By CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE

The consequences of the prevalence of the culture of electoral malpractice and political godfatherism in Nigeria are our country's stagnated economic and technological development and the existence of disunity in Nigeria. To say that Nigeria is a disunited country is to state an obvious fact, which cannot be controverted. Here, in Nigeria, members of the Igbo ethnic group are viewed with suspicion and hatred by members of other ethnic groups. Ethnic distrust reigns supreme among all the people(s) of Nigeria. And the indices of national development show that Nigeria is an underdeveloped country that has not realized her potentialities.

So what is the correlation between Nigeria?s underdevelopment and disunity and her culture of electoral malpractice and political godfatherism? The corollary of the perpetration of electoral fraud by politicians and the imposition of leaders on us by kingmakers is the emergence of political leaders, who are destitute of political vision, ideologies, patriotism, leadership qualities, and probity. Those political leaders were thrust into the loft of power by the singular factor of Nigeria?s egregious culture of electoral malpractice and political godfatherism.

For example, in the first republic, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa defeated the duo of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe with subterranean imperialistic help to become the Prime Minister of Nigeria. Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, though a writer and intellectual, lacked the intellectual heft and depth of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the political sagacity and knowledge of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. But he was a product of overt imposition of leaders on us by the British colonial overlords.

But under the watch of Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, the first republic collapsed. He was removed from office through military putsch. And thereafter, Nigeria descended into a fratricidal civil war, which lasted between 1967 and 1970.The Nigeria-Biafra civil war caused the destruction of properties and the loss of millions of human lives. And the military interregnum lasted from 1966 to 1978, after which Alhaji Shehu Shagari became the first executive president of Nigeria in 1979.

But before he emerged as Nigeria?s first executive president in 1979, Alhaji Shehu Shagari was a political dark horse, who could not hold a candle to such political big guns as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo. But Shagari dusted the duo in the 1979 presidential slugfest to enter in the saddle of power as the first executive president of Nigeria.

But President Shehu Shagari was helped to become the president of Nigeria in 1979 by the political kingmakers in the country. His leadership of Nigeria did not lead to the positive transformation of our country, however. Rather, his government was swept away by the wave of a coup d?etat executed by the beret boys for sundry reasons, some of which bothering on corruption and incompetence.

Fast forward to 1999, the time at which the fourth republic was birthed after the third republic had become still-birth. Then, the late Alex Ekwueme was in a pole position to become the presidential candidate of PDP, a dominant political party that was expected to clinch the 1999 presidential poll. But he was sold down the river by his ethnic compatriots and schemed out of the power game by kingmakers.

It was Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who emerged as the presidential candidate of PDP. And he went ahead to win the 1999 presidential election because he was anointed by our political kingmakers and other interests, who wanted to placate the indignant yoruba people. As the president of Nigeria, he recorded giant strides in the areas of telecommunication and the liquidation of our foreign debts. And he stabilized the polity that was stewing in the cauldron of combustible ethnic animosity and political tension.

But Nigeria, under his watch, did not realize her potential given our country?s possession of immense human and material resources, arable land, many waters, and equable weather conditions. It is believed that he surreptitiously hounded some governors, who were not in his good books, out of office.

And the presidential election organized by him, which ushered Alhaji Umaru Musa Y?ardua into office, was deeply flawed. Alhaji Umaru Musa Y?ardua, who was the beneficiary of that electoral heist, stated, unequivocally, that the presidential election that brought him to power fell below the acceptable international standards. And he made promise that he would reform our electoral system. But he died in harness before he could carry out the electoral reforms.

And it cannot be disproved that successive presidential and governorship elections conducted in Nigeria after the demise of Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar?Adua did not pass muster. They were subjects of electoral litigations that got to the apex court, that is, the Supreme Court for adjudication. That winners of the past successive presidential elections in Nigeria were determined by the Supreme Court is a sad and uncomplimentary commentary on Nigeria?s electoral system.

Sadly, as INEC bungles national election so do state electoral bodies bungle local government elections, which they are constitutionally empowered to conduct. In most of the states in Nigeria where council elections took place following the Supreme Court granting of financial autonomy to local government areas, the ruling parties swept the polls, leaving nothing for the opposition political parties. The margins of their electoral victories are suggestive of the fact that the winners won those elections through electoral sleight of hand.

This prevailing situation has lent credence to the insinuations and suppositions that election rigging has been intrinsically sewn into our egregious democratic culture. In today?s Nigeria, it is a rarity for a sitting governor to lose his re-election bid. The people believe, and correctly so, that the sitting governors will use the immense power at their disposals and their huge financial war chests to wangle victories for themselves, at any cost.

Our politicians who are desperate to become political leaders do game the electoral system to achieve their ends. So, in Nigeria, the election results are not reflective of the people?s political will and choices. As a consequence, political leaders, who are destitute of political ideologies, probity, leadership qualities, patriotism, and vision, are thrown into the saddle of power.

And those political leaders who are morally debased, intellectually vacuous, ethnically prejudiced, myopic, and unpatriotic cannot drive our country?s developmental initiatives; neither can they foster and promote our national unity. And because they perceive their occupation of exalted political offices as an opportunity to amass wealth, they are predisposed to looting our public exchequer.

Now, it can be seen that reforming our electoral system to make it impregnable to election rigging has become a desideratum. Strengthening and reforming our electoral system will lead to the extirpation of election rigging in Nigeria, which will lead to the emergence of visionary, patriotic, competent, and scrupulous political leaders in our dear country.

?Chiedu Uche Okoye, a poet, writes from Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State. He can be reached via 08062220654 and 09125204141

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