to subvert our common destiny and a prosperous future of Nigeria, for which we all badly yearn.
- To this end, we wish to announce in collaboration with the NLC, the TUC, human rights organizations, citizens and youth movements and allies in ike-minded political organizations, we have decided to serve as an ALERT mechanism for the Conscience of Nigerians and Defenders of Nigeria’s Democracy by engaging our key national institutions, especially INEC, the judiciary, legislature and the security services squarely to resist the vicious and corruptive pressure from those State Operators and political class, who insist on a total takeover and control of these relevant State Organs. We are quickly reminded that in the Arab Spring, the affected countries had constitutions, laws, courts and democratic institutions, yet the people arose and took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction for the lack of connection between what was happening in practice and what was stated as legally binding instruments and laws. We are in a similar season of such broken trust in Nigeria, and it will be risky to replace mistrust with empty promises. We believe that there is need to fight for and achieve tangible democratic consolidation within legally binding premises.
As Vanguards for the Defence of Nigeria’s democracy, WE will strive to protect our collective democratic aspirations and ethos as a country; with our immediate goal being to hold a watching brief over the JUDICIARY AND ITS ACTIONS. We are therefore soliciting the cooperation of the NBA and lawyers for democratic justice, to partner with us to re-awaken the consciousness of the Judiciary to its constitutional responsibility of defending our frail democracy through the enthronement of justice.
Finally, in the words of Nelson Mandela, we wish to remind Nigerians that “the theft of an election is not just an attack on the people’s right to vote but on their dignity and humanity.” Consequently, we wish to call on all Nigerians to stand up, join us and be counted in our renewed struggle for the Defence of Democracy and Rule of Law in Nigeria.
Thank you all!
SIGNED:
For Conveners:
Olisa Agbakoba, SAN
Comrade Shehu Sanni
Amb Nkoyo Toyo
Prof. Udenta Udenta
Salisu Mohammed
Olawale Okunniyi
NB: Please note that this new Citizens and Workers Movement was named Labour and Civil Society Front at the meeting preceding this Media Conference. Thanks. Conveners.
