By Atilade Atoyebi
I don’t know if you have discovered that election periods in Nigeria are not like any other in many parts of the world. The just concluded general election is the 6th of such exercise in the country over a period of 20 years. Remember that the present democratic dispensation actually started in 1999 with the retreat of the military to their barracks when the Army General usually called maximum ruler, Sani Abacha died on the eve of his alleged attempt to transform himself into a civilian president through an election that was bound to be stage-managed. That is a story that has been told repeatedly over the years.
Election period in Nigeria can be structured into four phases. I will cover two in the first of this two part post and deal with the remaining two in the second part.
The first phase starts when politicians in elected positions enter their third year in office. That is when the rumbling of political thunder starts in Nigeria. Those of them that are eligible to contest the next election would begin to calculate their chances of returning to their seats, at least. One term Governors obviously look forward to their second term and many of them are not complacent about fighting to actualize that dream. Senators, House of Representative Members, State House of Assembly Members are eligible to run as many times as they are able to do so. For these politicians, there are two possibilities. Either they begin to consolidate their present positions or the ones at the lower rungs of the political ladder may believe that it is time to aspire to move up the ladder. For example, a Senator may now want to be a Governor. A member of House of Representatives could decide to test the waters in his senatorial district because he wants to take a seat in the Upper Chamber (the Senate). Similarly, some members of State Houses of Assembly had succeeded in promoting themselves to the House of Representatives in previous elections. So it is normal for some ambitious members of the State Assemblies to aspire to test the waters at the national level. To complete the picture of the political moves during this period, we must take cognizance of the fact that retiring Governors usually set their eyes on going to the Senate. That has become an established tradition here in Nigeria lately. When they do that they usually have no qualms about displacing a sitting Senator from their State, willy-nilly. This brings hard feelings on the part of the incumbent Senator who is being asked to vacate his seat for the all-conquering Governor.
It is no secret anymore that being in elective position in Nigeria is lucrative. The monthly income is handsome. A Senator once revealed that the take home pay of a Senator is N750,000. However, each Senator receives N13 million every month as Constituency Allowance, whatever that means. Although Senators are expected to account for the Allowance, nobody knows how efficient the system of accounting for it is. For now we do not know any Senator that has been indicted for not rendering returns of how the money had been spent month after month. When they perform their oversight functions, they draw arbitrarily fixed allowance in addition to what they amass every month as statutory entitlements. To compound the situation, information on the total emoluments and allowances of Governors are not in the public domain at all. What is known is that there is some vague account called Security Vote that is not accounted for, meaning that the Vote does not pass through audit scrutiny. This is where many Nigerians believe that Governors feed fat within a bottomless Vote.
The out-of-this-world income of Nigerian politicians is an attraction for the incumbents to continue to struggle to retain their elective positions or move to the next more lucrative level. Unfortunately, there are other political activists out there that have been nursing ostensibly, the desire to ‘serve’ their people. In reality, the honey pie in elective positions is tempting and may be worth fighting for. This is usually the cause of the restlessness of politicians in elective positions and the threat of their dislodgement by predators showing signs of interest in their positions midway into their four-year term.
The second phase of the election period in Nigeria is when party conventions start. This is the time when those who have set their eyes on elective offices begin to canvass for, ward, state and national executive committee positions for those that are likely to support their ambitions. This is when parties hold parallel conventions and eventually parallel primaries where party candidates are chosen among many aspirants. Somehow the Nigerian electoral law is a bit explicit on the fact that it is the convention and the primaries rightly observed by representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC that will be recognized in case of any dispute among the warrying factions. The wrangling among the factions of each political party, especially the viable ones, keeps our courts busy. It is not unusual for the aspirants slugging it out among themselves to go as far as the Supreme Court for final determination of their disputes. Yes! The stakes are sufficiently high for some aggrieved aspirants to seek justice as far as the apex court in the land.
In other parts of the world, politicians engage in fund raising to enable them to meet the expenses of their campaigns and other administrative matters. Let’s tell it like it is. Fund raising is not one of the strong features of political activities in this country. Individuals seeking elective office and perhaps, their closest friends and allies foot the bills. Even when parties raise funds through levies imposed their aspirants, it is doubtful that such money will be sufficient for the lavish rallies and other activities, overt and covert that the parties engage themselves with.
The third stage is the campaign period. This is where part two of this post takes off. Watch out for this in a couple of days.
By Atilade Atoyebi
I don’t know if you have discovered that election periods in Nigeria are not like any other in many parts of the world. The just concluded general election is the 6th of such exercise in the country over a period of 20 years. Remember that the present democratic dispensation actually started in 1999 with the retreat of the military to their barracks when the Army General usually called maximum ruler, Sani Abacha died on the eve of his alleged attempt to transform himself into a civilian president through an election that was bound to be stage-managed. That is a story that has been told repeatedly over the years. Election period in Nigeria can be structured into four phases. I will cover two in the first of this two part post and deal with the remaining two in the second part. The first phase starts when politicians in elected positions enter their third year in office. That is when the rumbling of political thunder starts in Nigeria. Those of them that are eligible to contest the next election would begin to calculate their chances of returning to their seats, at least. One term Governors obviously look forward to their second term and many of them are not complacent about fighting to actualize that dream. Senators, House of Representative Members, State House of Assembly Members are eligible to run as many times as they are able to do so. For these politicians, there are two possibilities. Either they begin to consolidate their present positions or the ones at the lower rungs of the political ladder may believe that it is time to aspire to move up the ladder. For example, a Senator may now want to be a Governor. A member of House of Representatives could decide to test the waters in his senatorial district because he wants to take a seat in the Upper Chamber (the Senate). Similarly, some members of State Houses of Assembly had succeeded in promoting themselves to the House of Representatives in previous elections. So it is normal for some ambitious members of the State Assemblies to aspire to test the waters at the national level. To complete the picture of the political moves during this period, we must take cognizance of the fact that retiring Governors usually set their eyes on going to the Senate. That has become an established tradition here in Nigeria lately. When they do that they usually have no qualms about displacing a sitting Senator from their State, willy-nilly. This brings hard feelings on the part of the incumbent Senator who is being asked to vacate his seat for the all-conquering Governor. It is no secret anymore that being in elective position in Nigeria is lucrative. The monthly income is handsome. A Senator once revealed that the take home pay of a Senator is N750,000. However, each Senator receives N13 million every month as Constituency Allowance, whatever that means. Although Senators are expected to account for the Allowance, nobody knows how efficient the system of accounting for it is. For now we do not know any Senator that has been indicted for not rendering returns of how the money had been spent month after month. When they perform their oversight functions, they draw arbitrarily fixed allowance in addition to what they amass every month as statutory entitlements. To compound the situation, information on the total emoluments and allowances of Governors are not in the public domain at all. What is known is that there is some vague account called Security Vote that is not accounted for, meaning that the Vote does not pass through audit scrutiny. This is where many Nigerians believe that Governors feed fat within a bottomless Vote. The out-of-this-world income of Nigerian politicians is an attraction for the incumbents to continue to struggle to retain their elective positions or move to the next more lucrative level. Unfortunately, there are other political activists out there that have been nursing ostensibly, the desire to ‘serve’ their people. In reality, the honey pie in elective positions is tempting and may be worth fighting for. This is usually the cause of the restlessness of politicians in elective positions and the threat of their dislodgement by predators showing signs of interest in their positions midway into their four-year term. The second phase of the election period in Nigeria is when party conventions start. This is the time when those who have set their eyes on elective offices begin to canvass for, ward, state and national executive committee positions for those that are likely to support their ambitions. This is when parties hold parallel conventions and eventually parallel primaries where party candidates are chosen among many aspirants. Somehow the Nigerian electoral law is a bit explicit on the fact that it is the convention and the primaries rightly observed by representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC that will be recognized in case of any dispute among the warrying factions. The wrangling among the factions of each political party, especially the viable ones, keeps our courts busy. It is not unusual for the aspirants slugging it out among themselves to go as far as the Supreme Court for final determination of their disputes. Yes! The stakes are sufficiently high for some aggrieved aspirants to seek justice as far as the apex court in the land. In other parts of the world, politicians engage in fund raising to enable them to meet the expenses of their campaigns and other administrative matters. Let’s tell it like it is. Fund raising is not one of the strong features of political activities in this country. Individuals seeking elective office and perhaps, their closest friends and allies foot the bills. Even when parties raise funds through levies imposed their aspirants, it is doubtful that such money will be sufficient for the lavish rallies and other activities, overt and covert that the parties engage themselves with. The third stage is the campaign period. This is where part two of this post takes off. Watch out for this in a couple of days.