BBC Focus on Africa presenter and producer, Peter Okwoche, who is also a Nigerian, shares his hopes and concerns about the forthcoming general elections with SIMON EJEMBI
The forthcoming general elections will be the fifth one to be held since 1999. How much progress do you think Nigeria has made in terms of the conduct of elections?
Having covered many of the elections in Nigeria, it is always difficult to put a mark on how much progress has been made, simply because it changes from election year to election year. So, some election years have been pretty good and some of them not so good. I know there were a lot of problems in 2007. In 2011 (there were) not so many problems, but the post-election violence marred what were relatively peaceful polling days. So, it differs from year to year but I think the whole world sincerely hopes that this year, Nigeria will get it right despite the numerous challenges facing it.
With the economic and political challenges facing the country and issues regarding the elections, many consider this year a decisive year for Nigeria. Oil prices have crashed, state governments can’t pay salaries and there has also been talk of a possible break-up of the country. Do you think we are in dire straits?
I think it is obvious that Nigeria faces a lot of challenges, especially in the run-up to the elections. You’ve mentioned the drop in the prices of oil, which affects the economy; and salaries of workers not being paid. Those are very important issues. To top it all, there has to be security; because what most people tend to hear from outside the country is the Boko Haram insurgency. Nigeria is a very important country to the world; its significant population, its size, its economy — the population itself makes it very important to the rest of the world — and many people are worried, and rightly so, that if Nigeria doesn’t get it right, they don’t even want to start imagining what could happen.
The forthcoming elections are considered to be likely the most keenly contested ones. How would you rate the campaigns so far?
I agree with you that it looks like this is probably going to be one of the closest elections ever in Nigeria. Unfortunately, from what I have seen from outside looking in, a lot of the campaigning hasn’t been issues-based. It has been more of mudslinging. So (there has been so much talk about) who has got the educational qualification and who hasn’t. In fact, at one point, we were hearing, ‘Who is a Nigerian and who is not?’ So, the campaign has been personality-based and that has always been a problem in the run-up to Nigerian elections. You’d wish that somebody would come out and say, ‘These are the plans I have economically, socially, education-wise and employment- wise. Okay, the oil prices are not good, so this is how I want to diversify the economy.’ Unfortunately, we are not hearing that.
There are people who say that rather than focus on issues, religious and ethnic sentiments are being played up and the polity is being heated. Do you think that is a problem?
Well, not only do I share that view but a lot of our listeners on the BBC World Service Radio as well as viewers of BBC World News. It is something that preoccupies them a lot when they talk about the Nigerian elections. A lot of people think that Nigeria is going to fragment on the ethnic and religious lines. Unfortunately, these are the issues that have dominated the run-up to the elections. Religion is playing a big part in it; ethnicity is playing a big part in it. So, one part of the country is saying that if it doesn’t win, it will make the country ungovernable for whoever wins. I am not saying people should be arrested, such rhetoric should be curbed. We shouldn’t even be allowing people to say stuffs like these because you are just heating up the polity, just scaring people. I know a lot of foreigners who are beginning to leave Nigeria ahead of the elections and saying, ‘We will only come back when peace returns after the elections.’ That is not the kind of reputation you want to have across the world. Not only that, you want to safeguard the lives of your people back at home because we know that every time there are skirmishes in Nigeria, it is mostly the ethnic and religious faith and we’ve got to find a way to stop that.
After the elections in 2011, there was widespread violence in the North. With the way the campaigns are going, do you think people should be worried about that? And how do you think it can be avoided?
Going by the campaigns so far, there will be post-election violence in Nigeria. But, and this is a big ‘but,’ a lot of younger Nigerians now realise that each time post-election violence occurs, they are the ones who die. The main politicians don’t get killed. So, many youths are talking about making sure that the youths are not coopted into any form of violence. For me, that is heart-warming. People are beginning to realise that it is not a do-or-die affair. And because of the huge number of Nigerian youths, if all of them come out to say, ‘No, we will not embrace any post-election violence,’ that will be a good thing. That is the only way it will stop. But going by the campaigning, the electoral statements so far, you can’t but help feel that there will be post-electoral violence. I am sorry to say.
Also linked to the violence is the insurgency in the North East — the Boko Haram. International observers have said they are not going to cover elections in affected states. However, the Independent National Electoral Commission insists elections will be held in those states. What do you think the implication of holding elections in those areas will be?
That is another question being asked by BBC audiences around the world. Would elections be held in the North East where the insurgency is rife? I remember listening to the presidential spokesperson on Boko Haram, Mike Omeri. He told the BBC that elections will go ahead in the areas of the North East that are under the control of the Federal Government. But, of course, there will be no elections in the areas that are under the control of Boko Haram. These are hundreds of thousands, potentially millions of people there going to be disenfranchised and that is another way of giving whoever loses the elections the voice to say, ‘Well, the elections didn’t hold across the country, so I am not going to accept the results.’ So, it is a crisis situation and I am not sure how they are going to resolve that. That is not the only issue. What about the voter registration cards? Not everybody has received their cards. What is going to happen to the others? I mean there are only a few days to the elections. Are they going to get their cards within that time? If they don’t get their cards, are they going to be allowed to vote in one way or the other? Would you let people without cards vote? Wouldn’t that encourage rigging?
Now, there have been calls by many Nigerians like you in the Diaspora to be allowed to vote. Do you agree with this, probably in subsequent elections?
There are many African countries that allow people living in the Diaspora to vote. I don’t see a problem with it and the Nigerian government or electoral commission shouldn’t have a problem with it. I know one of the reasons that are given is that we don’t pay taxes back in Nigeria, but the amount of remittances that is made by Nigerians in the Diaspora to the country is in billions of dollars every year. So, we should be allowed to vote; we should have a right to vote. For instance, I am not even a British citizen but I am allowed to vote here in Britain during the election. So, why can’t I do that for my own country? Why can’t I have a say about who emerges the leader of my country? We have a lot of Nigerians in the Diaspora saying the same thing.
How do you think funding for political parties should be handled?
I believe what happens here in the UK is any amount donated to a political party after a certain threshold must be declared. When (Barack) Obama was campaigning, especially for his first term in office, people were donating $5 and $10, but the records of all the donations were kept. It should be the same in Nigeria. Recently, I heard one of the presidential contestants raised billions of naira and some of those monies were donated to him by state governors. Now, where do state governors get this money to donate? Are you donating on behalf of your people or are you donating it on your own behalf? How can you take people’s monies when you have not paid salaries and donate to your party? It’s incomprehensible to me. There should be some kind of audit. Nigerians should begin to realise that if these political parties cannot audit themselves, how can they audit the whole country?
Talking about holding the parties and INEC accountable, how would you rate the coverage of the campaigns by the media?
I think when it comes to some newspapers it has been very poor because some of the stuff that I have seen on the front pages of some newspapers are things they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with; blatant lies and threats. The press should be able to stand aside and be objective in its coverage of the elections because it is not our job to influence people. The BBC is sending out a whole lot of people to come and cover these elections; it is not taking anybody’s side.
No doubt, you have family and friends back home. What are your concerns for them and what would you advise as they go out for elections?
It’s not only my family and my friends. I am just hoping that all Nigerians will go about their normal activities, vote, come back home, make sure that your vote has been counted, wait for the results and we should learn that elections are not a do-or-die affair.
You can watch the BBC’s coverage of the Nigerian elections from Monday 23rd March on BBC World News, BBC World Service and online at bbc.com/Africa.
