Who is afraid of elections?

The beauty of participatory
democracy is election. The right to
have a say in who directs the affairs
of the country is a licence granted
to all adults in a democracy. It is
what separates citizens from
residents. It is the pride of the
electorate, on the basis of which
they raise their shoulders and say
to operators of powers and
authorities: We put you there!
Forget that elections are rarely
perfect. Results can be rigged.
Figures can be manipulated and
ballot boxes can be snatched.
Nigerians are familiar with all the
maladies of elections, yet, like all
people who desire a say in their
affairs, we still like to vote. It is the
most essential power granted the
citizens: The power to be part of
the decision to choose the rulers.
The choice of the word, “rulers”,
here is deliberate.
Elections do not only define the
power of the citizens in a
democracy, it also offers hope and
opportunity to reward and
revenge. The electorates look
forward to elections to reward
benevolent elective office holders
or take their pound of flesh on
weak, clueless and corrupt and
non-performers.
In a democracy, the authority of the
government derives solely from
the consent of the governed, and
the most important method of
granting such an authority is
through elections. Elections must
be periodic and schedules held
sacrosanct. Anything short of that
brings confusion, tension and
anger. The electorates hate
dictators and life presidents; they
detest anybody standing in the way
of elections.
When they are denied the
opportunity to participate in
deciding who to ascend to the
throne or who to stay for more
years, they become apprehensive
and lose their feeling of freedom.
Oftentimes, such a denial leads to
mass protests, social discontent
and violence.
No self-respecting leaders deny the
people the chance of going to the
poll at the appropriate time.
Nigeria is not a banana republic.
Denying the people the right to
vote at the appropriate time could
be a fatal error.
The signs since the poll shift by the
Independent National Electoral
Commission from February 14 and
28 to March 28 and April 11 have
become ominous. Suddenly, the
people’s minds have gone back to
the June 12, 1993 abracadabra by
the ex-dictator, Gen. Ibrahim
Babangida, and the attendant
political crisis foisted on the nation.
In low tones, the people now talk
of a pending interim government;
in their hearts, they have started
imagining another election
annulment; in their prayers, they
tell God to rain fire on whoever
wants to take the country back to
post-June 12, 1993 era; and in their
dreams, they now see President
Goodluck Jonathan refusing to
allow the elections on the
rescheduled dates.
Behind the President’s emergence
from obscurity to fame and power
has always being election. He
became a deputy governor, a
governor, a vice-president and
President all through the authority
of the people transmitted through
elections. He should be the least to
be afraid of elections.
Or is President Jonathan afraid of
elections? I don’t think so. He
shouldn’t. Not when elections have
always been his magic wand.
Nobody runs away from what turns
one from a fisherman’s son to a jet-
flying Number One citizen of
Africa’s most populous country. To
many people, it is bad enough that
the choices before Nigerians are
Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari. I
need not state the reasons for such
a contention here but to state that
the people should be allowed to
make their choice. March 28, here
we come.