We observe a detailed plan by Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to celebrate his 100 days in office as The Keeper of A Stolen Mandate. But, for us in Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE), we think that if there is anybody to be celebrated, it is not Yar’Adua but the legion of people who have demonstrated unwavering commitment to democracy by going to the tribunals and who have, in the interest of peaceful coexistence, followed due legal processes in the redress of the disputes arising from the election. It is those who, in the face of blatant rigging of elections, refused to take up arms against electoral fraud culprits in power. It is those who are using their personal resources to defend the eternal principles of democracy that must be commended and not those who are using state resources to solve their crises of legitimacy.

Rule of Law
It has been 100 days of watching the Keeper of A Stolen Mandate pontificate righteously on the principle of Rule of Law. Rule of Law, which is based on equality before the law and whose fundamental pillar is certainty of punishment for contravening the law, so far is a bargaining chip for legitimacy. Rule of Law is being bandied as a cover for a crafty Prince who has usurped the sovereignty of the people. By keeping a stolen mandate, Yar’Adua believes that the end justifies the means but ACE believes that a principled position on Rule of Law cannot stand on this ideology. The ideology of the end justifies the means is one of the root causes of anarchy and fascism. It is such ideology that bred people like Adolf Hitler whose record of untold brutality against humanity led the United Nations to reinforce the notion of rule of law that is based on the consent and rights of the people. Indeed, Hitler promulgated his own laws and claimed he was operating under the Rule of Law. Why did we oppose colonialism? Was it because there was no Rule of Law? Why did we oppose apartheid in South Africa? Was it because there was no Rule of Law? Why did we oppose military rule? Was it because there was no Rule of Law? The protagonists of Yar’Adua’s rule of law are missing the point and they should give the nation a break because we are in the 21st century. Beyond the above, Yar’Adua’s concept of Rule of Law is only beneficial to himself and his co-travellers. Yar’Adua needs to take a walk down to any of our police stations and our inner cities, and have a conversation with ordinary people who experience brutality on a daily basis to know that nothing has changed. We believe that Yar’Adua’s stand on Rule of Law is a façade and we call on Civil Society and the people not to be deceived.

Legitimacy
It’s been 100 days of self-serving politics of legitimacy in which we talk about electoral reform without accountability for electoral fraud, in which the crafty Prince uses Government of National Unity to undermine democracy and judicial processes by compromising the opposition and triggering off dubious withdrawals of cases from the Tribunals. Within this period, Yar’Adua has used state resources in desperate efforts to re-brand himself and further entrench a stolen mandate. This is a familiar terrain for the crafty prince. We must not forget that as the Governor of Katsina State he sought legitimacy in the eyes of Obasanjo by promoting and defending the third term agenda at the cost of lives. He has not apologised for his role in the third term infamy and if the circumstance of third term arises again he would most likely go for it. The crafty prince says he is a servant leader but how can a usurper of the sovereign rights of the people address himself as a servant leader? The best he can be in his circumstance is a servant dictator or a benevolent dictator. Servant or benevolent dictators are rulers who reign on the basis of the niceness of their heart not on the basis of the rights of the people. The world knows that a man’s nice heart can be very treacherous and that is why a democratic state is constructed on the basis of the rights of the people not on the heart moods of a ruler. The truth of the matter is that there are many nice Nigerians who want to rule this country and if the people are not allowed to choose from amongst them who shall be the president, their struggle for power will plunge this country into anarchy. This is 21st century and Nigeria should not allow herself to be ruled by benevolent/servant despotism. ACE-Nigeria advises Yar’Adua that the best way out of his legitimacy crises is a fresh election. We call on the opposition to keep the pressure on by not withdrawing their cases from the Tribunals. We condemn the ANPP for withdrawing their case from the Tribunal and commend the foresight of their presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, in instituting an independent case against the outcome of the so-called election. We also commend Mr Usman Abubakar aka “Young Alhaji” for refusing to withdraw his case against the election of David Mark as Senator from Benue State.

Morals
In 100 days, religious leaders have been forced to offer sanctimonious prayers for people who stole our mandate and not for the poor millions whose sovereignty was denied. In effect, they prayed for God to give more power to the thief rather than the robbed, except for the lone voice of the President of CAN, Archbishop John Onaiyekan. It is a 100 days of moral contradiction in which our children are battling to understand why they should not cheat in exams when our so-called rulers cheat in elections and appear to be reaping the spoils of office. We urge religious leaders to follow the footsteps of their founders who saw truth as constant and who led struggles for the poor and the deprived.

Corruption
It’s been a 100 days of the fight against corruption moving from Obasanjo’s trademark of “pot calling kettle black” to Yar’Adua’s “plea bargain and safe passage” for corrupt officials. We hear of NNPC being very corrupt but nobody has been prosecuted in NNPC, rather the corporation is disbanded. Civil Society called for the probe of NNPC but, up till today, no body has been charged with conducting the probe of that agency and the public is served with another version of “plea bargain” which is the disbandment of NNPC. Of all the governors fingered by the EFCC, only four have been charged to court. And despite all the contract scams on which the failure of 2007 elections was anchored, the Prof Maurice Iwu-led INEC is still not under probe. We call for the open probe of NNPC and INEC before their disbandment.

100 days of International Disgrace
In the past 100 days, Nigeria has lived with the lingering shame of the giant of Africa who cannot organise credible elections. We have been bashed, left, right and centre, by the European Union, the NDI, IRI, Idasa, IFES for the systematic failure of the conduct of the 2007 elections. The world has been aghast at the audacious defence of electoral malpractice by those who masterminded it. It’s also in this past 100 days that we saw Sierra Leone, war-torn and very poor country, organise elections in which the same international community and Nigerian observers are celebrating as very, very credible. In the past 100 days, the world has been watching to see how Nigeria continues to live with this massive fraud. On this note, we call on the international community not to let go the pressure on Nigeria to conduct credible elections.

Judiciary
It’s been 100 days of waiting on the Judiciary to wipe away the shame on Nigeria and restore the dignity of the Nigerian people. It’s been 100 days of looking up to the Judiciary to restore the sovereignty of ordinary people. It is 100 days and the Nigerian people are waiting for more of such bold decisions as in the case of Andy Uba. It is a 100 days and the heroes of our democracy are taking personal funds to pursue court cases to reinstate the wishes of the people. It is 100 days in which witnesses to the electoral fraud who are patriotic enough to testify were killed; some lawyers who represent litigants at election tribunals have been shot. We commend the tenacity of these defenders of democracy. It is the efforts of such people that will lay a solid foundation, not the self-serving politics of legitimacy.

It is our thinking at ACE-Nigeria that the first 100 days is as far as this fraud should be allowed to stand. The Judiciary should act to save Nigeria now by ordering the conduct of fresh elections at the Presidential level to set landmark precedence.


Emma Ezeazu
General Secretary