Feature Nigeria
tions are held, President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan will be vying for the top job with three other main candidates – General Muhammadu Buhari (Congress of Progressive Change party), Ibrahim Shekarau (All Nigeria People’s Party), and Nuhu Ribadu (Action Congress Nigeria party). On paper, Jonathan, with the rul- ing People’s Democratic Party’s machinery behind him, should win hands down. But that is only on paper! In reality, anything can happen. Tese elections will be a litmus test for
Nigeria’s efforts in achieving free, fair, clean, and credible elections, as promised by Jonathan when he came into power last year, after the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua. Te newly reconstituted Inde- pendent National Electoral Commission (INEC), headed by Prof. Atahiru Jega, has the difficult task of living up to Jonathan’s promises. Te last elections held in 2007 were viewed by many as less than credible, a fact that was acknowledged by even the late President Yar’Adua, the major benefi- ciary of those flawed elections. Because of this experience, large num-
bers of Nigerians, led mainly by civil soci- ety groups and the country’s lawyers, have been demanding that the authorities take urgent measures (including the reforms of the electoral rules) to ensure that there are free, fair and credible elections this time around. In response, the government initi- ated a long and costly process of electoral
reforms. It began with the setting up of the Uwais Commission, made up of legal experts and people from all walks of life, to collect views nationwide aimed at improv- ing the conduct of elections. Te collated views were subjected to several months of public debate. Te longstanding problem had not been the lack of laws to govern the process but, precisely, the absence of po- litical goodwill and an adherence to rules. Tus the time to turn the corner may be this year, especially when last November Jonathan, as chairman of the regional body, Ecowas, led the regional group to threaten to use military force to settle an electoral dispute in Côte d’Ivoire. Looked at in another way, the confi-
dence of Nigerians in the electoral process has been seen in the massive turnout for the voters’ registration exercise; almost 70 million eligible voters registered! Tis huge turnout, many say, emanated from a general desire by the people to make a change this time around. One curious development in the run-
up to the elections has been that all three main challengers to Jonathan, having been chosen by their respective parties’ prima- ries, have kept on talking of an alliance to confront Jonathan’s PDP. It is an admis- sion that the PDP is the leader in the field and the party to beat. Tis therefore has meant the coast is clear for Jonathan to sail smoothly through to victory. In a country where election campaign
case to the voters (left)
Buhari is mobbed by his supporters (right) and Nuhu Ribadu states his
Muhammadu
40 | April 2011 New African
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