Ciaran’s Peculier [sic] Blog

Nigeria’s elections in mid April were a sham, a desperate vaudeville not worthy of the name of an election. Everything about it was shambolic. Nigeria’s a big country and there are large parts of it that are off the beaten track: in fact they’re off any track at all. The ballot papers didn’t even arrive in the country until the day of the election; electoral monitors who were supposed to ensure things went well were forced to hitch-hike to their posts; and so the elections didn’t start on time in many places, and in some they didn’t start at all.

Yet voting did begin on time in places viewed as ruling party or PDP  strongholds. Those who survived standing in wilting heat then found that there was no such thing as a secret ballot and that they had to cast their vote in full view of ruling party activists. In many places ballots not marked in the “right way” were snatched from the hands of would-be voters. Ballot boxes were often stolen, or stuffed with ballots filled out for ruling party contender Umarua Yar’Adua.

But what makes this election so tragic is that the ruling party felt it had to resort to such tactics. Yar’Adua was likely to have won even if the polls had been totally kosher, even though his party has overseen nearly a decade of mismanagement and corruption. The opposition was not exactly squeaky clean. Main contender, Muhammadu Buhari is an ex-army man who led a coup that toppled democratically elected president Shehu Shagari in the early 1980s. Former vice-president Attiku Abubakar had been accused of corruption by his former allies in the PDP after he fell out with out-going president Obasanjo. This was probably like the pot calling the kettle black, but it is doubtful that his hands were entirely clean.

There were no “tribal” or religious tensions, so often a problem in Nigerian politics, as all the main  candidates hailed from the Muslim north.  

And yet in spite of the glaring irregularities of the election a winner was announced. To everyone’s surprise Yar’Aduar won by a landslide and will be soon inaugurated president. The president of Africa’s most populous country though will lack legitimacy.

How is it that Nigeria, one of the world’s major oil producers, is still so poor, with many killer diseases still endemic? Perhaps the answer lies in another question. How come a small handful of Nigerians are so rich? Corruption is endemic at all levels, and as it is never  checked people at all levels want a bit of the action.

We must not sit back in self-satisfied comfort in the west. Can anyone in the west say with hand on heart that corruption does not exist here? Is it not just a question of definition or politely looking the other way?