LOOTERS BRIGADE VS ANTICORRUPTION VANGUARD BY TUNJI SULEIMAN

Those who disagree with PMB’s decision to withhold accent to the current electoral law amendment act and argue that “changes that guarantee transparency in elections and free and fair elections are not things that should be deferred..” neglect international dimensions to the issue and misdirect themselves.
It’s to avoid this pitfall that I always suggest that critics, opponents and supporters of government inform themselves sufficiently before going to town with one-sided views of issues to advance partisan rhetoric.
When people take positions on abridged and misleading information put out by those whose interest and/or vocation it is to set agenda for public discourse, but in preset directions per the dictates and preferences of interested parties because rhetoric and media emanations align with their own predispositions, what they do deliberately or inadvertently is to lend themselves to the increasing weaponization of information and dissemination of propaganda. Those who don’t care for the nation’s or people’s interests or for verity or falsity but that want to have their way by all means will have no problem with this. In this post-truth century of alternative rhetoric, however, those of our compatriots in the know or with ideas on the true situation should not fail the rest of us by sitting idly whilst half-truths and misguided criticism are elevated to the front burner of national discourse. Instead they must continuously intervene to set records straight and assist the rest of us to get clarity on important issues.
My understanding on amendment(s) to electoral laws is that lapses must have been observed, identified and acknowledged by all or critical stakeholders of elections for meaningful results to be achieved. Amendments must be procured within time limits before the election they are to affect to be seen as being in public interest and not self-serving for incumbents and/or opponents. This is what happened when late President Umaru Yaradua acknowledged that the elections that brought him to power were flawed and initiated electoral reform. This led to the amendment by then NASS that was signed into law by Goodluck Jonathan upon Yaradua’s demise. It is one of Yaradua’s credentials for the favorable consideration of posterity.
We have seen in Africa instances of electoral law amendments that elongated tenure, disqualified opposition politicians, disenfranchised opposition supporters, etc. Election law amendment will always generate concern and debate.
The international best practice on amendments to elections law is that they be initiated and completed as soon as practicable after the elections in which the lapses sought to be corrected have been observed and identified. And when such amendments cannot be procured within the limited timeframe before the next elections, the coming into force of such amendments, no matter how desirable, must be deferred to later times in the interest of equity and peace. For every change to status quo leaves in its wake losers and winners. Electoral law is no exception. In Nigeria the contention between the forces of business-as-usual and change since 2015 accounts for why partisans of the Looters Brigade oppose the Anti-Corruption Vanguard. Nobody readily gives up perceived advantages. Only this way will any side of the political divide not see itself as loosing or being forced to before the next elections.
This perhaps informed the ECOWAS protocol on electoral amendments which stipulates that electoral amendments must be initiated, drafted, reviewed, revised and accepted by all parties to elections and expedited and completed to ensure that no amendment would become law within less than 6 months to the date of the election the amendment will regulate. Nigeria is a signatory to the protocol.
The above however is only one side of the story. The other side is the character of the lawmakers that worked the amendment now generating debate.
Nigeria is afflicted by legislatures that have for the most part been indolent, sleazy and unpatriotic. At the national level, it has been the same story of greed, laziness and truancy by lawmakers. This misfortune afflicting the nation became particularly worse in the 8th NASS which leadership was hijacked by those a writer within the same assembly called hyenas and jackals, focused not on discharging constitutional legislative duties but on working against the government of which they are part from the inside to ensure its failure and to protect the escape artists amongst themselves, (those that seized control of the parliament through brinkmanship and chicanery) from justice for their many crimes against the nation. In this regard, the NASS has been led to break all records of legislative perfidy in the history of Nigeria.
This NASS has had almost 4 years to amend the electoral act. This includes allowing for all the back and forth with the executive necessary for the draft, review, and accent by the president on or before September 15, 2018. But the NASS chased rats whilst the electoral law amendment house burned.
Now that the opposition led by a bat-like character who played incumbent and opposition leader simultaneously within the same legislature are done with the long and spurious recesses, junkets and soirées in foreign lands, they have spun their dereliction of duty and the failure they orchestrated into democratic chagrin and launched it into another partisan offensive.
They want the amendment which admittedly contains, in one part, some sensible provisions on electronic voting and for the sanctity of elections, and self-serving reordering of the polls on the other to become law willy-nilly. What is not in doubt however is that the NASS loafed and idled away whilst important legislative work pended. Some of the members, particularly those of the Looters Brigade camped, threatened to decamp, decamped and recamped again all whilst negotiating their dwindling political fortunes and in desperation for survival. The larger opposition, through the NASS, now seeks to foist a fait accompli on the executive and the nation, and is pulling at straws to obfuscate issues preparatory to the polls. This is the reality of the current hue and cry.
Nigeria will violate an international statute due to the failure of the NASS to conclude amendment to the Electoral Act on time if PMB signs it without a caveat that it takes effect after 2019. But instead of seeing the willingness from the presidency to sign the law now with the caveat as proactive, critics cry wolf where there is none as part of the politicking towards 2019.
But will this latest attempt to confuse Nigerians by elevating non-issues to currency over the main questions of who is corrupt, more corrupt, less corrupt and/or incorruptible and therefore more more intent on, capable of and likely to redress the pervasive corruption that militates against Nigeria’s progress on all fronts of our national life and its quest for greatness and who can or will sustain the antigraft drive till locusts that have laid our commonwealth to waste forever are chased and kept away from the nation’s barn, and our resources applied to kickstart our nation and drive it towards ethical rejuvenation and sustainable development wash with voters? Will the corruption army and its Looters Brigades led by a Field Marshal, commissioned officers and other ranks of the corrupt, plus its horde of mercenaries and unpaid volunteers defeat the forces of the Anti-Corruption Vanguard in the oncoming battle?

Nigerians will decide in February.

Suleiman is a Lagos based enterpreneur, political comentator and Director on the Board of Security Monitor