Identifying 90 parties’ logos was a problem for voters — Oba Michael Odunayo Ajayi
Oba Michael Odunayo Ajayi, the Elerinmo of Erinmo-Ijesha, Osun State, in this interview, bares his mind on the just concluded elections.
Oba Michael Odunayo Ajayi, the Elerinmo of Erinmo-Ijesha
2019 general elections have come and gone. How do you rate the elections?
Nigerian democracy is work in progress. That’s my summary and also election in Nigeria is a learning process. Democracy is something we copied from the developed world and, naturally, we can’t perfect it so easily.
If you recall, there was a report that election in the US was even manipulated, how much more in a country like Nigeria. Be that as it may, with the result we saw and how the entire process went nationwide, I would largely say that it is free, fair and credible.
You seem to have so much confidence in the elections despite the challenges that characterized the process, with pockets of malpractices and alleged disenfranchisement in some quarters. Are you then telling the aggrieved parties not to contest the outcome?
Well, the options have always been open. If you feel cheated or that your people were not allowed to vote, or some sort of malpractice was observed, the option of legal redress is there. However, sometimes, just like former President Goodluck did, you would want to overlook certain things. In the real sense of it, when you look at the elections in the past, I would say that this election is better than that of 2015.
But one cannot deny anyone the opportunity to seek redress, if there’s any. And being a traditional ruler, my understanding is that we seek for peace. There’s no election that is 100 percent perfect anywhere in the world, but there are situations where you would look at it and say, ‘for the sake of keeping Nigeria one, to avoid any further problem, let it go. There’s always another time’.
Looking at the outcome generally, and regardless of how it is being perceived, what does this portend for our democracy as a country?
In my own view, things that ordinarily and practically would not have happened did happen. I give you an instance without mentioning names. There are people that you would think will never lose election in their states, and they lost. And you wonder how that could have happened. Some governors, senators and even federal House members lost the election woefully. It is amazing and that is why I say there is an improvement in our electoral process.
Also during the presidential election, there was a voting manner. Some people were interested in a certain presidential candidate and when it came to the governorship election, the same electorate switched their votes to another party. It shows that people are now more discerning, not voting along party line but more interested in the individuals that they believe in. Yes, certainly, there would be violence in elections but this one was peaceful.
What about the issue of unarmed security agents?
It baffles me when people say the army, the police or other security agents should not be armed. When I walked to my polling unit in my area, I saw just one unarmed policeman. This appeared to me like a big risk because Nigeria is not like America where you can walk to your voting point, press a button and vote.
How could you have just one policeman, and in some cases traffic wardens as security agents in a polling booth where about 1, 500 youths who can be potentially violent are voting? I think Nigeria has not got to the point of having unarmed police manning polling booths. You give the amount of force to curtail a particular problem.
In places like the Victoria Garden City, Lekki, or Banana Island, the case might be different because of the calibre of the people there. But what about volatile areas like Okota, Oshodi in Lagos and other areas known to be potentially violent?
But I think the idea of unarmed security agents was to give confidence to give the electorate to come out and vote without fear of harassment or intimidation by security agents.
There must be security arrangement. It is risky not to have them at least for now. In my own area, as a traditional ruler, I had to forestall ugly incidents by walking down to the polling booths physically. I was compelled to remain in some polling units to observe and create that peaceful environment, but I could not be everywhere.
There are trouble spots. If such places are have unarmed policemen, you can imagine what will happen. Imagine when thugs compel electoral officers to write election results, what can an unarmed policeman do? We have to be realistic.
Talking about election education, INEC has on ground experts who claim to have created much awareness on electoral issues. Do you think this awareness is getting to the people, I mean the grassroots?
The problem of Nigeria is interwoven. First of all, to be able to achieve a good electoral process, you have to have educated electorate. You have to deal with the issue of improving the literacy of the average Nigerian. It does not have anything to do with attending a formal school. An average Nigerian should be able to read, write and understand simple statements and signs as to be able to make it easy to disseminate information.
One of the easy ways is to start the system of adult literacy education, just like I have started in my community here. Somehow, it is beginning to have positive effect and that’s what government should do to have an electorate that understands the system. Two, every election gives four years’ notice. It is a total embarrassment for anyone to give an excuse of certain lateness or inconsistency in plans. As we are now, we know that by 2023 there will be another election. So, whatever is not done right by now should be done before then. I also want us to see our peculiar situation and build what is suitable for Nigeria.
We don’t need to copy verbatim another people’s system. We must adopt what is peculiar to us. Even to become a king, there are some cultural electoral processes that must be followed. Being entitled to the throne does not guarantee you becoming a king. You must follow due process approved by kingmakers. This is a form of democracy.
I also noticed that there was huge improvement by INEC to educate voters in the past, but this is a minute of the class of voters required. How do you explain the issue of having 92 parties when we can have just two or three to make it easy for the people to identify their logos? I want to suggest that rather than wait till 2022 to educate people on electoral issues, it is better to start now since we already know what the problem is.
I personally do not ascribe to having over 90 party logos when some of them cannot guarantee one single vote even from their family members. Some of them do not have office all over the country not to talk of having an office in their own local government. I think the best democracy we have had was when we have two political parties, SDP and NRC, under the Babangida regime.
Two-party system is good for Nigeria, being that we have three major ethnic groups. If we have three parties, people will tend to go along ethnic lines but when it is two, people will eventually mix up the ethnic groups.
That will also make it easy for people to take decision. In this past election, people may have voted in error because with over 90 logos, it was difficult to pick out a particular party with all the similarity in acronyms. If the electorate cannot read and write, it will not be easy to identify a party’s logo.
In a recent interview, you did clamour for the 4th tier government comprising traditional rulers. Do you see that as an option to help educate the masses?
In this past election, most of the candidates that contested paid courtesy visits to traditional rulers to seek their fatherly blessings. They did it because they understand that traditional rulers are closest to the people. 60 percent of the Nigerian population lives in the rural and sub-urban areas. And that is where traditional rulers hold sway.
Two, traditional rulers stay longer in office than any elected person. Political office in the country is for eight years and traditional rulers are for life. Traditional rulers are more abreast with community issues than elected officers. That is why I said traditional rulers need to form the 4th tier of government. This is not to involve the traditional rulers in politics but rather in policy making.
If you really want to get quality advice, you get it from someone who is at home all the time and closer to the masses. A traditional ruler gets support from God and his people. There is a difference between politics and policy.
Polls: We caught candidates buying votes with biscuits in FCT, Cross River – Observer group
A traditional ruler should be put in a system of advisory role, recognized by the Constitution and be given a responsibility to tackle. They are father to all. If state government can get security fund and yet insecurity persists, why not look inwards towards traditional rulers so that security challenges can be tackled from the grassroots level?
Buhari was declared the winner of the presidential election despite all the challenges confronting his term in office. How do you advise the President to correct what he has not done right in the past in his second term?
Buhari is the president-elect except a competent court of law proves otherwise. It is not a problem for anyone to go to court to challenge the result. It was done in the past except for the 2015 election. Now that he is going for second term, it is an opportunity for him to write his name in gold. The President is a man of history based on the perception that he is an honest man.
But being honest is not enough to drive the economy of the country to success. He has done a lot in the agriculture sector, but I want him to support farmers more. Attention should be drawn to grassroots’ farmers. Loans should be given to small scale farmers so that they can improve their lives.
Another area is political positions favouring a certain areas. Being an honest man must mean that he understands the people and also should spread positions and appointments across the zones. I believe that every tribe has honest people that can fill the various government positions.
Also his economic policies may have yielded some results but while fighting corruption and getting stolen funds back from looters, the funds must be channeled to the areas that require productive attention. Manufacturers in the country must be encouraged with such funds to produce cheap goods. There should be improvement in power generation and distribution. Once this is taking care of, these will improve the economy.
Source:https://samueljackson12.blogspot.com/2019/04/identifying-90-parties-logos-was.html
Oba Michael Odunayo Ajayi, the Elerinmo of Erinmo-Ijesha
2019 general elections have come and gone. How do you rate the elections?
Nigerian democracy is work in progress. That’s my summary and also election in Nigeria is a learning process. Democracy is something we copied from the developed world and, naturally, we can’t perfect it so easily.
If you recall, there was a report that election in the US was even manipulated, how much more in a country like Nigeria. Be that as it may, with the result we saw and how the entire process went nationwide, I would largely say that it is free, fair and credible.
You seem to have so much confidence in the elections despite the challenges that characterized the process, with pockets of malpractices and alleged disenfranchisement in some quarters. Are you then telling the aggrieved parties not to contest the outcome?
Well, the options have always been open. If you feel cheated or that your people were not allowed to vote, or some sort of malpractice was observed, the option of legal redress is there. However, sometimes, just like former President Goodluck did, you would want to overlook certain things. In the real sense of it, when you look at the elections in the past, I would say that this election is better than that of 2015.
But one cannot deny anyone the opportunity to seek redress, if there’s any. And being a traditional ruler, my understanding is that we seek for peace. There’s no election that is 100 percent perfect anywhere in the world, but there are situations where you would look at it and say, ‘for the sake of keeping Nigeria one, to avoid any further problem, let it go. There’s always another time’.
Looking at the outcome generally, and regardless of how it is being perceived, what does this portend for our democracy as a country?
In my own view, things that ordinarily and practically would not have happened did happen. I give you an instance without mentioning names. There are people that you would think will never lose election in their states, and they lost. And you wonder how that could have happened. Some governors, senators and even federal House members lost the election woefully. It is amazing and that is why I say there is an improvement in our electoral process.
Also during the presidential election, there was a voting manner. Some people were interested in a certain presidential candidate and when it came to the governorship election, the same electorate switched their votes to another party. It shows that people are now more discerning, not voting along party line but more interested in the individuals that they believe in. Yes, certainly, there would be violence in elections but this one was peaceful.
What about the issue of unarmed security agents?
It baffles me when people say the army, the police or other security agents should not be armed. When I walked to my polling unit in my area, I saw just one unarmed policeman. This appeared to me like a big risk because Nigeria is not like America where you can walk to your voting point, press a button and vote.
How could you have just one policeman, and in some cases traffic wardens as security agents in a polling booth where about 1, 500 youths who can be potentially violent are voting? I think Nigeria has not got to the point of having unarmed police manning polling booths. You give the amount of force to curtail a particular problem.
In places like the Victoria Garden City, Lekki, or Banana Island, the case might be different because of the calibre of the people there. But what about volatile areas like Okota, Oshodi in Lagos and other areas known to be potentially violent?
But I think the idea of unarmed security agents was to give confidence to give the electorate to come out and vote without fear of harassment or intimidation by security agents.
There must be security arrangement. It is risky not to have them at least for now. In my own area, as a traditional ruler, I had to forestall ugly incidents by walking down to the polling booths physically. I was compelled to remain in some polling units to observe and create that peaceful environment, but I could not be everywhere.
There are trouble spots. If such places are have unarmed policemen, you can imagine what will happen. Imagine when thugs compel electoral officers to write election results, what can an unarmed policeman do? We have to be realistic.
Talking about election education, INEC has on ground experts who claim to have created much awareness on electoral issues. Do you think this awareness is getting to the people, I mean the grassroots?
The problem of Nigeria is interwoven. First of all, to be able to achieve a good electoral process, you have to have educated electorate. You have to deal with the issue of improving the literacy of the average Nigerian. It does not have anything to do with attending a formal school. An average Nigerian should be able to read, write and understand simple statements and signs as to be able to make it easy to disseminate information.
One of the easy ways is to start the system of adult literacy education, just like I have started in my community here. Somehow, it is beginning to have positive effect and that’s what government should do to have an electorate that understands the system. Two, every election gives four years’ notice. It is a total embarrassment for anyone to give an excuse of certain lateness or inconsistency in plans. As we are now, we know that by 2023 there will be another election. So, whatever is not done right by now should be done before then. I also want us to see our peculiar situation and build what is suitable for Nigeria.
We don’t need to copy verbatim another people’s system. We must adopt what is peculiar to us. Even to become a king, there are some cultural electoral processes that must be followed. Being entitled to the throne does not guarantee you becoming a king. You must follow due process approved by kingmakers. This is a form of democracy.
I also noticed that there was huge improvement by INEC to educate voters in the past, but this is a minute of the class of voters required. How do you explain the issue of having 92 parties when we can have just two or three to make it easy for the people to identify their logos? I want to suggest that rather than wait till 2022 to educate people on electoral issues, it is better to start now since we already know what the problem is.
I personally do not ascribe to having over 90 party logos when some of them cannot guarantee one single vote even from their family members. Some of them do not have office all over the country not to talk of having an office in their own local government. I think the best democracy we have had was when we have two political parties, SDP and NRC, under the Babangida regime.
Two-party system is good for Nigeria, being that we have three major ethnic groups. If we have three parties, people will tend to go along ethnic lines but when it is two, people will eventually mix up the ethnic groups.
That will also make it easy for people to take decision. In this past election, people may have voted in error because with over 90 logos, it was difficult to pick out a particular party with all the similarity in acronyms. If the electorate cannot read and write, it will not be easy to identify a party’s logo.
In a recent interview, you did clamour for the 4th tier government comprising traditional rulers. Do you see that as an option to help educate the masses?
In this past election, most of the candidates that contested paid courtesy visits to traditional rulers to seek their fatherly blessings. They did it because they understand that traditional rulers are closest to the people. 60 percent of the Nigerian population lives in the rural and sub-urban areas. And that is where traditional rulers hold sway.
Two, traditional rulers stay longer in office than any elected person. Political office in the country is for eight years and traditional rulers are for life. Traditional rulers are more abreast with community issues than elected officers. That is why I said traditional rulers need to form the 4th tier of government. This is not to involve the traditional rulers in politics but rather in policy making.
If you really want to get quality advice, you get it from someone who is at home all the time and closer to the masses. A traditional ruler gets support from God and his people. There is a difference between politics and policy.
Polls: We caught candidates buying votes with biscuits in FCT, Cross River – Observer group
A traditional ruler should be put in a system of advisory role, recognized by the Constitution and be given a responsibility to tackle. They are father to all. If state government can get security fund and yet insecurity persists, why not look inwards towards traditional rulers so that security challenges can be tackled from the grassroots level?
Buhari was declared the winner of the presidential election despite all the challenges confronting his term in office. How do you advise the President to correct what he has not done right in the past in his second term?
Buhari is the president-elect except a competent court of law proves otherwise. It is not a problem for anyone to go to court to challenge the result. It was done in the past except for the 2015 election. Now that he is going for second term, it is an opportunity for him to write his name in gold. The President is a man of history based on the perception that he is an honest man.
But being honest is not enough to drive the economy of the country to success. He has done a lot in the agriculture sector, but I want him to support farmers more. Attention should be drawn to grassroots’ farmers. Loans should be given to small scale farmers so that they can improve their lives.
Another area is political positions favouring a certain areas. Being an honest man must mean that he understands the people and also should spread positions and appointments across the zones. I believe that every tribe has honest people that can fill the various government positions.
Also his economic policies may have yielded some results but while fighting corruption and getting stolen funds back from looters, the funds must be channeled to the areas that require productive attention. Manufacturers in the country must be encouraged with such funds to produce cheap goods. There should be improvement in power generation and distribution. Once this is taking care of, these will improve the economy.
Source:https://samueljackson12.blogspot.com/2019/04/identifying-90-parties-logos-was.html
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