MOK: This is time to review our electoral system

• I Am Worried About Our Democracy

Emmanuel Mok is the national chairman of National Transformation Party (NTP). In this interview with LEO SOBECHI, he x-rays the various challenges Nigeria has to overcome in the march towards nationhood, and the governance style of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Looking at the country today, is there anything that gives you concern?
A lot of things I see give me cause for concern. I see the unnecessary heating up of the polity.  The president in his inaugural speech said he belongs to everyone and belong, to no one.  Yes, we have fought and won the election, we now have a national mandate for everybody to join hands to work for and develop the country. He identified corruption, insecurity, lack of jobs as key issues to be dealt with. But later, the same president said that those that gave him 97 percent of the votes will get better treatment than those that gave him five percent.  Now, that was in opposition to his earlier statement that he belonged to everybody and to nobody. His appointments to the federal cabinet have been lopsided and that is heating up the polity. All these give serious cause for concern. In his appointment into very sensitive positions, are persons whose loyalty could be questioned. They may be loyal to his person but those institutions are national institutions. Loyalty should not be just for the political party or president of the day. These things give me concern as a political party leader.

For instance, the appointment of Amina Zakari, whose term as national commissioner in INEC had expired, as acting chairman. That was a very burdensome appointment like several others that are heating up the polity. Today, the security agencies are arresting people and going to the magistrate courts to secure extended detention warrants more than the constitution guarantees for the rights of the people. That should not be, because whatever we want to achieve could be achieved within the law. That is what other people are doing across the world. No criminal in the US is denied his right and all criminals are tried according to the law. So I think that this arbitrariness, this condoning of illegalities and justifying it and the almost intimidation of the legal institutions, lawyers and judges by saying that they are conniving with criminals is wrong. Or saying, as the president stated in France that the judiciary is part of the main problem in the fight against corruption.

The most important thing in my mind for democracy to thrive is respect for the constitution and the rule of law. Take the case of Tompolo, he took EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) to court and he has been saying it, that they refused to honour the invitation to appear. He had rights, which he felt were being trampled and wanted redressed in court. Now the same EFCC went to court after arbitrarily disregarding the court process and the rule of law in the country. When a government institution like EFCC refuses to abide by the law, it sets bad precedent. Now Tompolo has said he also would not show up in court. What I am saying is that, if the law is not respected and constitutional provisions flouted by every citizen, both individual, corporate and government, even the president and the military; because all are under the law, when those constitutional provisions are being disregarded, or selectively applied, it sets the stage for anarchy. Tompolo is a ready example. When a citizen says come and get me, when a people say come and get me; that is not where we want to go. So I am worried about our democracy.

When the Supreme Court gives a judgment and the national ruling party would selectively apply which to accept and which to reject, and cast aspersions on the persons of the justices without proof, to the point of making the apex court have to explain its position publicly, the foundation of a stable law abiding society is being challenged. There was freedom of the press; the courts were free, except in some states. The Federal Government gave free hand and there was no disturbance. When elections are held, the president congratulates the winner irrespective of the political party affiliation. So, I am bothered.

In the last election, many people went on air and off air to ask that INEC should explain the process it was distributing the permanent voter cards. The people were complaining that the channels of distribution were foggy, because they were not getting their cards. The then INEC chairman, prof. Attahiru Jega kept on saying that he would do everything humanly possible for people to get their cards. And the question was, what are those things you are doing, people are not getting their cards. More than a year after the elections are over, there is nothing on ground to restart the process so the people could get their cards. The same imbalances where a lot of people will not get their cards are still on ground. Our democracy is being challenged, and people of good conscience must speak out. The president should listen, because he is the protector of the constitution and our democracy.

Do you see any need for a revisit on the Electoral Act?
I do, the Electoral Act has so many areas where I have issues. The very provision which the courts have thrown out is that a political party must win elections or INEC would deregister it. The political party itself is bigger than the winning of an election. The society of political parties is more than election, because political parties are to watch the governance, sensitize the nation on democratic principles, rules and practices and the protection of members of the society. The lack of funding of political parties gives room for moneybags to treat the nation as their own drive and determine who comes in is against the interest of Nigerians. In countries like Kenya and Canada, candidates are sponsored immediately the come out and win primary elections. What money is spent you retire it so that you don’t come to say it is your money.

I have led and I’m still leading a political party. I know how much my members have spent, I understand how much I spent in driving it for the good of Nigeria. These are the things to look at; we cannot deceive ourselves and pretend. The EFCC probe of the so-called $2.1b arms scam, which was showing how much PDP spent in the electioneering campaigns, you find that it was government money that was spent for campaigns. Can we say it was not happening in other parties that were in government? So you find that parties in government put their hands in the till, through contracts and what they call security votes. Parties that are in government depend on their pockets; nobody should be allowed to prosecute elections from his pocket.

The Electoral Act should be reviewed by sane minds. People in government, senators, governors and others should not take over the machineries of political parties so that if they become president, APC or PDP is in your pocket. In the last election, a sitting president, Jonathan, either by hook or crook, or by design and desire of the party, became the sole candidate. Meanwhile, you could see that people, especially governors, left the party. That shows you the dangers of what is happening now with the Electoral Act. Political parties should be free, parties should be funded, INEC collected, may be one hundred million naira or more, I didn’t see the total figure from the last election. If you took, say N3b and shared among the 53 political parties, you will be giving each party N47m, I bet you most parties would have won at least one candidate, even if for a state Assembly somewhere. Imagine the value and quality of people to come out of our democratic experience.

From just N3b shared among parties to support them in campaigns, logistics and in marshaling out their issues in the media. A full page advertorial in most national dailies costs not less than half a million naira. Imagine how much PDP and APC must have put into the last election. The best cannot come out they way we are. If N3b was shared to the registered parties, the impact and outcome of the last election would have been different. Meanwhile, INEC spent close to N100b, what did they do with it? This would have been money better spent, just N3b spread across 53 political parties! When INEC comes around to ask the parties how they spent their money, we would understand.

Do you call for scrutiny of INEC budget?
Yes, not just the budget; INEC contract awards. I have found that INEC can dispense favour if the leadership has sympathy for a political party. You have more than N60b to spend in an election, you print your voter cards, ballot papers, buy card readers through members of the party you are sympathetic with. You have strengthened that party, so INEC budget, contracts should be scrutinized properly to ensure that non-partisan parties were involved. Or see how political parties have equally say on how monies were spent and favours dispensed in appointments and how those contracts were executed, the timelines and vetting of the contracts.

If we are to refine INEC systems, processes and operations, what would you suggest?
The most important thing that I think we need to resolve and address is the voting process. There are so many ways of muddling up the voting, collation and giving out fake results, that unless they are resolved it becomes possible for INEC officials and political parties to tamper with the votes. There must be minimum funding; every political party must have audited account of which EFCC would pick up leaders of those political parties if the money is diverted for personal purposes.

The process of voters’ registration and identification of registered voters; INEC said it removed 12 million double registrations in the last election. Who can verify that, how did they come about that voters? Many people complained that they did not get their voter cards. So my personal opinion is we cannot run away from electronic voting if government of Nigeria fully implemented the BVN system, it is an electronic system and it worked. And so our voter registration can work by using the same technological devices that were used. I don’t know where INEC went to buy its equipment, but they are definitely inferior equipment, they are not sensitive, that was why during the election, they wasted people’s time. Go to any bank you want to register for your BVN, if you put your finger immediately it registers your fingerprint. They don’t start fighting with the equipment or say the battery died or did not die. So, the first thing should be that INEC should give an international job order for bids for a system of voter registration and voting by electronic system that is foolproof.

Further, once you register, your card is printed out for you immediately. That place you registered, the card printing materials and the cards are there. As you are placing your finger, the biometric features, face and fingerprints are displayed on the system and they print your card, which you collect and go away. On the day of voting if you want to vote for Imo and you are in Kano, you vote because the system will register that it was Imo election that you voted. And you cannot vote Imo and Kano in the same election. The IT system today can do it. If you have your ATM (Automated Teller Machine), you can go to any bank ATM and use your ATM card in India and your account in Nigeria is debited. You can go to the US and use your GT and Diamond ATM cards, across the whole world and it is only your account in Nigeria that would be debited! So this can be done and it is far more important for INEC. If you do that, politicians will now know that they are accountable to the voters and that the voters are not fools. They can spend whatever money they want, they can bribe whoever they can bribe but on the day of voting, the system would ensure that the vote collation and counting are foolproof. As everybody votes, the system would give the vote count.

All these that you adumbrate, do you deem them feasible before 2019?
We have enough time. If INEC wants this course, in the next three months it would be delivered. In that three months, INEC would have gotten consultants; there are enough consultants like Phillips consulting; Accenture, etc; these are quality consultants that can design the system. They can go abroad, visit Oracle, Microsoft and the rest of them; and design the programme, build the system and put the software in it. Nobody will be disenfranchised. And we have three years to do comprehensive registration of voters. Nigeria has a population of 170 million, in the last election INEC was going with 50 million plus accredited voters; in a federal election. So, even if everybody that had voter cards voted, it would be just thirty percent of the total population, instead of being the other way round, thirty percent had voters card and 120 million Nigerians did not have by INEC standards.

Would you say INEC has shown enough evidence of capacity to sustain corrective innovations in the electoral process?
My idea of leadership is that I don’t believe in one man riot squad. I believe that in every organisation, the head does not have to know everything. As long as he works with his lieutenants, the best is to come together and the voice of the people should be heard. If he wants to serve, he would serve well. For our country, my view is that our people are yet to realise that we have no other country

Do you think the present Federal Government is sincere about fixing the country?
I cannot say. But I believe Buhari has a passion for Nigeria, to fight corruption and develop the country. I believe he is going about it the way he knows best. He is working with the people he trusts. So, he is trying to achieve his target using people he can vouch for from a section of the country. But then, the policies they are appointed to implement are harming the people. As at February, the naira was 197 to a dollar, what is the rate today? The impact is negative. So, I won’t say they have interest to favour a section through whom they won election. Let them carry us along and rule well.

How do you see the current fight against corruption?
I want Nigerians to fight corruption. It pains me for my staff to go to hospital and they wont get to see a doctor. May be they closed early or they prescribe drugs, you get to the pharmacy, you don’t get genuine drugs or they charge them underhand. That is corruption. Nigeria has corruption as a weight destroying her. Very few African countries are as rich as Nigeria, in human capcity, resources, in wealth and business acumen. Corruption has become a monster that has overshadowed everything. The fight against the cankerworm by the Federal Government today is like a joke to me. Why? In APC we hear about Amaechi, who the Rivers State government probed and found wanting for allegedly misusing N62b of the state money, for which they said EFCC should try him. The grapevine say he used the money to support his party. Even if it is in millions, that is a lot of money. In Osun State, a judge of the state judiciary wrote a petition against the governor, and listed monies misappropriated. Again, the word on the streets is that it was for the presidential election and governorship campaign expenses. The same for Kano, against the former governor, now Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso; I am talking about the ones brought out to the fore. The fight is against PDP alone, that is why I said it is a joke.

The war on corruption, I would ask the president to square up to it. We need to fight corruption, it must not be one sided. Let us collectively fight corruption but let us allow democracy to thrive. If we are going to fight corruption, I think we should start with the police. You have a case against somebody in police station, if they don’t tell you to bring paper, they would tell you to bring money for fuel or transport. That means you are buying justice, you are paying for investigation. You don’t pay for investigation. That is corruption. There is favouritism in hospitals, by doctors and nurses. These are the things we hear and so the populace, instead of going to the hospital prefers the chemists. Meanwhile, government spends millions of naira in hospitals, and the people are not benefitting. That is corruption.

My friend’s father was kidnapped in Bayelsa State, since December till today they have not seen him. It is the family members that are contributing money to pay private investigators. It cannot be like this, the fight against corruption is a real fight, but it must be within the rule of law. The police must investigate cases; police should not come to court with a badly investigated case so that the judge is forced to acquit the criminal.

The president said in military parlance that he would secure the Niger Delta; does that sound like militarising the region once again?
I am against it. I am from Niger Delta, though not from the creeks. We have militants, but the amnesty programme dealt with militancy. At least, for the past five we witnessed the complete cessation of militant activities. The issues of cleaning up the Niger Delta, and development of the area is paramount. What are they doing to make the people feel a sense of belonging? Not the deprivation they feel. Go there and see oil floating on rivers and the people survive by fishing, aquatic business and when that business is destroyed the youth get restless. You want to kill all the Nigerians in the Niger Delta, so you can have access to the oil? It cannot solve the problem. I think the amnesty programme worked, you develop it more by following up on the institutions to find out what they are doing with the funds released to them. Again, the Federal Government is yet to release about N14tr.

Release the money to NDDC and let them cleanup and develop the region. That is what is needed, not to secure by bringing in military men. When the army goes into a place, it flattens it, Odi is an example. The people have won court judgment against Obasanjo. A people whose minds are made up, you cannot defeat them, you cannot kill them. That is not the way to go. The way to go is to pay money owed NDDC and take the fight against corruption into NDDC.

There is nowhere in the world that I know of, that oil companies prospect for oil without respecting for the environment, as in the Niger Delta. And they were able to do that because of the incompetence of Nigeria government in the past. This government should set the standard, not by militarizing the Niger Delta.