Just as agitations for electoral reforms rage on, OBINNA OKORIE reviews the last Anambra gubernatorial election to argue that it is not really the laws that matter, but the will to adhere to them.

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws - Plato

How time flies. It is already about a month since the much -hyped expected Anambra 2010 election was held. Yet, it just looks like yesterday. So much has been written and said, but the dominant opinion is that INEC, the security agencies, observers, the NYSC members who formed the ad hoc staff team, even the candidates, the politicians and the people of Anambra all emerged victorious. Peter Obi, only won the Governorship of the hitherto brigandage-prone State, but all the stakeholders, especially the INEC, all came out with their heads high.

That eventful day in the annals of the Nigerian electoral history is a clear proof that when there is the will, there will always be a way. We have one of the bulkiest Constitutions in the world and a sizeable Electoral Act, yet we crave for more laws we wouldn't obey. An average Nigerian expects the Constitution to go beyond the basic principles of power relations and our association as a common entity to spell out to him/her when to wake up, brush teeth, take breakfast, go to work, do laundry, etc. But laws are neither the end in themselves nor do laws obey themselves. And until Nigerians are ready to obey the available laws, and act in the common interest of the nation and their next-door neighbour, we would never get it right. Anambra election which has caught the fancy of a great majority of Nigerians and foreign missions and observers, was conducted without any amendments to the Constitution or the electoral laws. Yet it went so smoothly and credibly, irrespective of a few hitches.

Several reasons can be adduced for this. One was the obvious commitment of INEC and its leadership. It stamped its feet and authority to say that enough was enough. It brought so many anti-rigging innovations that sent the right signals to the politicians that it was not business as usual. Internal reforms and innovations, such as the doing away with the politicians and their agents who normally clothe themselves in the garb of ad-hoc staff with the sole motive of making money. Coupled with this was the innovative setting up of a respected Election Monitoring Board to be part of the processes leading up to the election. It is on record that the no-nonsense disposition of INEC in sacking some moles among its staffers found to have colluded with some political bad eggs to doctor the voter register, as well as the far-reaching mobilization campaign against violence, and the deployment of customised ballot papers sent the candidates campaigning from one nook and cranny of the State to another, scavenging for votes which they had realised were some of the other tickets to victory. In fact, one of the candidates had to adopt a baby born on his campaign ground, all in a bid to endear himself to the electorate who had regained their place as the kingmakers, once again. Yet, no single word of the Constitution or the Electoral Act changed to bring such brilliant internal reforms about. Somebody or should I say, the Commission, simply put its experience to bear. And that is one big advantage of continuity in such delicate jobs. If we must sack or call for the sack of handlers of such sensitive jobs like we do our football coaches, simply because mistakes were noticed or even because some selfish interests were disgruntled, then we would have lost everything. Afari Gyang, Chairman of Ghana's electoral commission said that much during one of his visits to Nigeria. We can never buy experience from Alaba Market.

But it is also very imperative to note without prejudice to INEC's efforts, that Anambra would have probably turned out to be a bad story, once again, had the Police and all the security agencies failed to leave up to their duties as in the past. The Inspector-General of Police was the first to blow the lead off the macabre agenda of some nefarious candidates and politicians. That was when he told the candidates and party chairpersons point blank at a meeting at the Force Headquarters that he was aware that they had recruited thugs and revamped outlawed groups, stockpiled arms and ammunitions, etc to be deployed in rigging the elections. Though he assured that would be over his dead body, the good thing was that he lived up to the vow, deploying over 23,000 police personnel in addition to security officers from other agencies. At the end of the day, Anambra 2010 became about the best policed elections in our recent history. Yet, no single line of the Constitution or the Electoral Act had changed.

The political class also behaved themselves in a most civilised manner. The do-or-die mentality was either voluntarily jettisoned or occasioned by the over-policing of the state or even for fear of the curses which the traditional institutions in the State had gathered before the election to put on the head, family and linage of anyone that would cause violence or resort to the usual electoral brigandage. Whatever it was, the important thing is that they were so wonderful that even some of the major candidates visited Peter Obi to congratulate him.

The electorate, even when many of them could not find their names in the voters register to enable them exercise their franchise, refused to resort to violence. They also queued patiently, even when the materials were yet to arrive in some polling booths. If any one had sold his or her ballot, it was not noticeable or brazen as it used to be. The youths refused to be used as cannon fodders too. Yet in all these, not a letter of the Constitution or Electoral Act had changed. For once in recent times, we saw Nigerians behaving in a most civilised manner.

Therefore, the major lesson we must take from the credible election we had in Anambra is that, it is not just about laws and reforms. It is not that I don't t consider them necessary, but not in the fashion some people are painting it. Does the extant law permit people to file fake documents or political parties to field people with forged certificates? But we have seen it happen over and over again. Even the AC, INEC's critic-in-chief, lost a House of Representatives seat in Lagos State last year when the Appeal Court nullified it over forged/fake certificates.

So, one can only agree with Plato that good people do not really need all the laws in the world to act responsibly and that irrespective of the magnitude of our reforms and the heap of our laws, we would never get free, fair, and credible elections unless there is sizable collective will by all electoral stakeholders to do the right thing. Fat will, not fat laws, does the magic.

It is good that the Nigerian Army has once again pledged absolute loyalty to the Constitution and all legitimately constituted authorities in the land. The latest pledge was made in reaction to an allegation that the Chief of the Army Staff stated that his loyalty was only to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, who has in the last three months, been suffering from failing health and has consequently been confined to bed. In a strongly-worded and detailed statement, the Director of Army Public Relations challenged those who have been peddling the allegation to state where the statement was made, the time, to whom it was made or any person who witnessed it or any communication medium which carried it. The purported statement is one of the several dangerous rumours which frequently make the round in Nigeria.

In his latest book, "You Must Set Forth At Dawn," Wole Soyinka, the 1986 winner of Nobel Prize for literature, denounces the outrageous propensity of Nigerian people towards rumours. Still, as the aphorism goes, there is no smoke without fire. What gave rise to the allegation that the army chief vowed that he would take orders from no-one except the very president who appointed him to the high office?  Much as the claim was untrue, it will be wrong to dismiss it as being utterly baseless. One or two related major events in recent times seemed to provide the foundation for the suspicion in some quarters that the Chief of Army Staff might have said so.

One was the president's return to Nigeria at about 2 am on Wednesday, February 24, 2010, after 93 days at a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Acting President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, was not in the know that he was coming back. He got to know like most other citizens, that is, after Al Jazeera, the Arab news channel based in Doha, Qatar, broadcast it and other global broadcasters like the CNN International, took a cue from it. The president's arrival was heralded by a huge military presence at the airport, even though no ceremonies were scheduled to be performed. Soldiers and officers of the Brigade of Guards were drafted to the airport and even deployed to the streets in the Federal Capital Territory principally to shield the president from being seeing by his own people, including journalists. He was not a wonderful sight to behold.

Nigerians are very emotional and if they had caught a glimpse of their leader in such a pitiable condition they would have developed far greater sympathy for Yar'Adua as a fellow human being going through personal turmoil than most of his aides and family members could have possibly imagined. Yet, his family and kitchen cabinet blew off this opportunity for fear that it would be obvious to even the blind that the president has become too incapacitated to continue with his presidential duties. This would mean a quick and formal end to the Yar'Adua presidency and with it all the perks, authority and power of office.

The other reason the public believed the rumour that the Chief of Army Staff said that he was only loyal and answerable to Yar'Adua has to do with the conduct of presidential aides on the day the president was furtively brought back to Nigeria in the dead of the night. Both the president's aide de camp (ADC) and Chief Security Officer (CSO) were reported to have gone to the Executive Council of the Federation chambers a few hours after the president arrived and stood behind the president's regular seat, apparently to see if Dr Jonathan, as acting president, would dare sit there. Every step was taken by security operatives to intimidate the acting president. The next day, the president's Special Adviser on Communication Olusegun Adeniyi, issued a statement where Dr Jonathan was addressed throughout as the vice president, and not the acting president. Put succinctly, the Yar'Adua camp and family had refused to recognise Jonathan as Acting President, even though he was elevated to the office by the resolutions of both chambers of the National Assembly; to say nothing about the decision of the Nigeria Governors' Forum, or the position of Arewa, or that of Ohaneze or Afenifere or that of all elder statesmen in Nigeria or all Non-Governmental Organisations or the media.

The question every Nigerian has been asking since February 23, when Yar'Adua was smuggled into the country is: who deployed the troops to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and streets of Abuja without the acting president being aware? The official explanation was that it is within the competence of the Brigade of Guards to receive the president or see him off at the airport without reference to anyone. This explanation would have been persuasive if the situation were normal. But in a situation where the president was returning after being away for as long as three months on grave health grounds was very unusual. Could the commander of the Brigade of Guards have deployed the troops without the Chief of Army Staff knowing?  Unlikely. If it is argued that the army chief was bound to know because it was a purely military affair, how did civilians like the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Adamu Aliero, get to know that the President was coming back home and, therefore, went to the airport to welcome him?

Why was Dr Jonathan in the dark despite being not just the substantive vice president but also the acting president of the Federal Republic, and, ipso facto, the acting commander-in-chief? The president's Special Adviser on Communication has claimed that Yar'Adua's personal physician sent to Dr Jonathan the president's medical report through the Nigerian Embassy in Jeddah five days to his return We could give Adeniyi the benefit of the doubt. Now, if the president's personal physician was sensible enough to send a confidential medical report to the acting president in recognition of his office, why did Yar'Adua's ADC, a Colonel, find it unnecessary to intimate the acting president that his boss was returning home after three months? It is most likely that the ADC requested the commander of the Brigade of Guards to mobilise troops to the airport and streets, but keep the information absolutely secret. The ADC himself must have acted on the instructions of a powerful personality whose love of power and office is legendary.

Is political power worth more than Yar'Adua's life? In the effort to cling to power by all means, all manner of divisive and dangerous primordial cleavages are being played up. Yar'Adua's lackeys claim Dr Jonathan should be prevented from exercising full presidential powers because "it is the turn of the North to produce the president". This is crass opportunism. These lackeys are working for themselves, and not the North. In fact, they are working against the North. The North is as much a victim of Yar'Adua's poor health and consequent ineptitude as the rest of the country, if not a worse victim. None of the indicators of modern social and economic development favours the North. Virtually all the industries in Kano and Kaduna states have crumbled.  Yar'Adua has no concrete plan to rehabilitate them or even fix the poor infrastructural facilities like electricity and roads which contributed enormously to their collapse. All the same, the nation welcomes the statement by the Chief of Army Staff that it is loyal to not individuals but to the Constitution and legitimate authorities. We hope that the attempt to use the military to intimidate acting president should not repeat itself in any circumstance. Enough conflicting signals from the army.

• Umar Yakubu Aliyu Abuja

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Recently,  a serious controversy enmeshed the Kebbi State House of Assembly over the alleged high profile debt left by the administration of Senator Muhammadu Adamu Aliero, the present FCT minister. UMAR MOHAMMED MARADUN reviews what happened and the effects it could have on the polity. 

Whether it was true or not, the issue of the debt allegedly left by the government of Senator Muhammad Adamu Aliero, ought to have been heard from the current governor of the state, Alhaji Saidu Usman Dakingari when he took over from the former. Astonishingly, the information was first heard from the legislative arm of the state, which, though unusual, was quite normal, because, the legislative arm is one of the three components of government.

Constitutionally, the legislative arm is bestowed with the responsibility of lawmaking as a bedrock for good governance as that is what checkmates the excesses of the executive arm. Additionally, legislative arm, if it conducts itself in a proper manner, would no doubt provide a great opportunity for the people at the grassroots to derive the maximum dividends of democracy as public funds would be utilized judiciously.

The 2007 general elections saw the victory of Governor Saidu Usman Dakingari as the executive governor of Kebbi State, majority of the members of the State Assembly and all the members of the National Assembly from the state at the instance of the former governor, Alhaji Adamu Aliero who then, clinched the senatorial seat of Kebbi Central.

After the successful take over of leadership by Governor Dakingari, majority of the electorate were eager to hear from him, the cumulative debt left by the former chief executive of the state. But, that very important issue was cleverly ignored by both the incoming and the out-gone governor. The duo seemed to have put the past behind them. But the electorate have the right to be told on the position of the their state financially, which would have built much more confidence in their minds on the incoming administration's ability to take care of future eventualities.

Consequently, the mistake committed by Governor Dakingari in not telling the people of Kebbi state the position of the state financially when his predecessor handed over power to him, raised a lot of questions in the minds of the people.

People, especially public officers erroneously consider revealing of certain information to the world, especially public finance as a crime, blackmail or betrayal. This is very wrong, as it is the best way of informing the people of the particular state, the position of their treasury, and also helps the incoming leaders to prepare for the challenges ahead.

It is a fact that the successes recorded by the PDP in the state in the 2007 general elections were largely the handiwork of Senator Aliero, who, at the eve of that general elections, abandoned his political party the ANPP for PDP, and successfully negotiated for all key elective positions to his side. Hence, he was said to have single-handedly, nominated people for all key positions in the new government, such as the speaker of the state assembly and commissioners. So at the beginning of the Dakingari Government, the issue of pronouncing the huge debt left behind by the former government was overlooked and nobody cared to say anything to that effect, as the new government was seen as just an extension of the former one.

But, as a wise saying goes, there is no permanent friend or permanent enemy but permanent interest in politics, the two powerful friends became acrimonious. Immediately thereafter, two distinct factions emerged in the Kebbi State chapter of the PDP, not only within the party hierarchy, but even in the state Assembly, where Governor Dakingari, allegedly changed the leadership of the assembly installed by his predecessor and also sacked some commissioners termed to be 'Aliero boys.'

The change of leadership in the state assembly however polarized the lawmakers, as some of them resolved to align with the FCT Minister, while majority of them pitched tent with Governor Dakingari.

Thus, the issue of the debt created a very good chance for the lawmakers to prove their unalloyed loyalty to the present governor, so, they initiated a probe of the former administration and finally disclosed of an unclear debt profile totalling N35 or N50 billion

What has been happening in the Kebbi State House of Assembly clearly vindicates the former FCT minister, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo on his recent assertion that, state governors are emperors. The former minister asserted that governors handpick candidates for the state assemblies, and thus, the state legislators are usually loyal to them thereby paving way for the governors to commit all sorts of atrocities with absolute impunity.

What happens in Kebbi State is a typical example, the former governor Alhaji Adamu Aliero had dabbled into the affairs of the state assembly, and gained absolute control of the lawmakers, to the extent that at 2007 elections, he handpicked lawmakers perceived to be loyal to him even when out of government house, to contest the election. Surprisingly, those same chosen ones turned their backs on him and aligned with the new chief executive who eventually, may determine their future in politics.

The controversy among the lawmakers resulted in starling revelations by the House Committee Chairman on Public Finance, Alhaji Ahmed Danjuma Kadanho, that the immediate-past administration of Sen. Adamu Aliero incurred a debt of over N50 billion on contracts awarded while in office.

Hon. Kandano, who led politicians from Sakaba Local Government for a courtesy call on Governor Saidu Usman Dakingari at the government house, further condemned the administration by openly regretting that the eight years of Aliero wasted enormous resources.

Hon. Kandaho, a very senior legislator who is now serving his third term, was in 1999 elected on the banner of the PDP, however, as result of political subterfuge in 2003 election, and his desperation to retain his position, abandoned his political party, the PDP and ran to Aliero, defected to the ruling ANPP, and re-contested election. Soon after Kadanho's revelations however, loyalists of the former governor in the assembly, disowned the report. The group, in a statement issued by their leader, Hon. Abubakar Imam Besse, faulted Kadanho for submitting the report to the governor instead of the House which gave his committee the assignment.

According to Hon. Imam: "We fervently wish to dissociate ourselves from his hefty and serious allegations against the person of Adamu Aliero, claiming that the issue being investigated by the House of Assembly centred on the alleged N35 billion debt which the House has been unable to substantiate.

Consequently, upon all these disagreements among the lawmakers, the executive arm kept mum on this very serous issue which bordered on the future of Kebbi state, despite the fact that, the art of governance is a continuous process, therefore, it is not a crime for the executive to clear the air on this vital issue, so that, the entire people of Kebbi would know the position of their finances. Additionally, even the N20 billion debt alleged to have been settled was not confirmed by the government.

Some political observers however condemned the controversy at the assembly over the debt issue asserting that, the crisis at the assembly was a clear pointer that, the electorate needs to have people of experience and integrity to get elected into the state assembly who would help to curtail the excesses of governors for the overall development of the state, as against what we have now.