This is Rigocracy, Not Democracy

[Farooq A. Kperogi]

Saturday, March 2, 2019

This is Rigocracy, Not Democracy

By Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

Twitter:@farooqkperogi

Critical scholars have characterized contemporary systems of government that claim to be democracies as mere “electocracies” because the vast majority of people actually don’t vote, which denudes such systems of their claims to being governments by the “demo,” that is, the people.  Nigeria’s situation is worse. It has institutionalized “rigocracy,” that is, government by in-your-face rigging, not transparent elections, as its preferred system of government.

Although rigocracy has been institutional in Nigeria for a while, its brazen manifestation in the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections, in spite of putative technological safeguards against it, should invite introspection from people who matter in Nigeria on whether it’s wise to invest enormous resources, not to mention risk the needless deaths of scores of citizens, to organize periodic elections.

The last election was a sham and a shame. There is no question about that. The results INEC announced as the product of the presidential and National Assembly election are, in many cases, scandalously inconsistent with the figures officially declared at polling units.  Given the deployment of technology for the election, you would think that arbitrary allocation of votes to candidates won’t be a strategy of rigging. But it was.

At this point, we might as well have a fascistic monarchy with no elections at all instead of spending billions to organize sham elections that don't mean anything; that a bunch of mulish, nescient knuckleheads can overturn at will without consequences.

I am surprised that I am surprised by this. In several past columns and social media posts, I had cautioned against what I called “misplaced PVC optimism.” In a September 28, 2018 post, for instance, I wrote:  “Nigerians feel oddly empowered by the possession of their Permanent Voters Card (PVC). They think it's their bulwark against Buhari's continuing incompetence. I am sorry to be a party pooper, but the truth is that in Buhari's Nigeria, the PVC is worthless, as we've seen in most of the elections conducted while Buhari is president, the latest being the Osun State governorship election.

“All indices show that Buhari would lose the 2019 election if it's free and fair, but Buhari would rather die in power than hand over power to anyone… So your votes would be worthless in 2019.” And that was precisely what happened: PVCs were worthless last Saturday.

In spite of propaganda to the contrary, last Saturday’s election will go down in the annals as one of the bloodiest, most brazenly monetized, and most explicitly fraudulent presidential elections in Nigeria's entire history. Ballot boxes in polling units won by opposition candidates were seized, burned, or dumped in the sewers by APC-sponsored thugs in places like Lagos. Countless instances of massive thumb-printing of ballot papers in APC strongholds have been captured and shared on social media in the far North.

Nevertheless, in spite of the active state-aided voter suppression in PDP strongholds, murderous violence against PDP agents, ballot paper snatching, and sundry electoral malpractices, Atiku Abubakar still had a comfortable lead. Results that trickled in in real time showed that he won in southern and northcentral states with a wider margin than Buhari did his strongholds in 2015, and lost a majority of northwestern and northeastern states by a far narrower margin than Jonathan did his weak spots in 2015.

At the last minutes, however, votes from several states were arbitrarily inflated in favor of APC’s Muhammadu Buhari, leading to a situation where there are now more votes cast in the election than there were accredited voters in the election.

The title of my last column is, "Buhari, 'remote control' is worse than ballot snatching." "Remote control," remember, is Buhari's euphemism for changing results after the vote, which he confessed to have done in the Osun State governorship election. “I know how much trouble we had in the last election here,” he said on January 27 during a campaign event in Osun State. “ I know by remote control through so many sources how we managed to maintain the [APC] in power in this state.”

 Well, he and his henchmen did precisely that again in Saturday’s presidential election. In the actual votes declared at polling units nationwide, which have been captured in real-time and stored in cloud-computing technology, Buhari lost the election. Troves of anecdotal evidence, including intercepted phone conversations and video recordings, have emerged to show that INEC officials fudged the figures in parts of the northwest, the northeast, the southeast and the south-south after the vote, to give Buhari a fraudulent lead.

This is in addition to massively brazen ballot snatching, ballot burning and outright, barbarous disenfranchisement in PDP strongholds in places like Lagos where, in spite of everything, Buhari only managed to squeak out a narrow "win."

The signs were always there that Buhari would not accept any result that does not declare him a winner, and I and other commentators have called attention to them. For instance, his refusal to sign the Electoral Bill, which would have frustrated the rigging his minions perpetrated in this election, was deliberate. One of the provisions of the bill was to make on-the-spot transmission of election results mandatory.

 He also knew, as I pointed out in a previous column, that his blatant rigging would invite a robust judicial challenge, and that the overturning of his fraudulent victory would be a slam dunk in an independent, unpredictable Supreme Court. That was why he exploited CJN Walter Onnogen's asset declaration infraction, which most government officials, including Buhari himself, are guilty of to illegally remove him and replace him with a pliant, acquiescent alternative from his geo-cultural backyard.

This is not an election Atiku and other opposition politicians should accept. It was a brazenly disreputable daylight electoral heist, which has completely destroyed the last vestige of faith most Nigerians had in the integrity of the electoral process. Unfortunately, the judiciary is now so intimidated and so compromised that it’s incapable of dispensing even a semblance of justice. Nevertheless, for the sake of history, I’d encourage Atiku to proceed to the courts to present evidentiary proofs of the enormous rigging the Buhari regime has perpetrated to perpetuate itself in power.

In all of this, the person I am concerned with the most is Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman. Even Maurice Iwu would be alarmed by the shameless sham Yakubu supervised and legitimized. As I’ve pointed out before, Yakubu is straight-up one of the smartest people I have ever related with. As a professional historian, and a top-rate one at that, I thought he would be self-conscious of the judgement of history. Apparently, he is not.

He will sadly go down in the records as the worst INEC chairman Nigeria has ever had. He frittered away billions to invest in technology to organize elections and ended up not using it to determine the outcome of the election. Well, at least Maurice Iwu can thank him for displacing him as Nigeria’s most audacious election fixer in favor of a ruling party. That’s such a sad end for such a brilliant man.

But he might be able to redeem himself someday by writing a manifesto of rigocracy. At least he would make an original contribution to knowledge from the vantage point of someone who supervised an unsophisticated rigocratic process. Such a manifesto would also help cure the illusion that Nigerians have elections.

Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Journalism & Emerging Media
School of Communication & Media

Social Science Building 

Room 5092 MD 2207

402 Bartow Avenue
Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw, Georgia, USA 30144
Cell: (+1) 404-573-9697
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com

Twitter: @farooqkperogi

Author of Glocal English: The Changing Face and Forms of Nigerian English in a Global World

"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will

[Toyin Falola]

Great Farooq:

I want to assume that everyone knows that I am not a sympathizer of the APC or PDP. Once this is clear, my response to your essay will be purely treated as academic. Ethnic politics in Nigeria has damaged the Nigerian academy far more than one can ever imagine.

 

Questions:

1. Is it not true, in theory, that you do what is possible in a political culture to attain power?
2. If that means is violence, ambitious people resort to it, as in cases of military coups
3. Is your piece not one-sided, to assume that the PDP, too, did not rig?
4. In the southern part of the country, it appears to me that people voted their interest

 

Two additional complications:

1. What evidence do we have that if Buhari had lost he would vacate power? People tend to forget that election is just one side of the story, transferring power is yet another. He could lose and refuse to leave
2. What is there to rejoice about if the winner has 15 million votes in a country that says it is about to become 200 million?

 

The use of power

It is one thing to have power, what power is used for is the real issue.

 

TF

 

 

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220

USA

512 475 7224

512 475 7222 (fax)

http://sites.utexas.edu/yoruba-studies-review/

http://www.toyinfalola.com 

http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa  

http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs 

http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue   

 

From: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of "Farooq A. Kperogi" <farooq...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Saturday, March 2, 2019 at 7:50 AM
To: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - This is Rigocracy, Not Democracy

 

Saturday, March 2, 2019

This is Rigocracy, Not Democracy

By Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

Twitter:@farooqkperogi

 

Critical scholars have characterized contemporary systems of government that claim to be democracies as mere “electocracies” because the vast majority of people actually don’t vote, which denudes such systems of their claims to being governments by the “demo,” that is, the people.  Nigeria’s situation is worse. It has institutionalized “rigocracy,” that is, government by in-your-face rigging, not transparent elections, as its preferred system of government.

 

Although rigocracy has been institutional in Nigeria for a while, its brazen manifestation in the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections, in spite of putative technological safeguards against it, should invite introspection from people who matter in Nigeria on whether it’s wise to invest enormous resources, not to mention risk the needless deaths of scores of citizens, to organize periodic elections.

 

The last election was a sham and a shame. There is no question about that. The results INEC announced as the product of the presidential and National Assembly election are, in many cases, scandalously inconsistent with the figures officially declared at polling units.  Given the deployment of technology for the election, you would think that arbitrary allocation of votes to candidates won’t be a strategy of rigging. But it was.

 

At this point, we might as well have a fascistic monarchy with no elections at all instead of spending billions to organize sham elections that don't mean anything; that a bunch of mulish, nescient knuckleheads can overturn at will without consequences.

 

I am surprised that I am surprised by this. In several past columns and social media posts, I had cautioned against what I called “misplaced PVC optimism.” In a September 28, 2018 post, for instance, I wrote:  “Nigerians feel oddly empowered by the possession of their Permanent Voters Card (PVC). They think it's their bulwark against Buhari's continuing incompetence. I am sorry to be a party pooper, but the truth is that in Buhari's Nigeria, the PVC is worthless, as we've seen in most of the elections conducted while Buhari is president, the latest being the Osun State governorship election.

 

“All indices show that Buhari would lose the 2019 election if it's free and fair, but Buhari would rather die in power than hand over power to anyone… So your votes would be worthless in 2019.” And that was precisely what happened: PVCs were worthless last Saturday.

 

In spite of propaganda to the contrary, last Saturday’s election will go down in the annals as one of the bloodiest, most brazenly monetized, and most explicitly fraudulent presidential elections in Nigeria's entire history. Ballot boxes in polling units won by opposition candidates were seized, burned, or dumped in the sewers by APC-sponsored thugs in places like Lagos. Countless instances of massive thumb-printing of ballot papers in APC strongholds have been captured and shared on social media in the far North.

 

Nevertheless, in spite of the active state-aided voter suppression in PDP strongholds, murderous violence against PDP agents, ballot paper snatching, and sundry electoral malpractices, Atiku Abubakar still had a comfortable lead. Results that trickled in in real time showed that he won in southern and northcentral states with a wider margin than Buhari did his strongholds in 2015, and lost a majority of northwestern and northeastern states by a far narrower margin than Jonathan did his weak spots in 2015.

At the last minutes, however, votes from several states were arbitrarily inflated in favor of APC’s Muhammadu Buhari, leading to a situation where there are now more votes cast in the election than there were accredited voters in the election.

 

The title of my last column is, "Buhari, 'remote control' is worse than ballot snatching." "Remote control," remember, is Buhari's euphemism for changing results after the vote, which he confessed to have done in the Osun State governorship election. “I know how much trouble we had in the last election here,” he said on January 27 during a campaign event in Osun State. “ I know by remote control through so many sources how we managed to maintain the [APC] in power in this state.”

 

 Well, he and his henchmen did precisely that again in Saturday’s presidential election. In the actual votes declared at polling units nationwide, which have been captured in real-time and stored in cloud-computing technology, Buhari lost the election. Troves of anecdotal evidence, including intercepted phone conversations and video recordings, have emerged to show that INEC officials fudged the figures in parts of the northwest, the northeast, the southeast and the south-south after the vote, to give Buhari a fraudulent lead.

 

This is in addition to massively brazen ballot snatching, ballot burning and outright, barbarous disenfranchisement in PDP strongholds in places like Lagos where, in spite of everything, Buhari only managed to squeak out a narrow "win."

 

The signs were always there that Buhari would not accept any result that does not declare him a winner, and I and other commentators have called attention to them. For instance, his refusal to sign the Electoral Bill, which would have frustrated the rigging his minions perpetrated in this election, was deliberate. One of the provisions of the bill was to make on-the-spot transmission of election results mandatory.

 

 He also knew, as I pointed out in a previous column, that his blatant rigging would invite a robust judicial challenge, and that the overturning of his fraudulent victory would be a slam dunk in an independent, unpredictable Supreme Court. That was why he exploited CJN Walter Onnogen's asset declaration infraction, which most government officials, including Buhari himself, are guilty of to illegally remove him and replace him with a pliant, acquiescent alternative from his geo-cultural backyard.

 

This is not an election Atiku and other opposition politicians should accept. It was a brazenly disreputable daylight electoral heist, which has completely destroyed the last vestige of faith most Nigerians had in the integrity of the electoral process. Unfortunately, the judiciary is now so intimidated and so compromised that it’s incapable of dispensing even a semblance of justice. Nevertheless, for the sake of history, I’d encourage Atiku to proceed to the courts to present evidentiary proofs of the enormous rigging the Buhari regime has perpetrated to perpetuate itself in power.

 

In all of this, the person I am concerned with the most is Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman. Even Maurice Iwu would be alarmed by the shameless sham Yakubu supervised and legitimized. As I’ve pointed out before, Yakubu is straight-up one of the smartest people I have ever related with. As a professional historian, and a top-rate one at that, I thought he would be self-conscious of the judgement of history. Apparently, he is not.

 

He will sadly go down in the records as the worst INEC chairman Nigeria has ever had. He frittered away billions to invest in technology to organize elections and ended up not using it to determine the outcome of the election. Well, at least Maurice Iwu can thank him for displacing him as Nigeria’s most audacious election fixer in favor of a ruling party. That’s such a sad end for such a brilliant man.

 

But he might be able to redeem himself someday by writing a manifesto of rigocracy. At least he would make an original contribution to knowledge from the vantage point of someone who supervised an unsophisticated rigocratic process. Such a manifesto would also help cure the illusion that Nigerians have elections.

Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Journalism & Emerging Media
School of Communication & Media

Social Science Building 

Room 5092 MD 2207

402 Bartow Avenue
Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw, Georgia, USA 30144
Cell: (+1) 404-573-9697
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com

Twitter: @farooqkperogi

Author of Glocal English: The Changing Face and Forms of Nigerian English in a Global World

"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Victor Okafor]

Dr. Farooq A. Kperogi:

The claims you stated in your article on the Feb. 23 election in Nigeria are disturbing. Most of them are so striking that I re-stated them in your own words below. These claims should be justiciable. I join you in calling on Abubakar Atiku to initiate a court challenge of the officially announced outcome of Nigeria’s Feb. 23 presidential election. Can a nation prosper and move forward on what may turn out to be a foundation of epic falsehood?

“The results INEC announced as the product of the presidential and National Assembly election are, in many cases, scandalously inconsistent with the figures officially declared at polling units.” -- Farooq A. Kperogi

“Ballot boxes in polling units won by opposition candidates were seized, burned, or dumped in the sewers by APC-sponsored thugs in places like Lagos. Countless instances of massive thumb-printing of ballot papers in APC strongholds have been captured and shared on social media in the far North.” --Farooq A. Kperogi

“Results that trickled in in real time showed that he won in southern and northcentral states with a wider margin than Buhari did his strongholds in 2015, and lost a majority of northwestern and northeastern states by a far narrower margin than Jonathan did his weak spots in 2015.” --Farooq A. Kperogi

“Troves of anecdotal evidence, including intercepted phone conversations and video recordings, have emerged to show that INEC officials fudged the figures in parts of the northwest, the northeast, the southeast and the south-south after the vote, to give Buhari a fraudulent lead.”-- Farooq A. Kperogi 

--

Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

Sincerely,

Victor O. Okafor, Ph.D.

Professor and Head

Department of Africology and African American Studies

Eastern Michigan University

Email: vok...@emich.edu

Tel: 734.487.9594

[Farooq A. Kperogi]

Oga Falola,

You are right that I didn't touch on the rigging perpetrated by PDP. I also saw video evidence of PDP's rigging in Anambra and Rivers states, but I ignored it because APC's rigging wasn't only more extensive but actually went beyond that. After the thumb-printing of ballot boxes, disenfranchisement of opposition voters by APC thugs, etc. APC actually went ahead to force INEC officials to arbitrarily allocate figures to Buhari and APC National Assembly candidates, particularly in the north. That of Kano was the most scandalous, but it happened all over the northwest and the northeast. (Note that Borno, with it Boko Haram problem, had a nearly 90 percent turn-out! When videos of industrial-scale thumbprinting of ballot papers later emerged, we all knew why).

Your last poser strikes at the very core of the entire election: would Buhari have handed over power if someone other than him had been declared winner? The answer is no, and I've written about that in several of my previous columns and social media posts.  Many friends in the Villa confided in me that Buhari said he would rather hand over to the military than hand over to the PDP. He first said this in the midpoint of 2018. His henchmen knew then he would countenance ANY measure to keep him in power. That was why we had the kind of election that we had last Saturday.

For me personally, this is an opportunity to finally divest emotionally from Nigeria. I have been off social media for nearly a week now, and it's been unbelievably tranquil. I recognize that I might not be able to sustain my emotional divestment from Nigeria for too long, but I hope I can because it feels good.

Farooq

Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Journalism & Emerging Media
School of Communication & Media

Social Science Building 

Room 5092 MD 2207

402 Bartow Avenue
Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw, Georgia, USA 30144
Cell: (+1) 404-573-9697
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com

Twitter: @farooqkperogi

Author of Glocal English: The Changing Face and Forms of Nigerian English in a Global World

"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will

[Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju]

Victor Okafor,

Farooq's claims might not be difficult to research. 

A Facebok search alone will easily unearth videos of this-“Ballot boxes in polling units won by opposition candidates were seized, burned, or dumped in the sewers by APC-sponsored thugs in places like Lagos. 

As for  Atiku going to court on this subject, one might wait till hell freezes for him to put up any significant complaint or fight, although I cant confirm the scale of rigging in order to judge how justified such a fight would be..

They both belong to the same interest group, serving the same goals. Fellow members of that group could inform Atiku he should not discredit their common image. Atiku could also counsel himself. After all, the primary goal of placing two biological and cultural scions of Danfodio in the driving seat of Nigerian politics has been achieved. 

Will the anticipated SW Presidency emerge in 2023, a poor rotational strategy of governance but which was used as a critical incentive using Osinbanjo's place in the elections and the Igbo option represented by Obi as Atiku's VP?

Screenshots are circulating on Facebook mocking 'Yoruba slaves' who fell for that bait while Nuhu Ribadu and El Rufai are being prepared as the Northern Muslim candidates for 2023. 

We are watching.

toyin

 

[Amobi P. Chiamogu]

Dear Farooq

I love your courage. At least for academic purposes you have opened the consciousness of many Nigerians who are tending to sweep the real issues under the carpet and join the songs of the Presidency bulwarks.  As we throw in congratulatory messages to sham and massive rigging, we should remember that it would one day serve as reference point.

Buhari destroyed all established protocols in the judiciary to perfect his sit-tight on power. It is not bad after all, we know him before now. What changed is just the name of administration and not personality.

Atiku should assist us the more by heading straight to the tribunal. At least, let Nigerians see the extent to which his team documented the irregularities,  violence and vote buying by Mr integrity. Where did his minions got all the money from? Senator Chukwuka Umali,  member Senate Committee on Anti-corruption, state on radio that trader money is sourced from the repatriated Aba change loot. Who is fooling who? The result you published here is completely different from the INEC declared version.

As par turn out, if we registered about 84 million votes and about 72 million collected their pvcs, it is understandable that the election does not represent the views of the people. During Nigeria decides on national and private tv channels, there was not even a polling unit that witnessed 300 persons queueing up to cast their ballot. It thus worries me how many states from the north gathered the number of votes returned in the elections. Thence, allegations of massive thumbprinting,  ballot stuffing are likely cases for consideration. In fact, many ad-hoc workers were reported to have changed figures at gunpoint.

Like Professor Jega,  Mahmood should organized a postmortem in the form of a round table but before that, the academia needs to generate need for national dialogue on elections. The feat achieved by Jega is grossly frittering with reckless abandonment. 

Thank you Farooq for opening up the space. 

--

Amobi P. Chiamogu
Special Assistant to the Rector and Lecturer Department of Public Administration
Federal Polytechnic, Oko Nigeria
+2348034306261, 2348123232658
amobi.c...@federalpolyoko.edu.ng, sarecto...@gmail.com, pchi...@gmail.com, panom...@yahoo.com
www.federalpolyoko.edu.ng, www.ijmpas.org

[Amobi P. Chiamogu]

Sorry for the typographical errors occasioned by autocorrelation

Dear Farooq
I love your courage. At least for academic purposes you have opened the consciousness of many Nigerians who are tending to sweep the real issues under the carpet and join the songs of the Presidency bulwarks. As we throw in congratulatory messages to sham and massive rigging, we should remember that it would one day serve as reference point.
Buhari destroyed all established protocols in the judiciary to perfect his sit-tight on power. It is not bad after all, we know him before now. What changed is just the name of administration and not personality.

Atiku should assist us the more by heading straight to the tribunal. At least, let Nigerians see the extent to which his team documented the irregularities, violence and vote buying by Mr integrity. Where did his minions got all the money from? Senator Chukwuka Umazi, member Senate Committee on Anti-corruption, revealed on radio that trader money is sourced from the repatriated Abacha loot. Who is fooling who? The result you published here is completely different from the INEC declared version.

As par turn out, if we registered about 84 million votes and about 72 million collected their pvcs, it is understandable that the election does not represent the views of the people. During Nigeria decides on national and private tv channels, there was not even a polling unit that witnessed 300 persons queueing up to cast their ballot. It thus worries me how many states from the north gathered the number of votes returned in the elections. Thence, allegations of massive thumbprinting, ballot stuffing are likely cases for consideration. In fact, many ad-hoc workers were reported to have changed figures at gunpoint.
Like Professor Jega, Mahmood should organized a postmortem in the form of a round table but before that, the academia needs to generate need for national dialogue on elections. The feat achieved by Jega is grossly frittering with reckless abandonment.
Thank you Farooq for opening up the space.

[Emmanuel Udogu]

 

Just for Saturday musing. Will the Occident intervene in Nigeria a la Venezuela? 

Ike Udogu

[Ashafa Abdullahi]

It is natural that people wouldn't agree with election outcomes. But we must not discountenance the fact that votes counted in the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly Elections. People who never participated in the Elections either as voters, observers or monitors keep shouting about the elections through selective reports. 

1. If votes don’t count, Obasanjo couldn’t have 'lost' in his polling unit after his campaigns for Atiku.

2. Then, people made Buhari their choices at Atiku's polling unit in Adamawa.

3. Buhari lost in the Aso Rock polling unit and eventually in the Federal Capital Territory.

4. Osinbajo who is the incumbent Nigeria VP was defeated by PDP at his polling unit.

5. As powerful as he is, Bukola Saraki lost in his Senatorial District and all elective positions he hitherto commanded influence in Kwara State. 

6. Despite all the manifest or supposed persecution by government, Dino Melaye still won the Senatorial Election in Kogi West as an opposition candidate. 

7. Senator Akpabio's influence couldn't help him retain his seat in the Senate for another four year. 

8. Dogara still won his seat back into the House of Representatives based on the choice of his people despite leaving the ruling party. 

9. Ajimobi of Oyo State could not win to fulfil his senatorial ambition after spending eight years as governor. 

10. Peter Obi got the PDP VP slot and the PDP won in all 'Igbo states' of the South East and the South South. But even with Osinbajo holding the APC VP slot, APC lost two 'Yoruba states' of the South West.

11. In Bauchi State Buhari's APC got majority of votes at the presidential elections, PRP won the,Senatorial seat and another party for the House of Reps.

People made their choices and their choices were respected. Domestic and International observers must of who we all know were more sympathetic to the oppositions all acclaimed that this election scored 98% in fairness, transparency and in meeting the global standard. We don't have to make it sound as if anytime our choices don't emerge, it means rigging. At least unlike before, thus time around our votes counted and all were gappy except the garrulous and loquacious, and there's nothing much we can do about that. The doors to the court are wide open to seeking redress. All noises will ever remain what it is, not even suitable for academic engagement but unrewarding gyration.  

[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

Don’forget that the Bush-Gore presidential election of 2000, as well as that of Clinton- Trump, 2016, are tainted by allegations of electoral malpractice.

GE

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Emmanuel Udogu <udo...@appstate.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 2, 2019 12:32:02 PM
To: usaafricadialogue
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - This is Rigocracy, Not Democracy

 

[Victor Okafor]

In those USA instances that you cited, was the perceived "electoral malpractice" comparable in scale to the brazen electoral decapitation alleged by Farooq A. Kperogi and other sources? I really would like to believe—for the sake of Nigeria--that what has been alleged here regarding the just-concluded Nigeria’s presidential election, did not happen. But another side of me can’t help recalling that Nigeria has a unique way of generating electoral outcomes that defy both common sense and logic. For instance, the outcome of this year's Nigeria's presidential election eerily reminds one of the "landslide" re-election of Shehu Shagari of the NPN in 1983. It was a landslide electoral victory that occurred against the backdrop of mass disenchantment against the performance of the then ruling NPN's national administration. Time will tell, but let’s hope for the best!

[Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju]

Ashafa has made vital points with factual, striking examples.

He does not address, however, the factual accounts of rigging. Is he not aware of them or does he think they are not true or that if they are, they did not count significantly?

There has to be way of moving beyond binary divides in such discussions as this, particularly when ethnicity and political opinions are so neatly correlated.

Ashafa's case studies are factual. I know some of Farooq's allegations are factual. Those who are better informed can say to what degree his complete range of  allegations are true.

Is the central question then, to acknowledge whatever factualities exist in these historical accounts and assess the degree to which they represent the freedom people were given to exercise their electoral power?

toyin

[Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM]

After endorsing the Nigerian 2019 shame of a Presidential election and congratulating the supposed winner, their business fronts are now in Abuja for the promised patronages!

CAO.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

allegations are only that. something more is needed for them to be credible. there were no credible complaints in trump-clinton. on the other hand, florida was a credible mess in bush-gore. but even there, hard to say we had massive irregularities.

k

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@ccsu.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 2, 2019 5:35 PM

[Ibigbolade Aderibigbe]

My simple take in this is that Farooq lost any moral grounds and even credibility by admitting he purposefully ignored the evidence of PDP rigging because, according to him, it was at a "lower scale."  So we must excuse one thief because the item he steals is "small" and convict the other because he steal big. I always believe that a thief is a thief by definition and character and not the size of what he steals.. I don't understand Farooq's logic other than "if you call a dog a bad name you have the excuse to hang it." What an ironic posture our dear farooq has now assumed- No permanent friend.. No permanent enemy. The beats go on!!!

Gbolade

[Nkolikae Obianyo]

The truth of the matter is that PDP also rigged using collation officers, smart you will say. The money shared to many interested in collecting is scandalous. They should stop shouting, they are also guilty.

Nkolika Awka.

Sent from my iPad

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Gloria:

And what about the more recent North Carolina election fraud:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/02/27/politics/north-carolina-political-fraud-indictment/index.html

Political operative at center of North Carolina election fraud controversy indicted

By Dianne Gallagher, CNN 

Updated 4:58 PM EST, Wed February 27, 2019

----

See also

https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-huawei-rev1&ei=VUZ7XJ7CIOWg1fAPveuvsAk&q=North+Carolina+election+fraud&oq=North+Carolina+election+fraud&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.3..0i67j0l4.39313.47889..48912...7.0..0.887.4838.0j1j17j6-1......0....1.........0i71j0i13j0i10.yGtpXiBZTiU

The fact of the matter is in Nigeria. Inec is the ONLY official entity whose certified result is accepted in court, and when push comes to shove, the Judge will ask for a recount of ballot boxes polling unit by polling unit, which theoretically would be possible since the Electoral Act requires Inec to keep those boxes for a year or more.  That is when the impossibility begins - some boxes  will be missing, and recounting will be daunting, and the Judge will give up.

Besides, : Inec ALWAYS  supports the winner that it declares, otherwise it would undermine itself.

I rember: Ekiti has 1275 polling units or so, and I know the effort it took Kayode Fayemi to prove his first-mandate case polling unit by unit, including his counter-suit in those places that PDP won.  Now to do that in about 100,000 polling units nationwide BEFORE  the expiration of time (I believe six months?) - because PDP us claiming votes changes in 23 states - is a daunting task.

Until we adopt a real-time display of results, enabled by technology that all trust,   there will be room for disputes like this,  which will be daunting to prove or disprove on a national scale.

So my tea leaves reading tell me that the Buhari win will stand, but we will eventually inch towards infallible polls in Nigeria.  That is when full accountable electoral democracy will begin. 

And there you have it. 

Bolaji Aluko 

Saturday, March 2, 2019, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@ccsu.edu> wrote:

Don’forget that the Bush-Gore presidential election of 2000, as well as that of Clinton- Trump, 2016, are tainted by allegations of electoral malpractice.

GE

---

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Emmanuel Udogu <udo...@appstate.edu>

To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin

To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin

To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

Amobi P. Chiamogu
Special Assistant to the Rector and Lecturer Department of Public Administration
Federal Polytechnic, Oko Nigeria
+2348034306261, 2348123232658

amobi.chiamogu@federalpolyoko.edu.ng, sarecto...@gmail.com, pchi...@gmail.com, panom...@yahoo.com
www.federalpolyoko.edu.ng, www.ijmpas.org

--

Amobi P. Chiamogu
Special Assistant to the Rector and Lecturer Department of Public Administration
Federal Polytechnic, Oko Nigeria
+2348034306261, 2348123232658

amobi.chiamogu@federalpolyoko.edu.ng, sarecto...@gmail.com, pchi...@gmail.com, panom...@yahoo.com
www.federalpolyoko.edu.ng, www.ijmpas.org

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin

To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin

To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin

To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Salimonu Kadiri]

​I asked my 16-year-old grandson to read professor Farooq Kperogi's essay - This Is Rigocracy , Not Democracy - and to tell me his views about the contents. After reading it, he told me it was a proper eye-witness account of the 23 February 2019 Presidential and National Assembly Elections in Nigeria by the author of the essay. I burst into laughter and my grandson was curious to know why I was laughing. I told him that Farooq Kperogi is holed up in Atlanta, Georgia, USA where he is a professor in English and where he had to watch his steps not to stray into Ku Klux Klan traps. The boy charged back at me rhetorically, what of if he travelled to Nigeria during the election? I, therefore, urged him to read the essay together with me whereby we found no evidence that the essay of Farooq Kperogi on the Nigerian elections was written from his direct and personal observations in Nigeria. He wrote out of fiction and demanded that readers should take his fable as the truth. Farooq Kperogi has a great knack for serendipitous stories. I will prove this with examples from his latest fictional report on Nigeria's 23 February 2019 elections.

​The last election was a sham and a shame. There is no question about that. The results INEC announced as the product of the Presidential and National Assembly election are in many cases, scandalously inconsistent with the figures officially declared at polling units.Given the development of technology for the election, you would think that arbitrary allocation of votes to candidates won't be a strategy of rigging. But it was - Farooq Kperogi. Why is Farooq so sure that the election is a sham and a shame when he was not in Nigeria to witness the election? On what fact does Farooq base his assertion that the results INEC announced as the product of Presidential and National Assembly elections were not the same as the ones declared at polling units? Farooq Kperogi has allowed prejudice to influence his judgment and did not care if truth suffered as a result. Every truthful person is aware that at each polling unit the agents of each participating political party (especially PDP and APC) in the election were present while the votes were being counted and they have to sign that the polling results were correct and true. Since party agents got original copies of the election results which they have signed as being correct and which were eventually announced at the central collation centre, there was no way INEC could alter the results on its own. That assertion is based on the fact that, at least, both the PDP and APC must have signed the original result sheets at the polling units of which they got their copies.

​Farooq Kperogi reminded his readers of his forecast on 28 September 2018 thus, "All indices show that Buhari would lose the 2019 election if it's free and fair, but Buhari would rather die in power than hand over power to anyone …." It is striking that Farooq Kperogi did not mention which indices (not even one index) would make Buhari lose the 2019 election. He has calculated coldly that his readers would believe his stargazing prediction  because he is not only a professor in English language but a (false) prophet and a fortune-teller. Farooq Kperogi seems to believe that promulgation of salacious rumour is a part of the job description of a professor in English language which was why he started already in 2018 to prejudge the 2019 election that it would be rigged and it would not be free, fair and credible. Consequent to the outcome of Osun gubernatorial election in 2018, Farooq Kperogi partly wrote about INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu thus, "Yakubu sees himself as an APC appointee who is beholden to the party. I have no confidence in his capacity to be fair in the 2019 presidential election. I hope he proves me wrong."  Although Professor Kperogi is not the Chairman of INEC he had declared Buhari as the loser of the impending 2019 election through his working-to-the-answer fraudulent election result which he indirectly and shamelessly demanded that Mahmood Yakubu should confirm when he stated, "I hope he proves me wrong." Constitutionally it is the President who shall appoint INEC chairman and not a political party and if past INEC Chairmen were not PDP appointees, Mahmood Yakubu cannot and must be an APC appointee.  

​At the last minutes, however, votes from several states were arbitrarily inflated in favour of APC's Muhammadu Buhari, leading to a situation where there are now more votes cast in the election than there were accredited voters in the election - Farooq Kperogi. This is a highly flawed and juvenile way of reasoning by Professor Kperogi who, of course, is accustomed to underrating the intelligence of others. It is expected of a professor like him to show respect to his readers by stating the total number of accredited voters and the number of total votes cast. From who did Farooq get his figures for accredited voters and total votes cast?

​…. as I pointed out in a previous column, that his blatant rigging would invite robust judicial challenge and that the overturning of his fraudulent victory would be a slam dunk in an independent, unpredictable Supreme Court. That was why he exploited CJN Walter Onnoghen's asset declaration infraction ….. to remove him and replace him with a pliant alternative from his geo-cultural backyard - Farooq Kperogi. As usual, Farooq Kperogi is drawing his strength here by parading fantasies and fallacies as facts. CJN Walter Onnoghen did not only admit to have failed to declare his assets when due but, when he later did, he consciously concealed huge amounts in naira and foreign currencies in various bank accounts in Nigeria from his declaration. He was exposed to have been running accounts that did not reflect what he was earning in salaries and allowances as a CJN. From this fact it is only an anti-human intellectual, whose expertise is fertilization of misery in Nigeria, that would reduce the heinous crime of CJN Walter Onnoghen to mere infraction that did not warrant a fire-brigade action from President Buhari to save the image of the judiciary. A well known fact is that all cases of false declaration of asset would, on appeals, finally end up in Supreme Court where CJN Onnoghen presides as the head. So, if he himself is involved in false declaration of assets, what kind of judgment would he deliver on false asset declarants brought before him? Farooq told a lie when he asserted that the CJN was removed when, in fact, he was only suspended pending the outcome of the crime he is being tried for.

Farooq Kperogi must either be ignorant of the election petition procedure in Nigeria or else he was deliberately being mischievous when he linked the suspension of CJN Onnoghen to the purported election rigging plan of Muhammadu Buhari. Election petition cases start at the election Petition Tribunal which subsequent decision is appealable to the Court of Appeal, and in turn its decision is appealable to the Supreme Court as the last instance. Is Farooq Kperogi suggesting that Election Tribunal and Appeal Court would certainly confirm INEC result but not Supreme Court headed by Walter Onnoghen? Has Farooq Kperogi an advance knowledge that CJN Walter Onnoghen would influence judgement in favour of PDP? In a five-man panel of election petition hearing at the Supreme Court, how could a CJN minority decision become a majority decision over four other Justices? If the acting CJN is pliant to Muhammadu Buhari, what would happen if other four Justices at the Supreme Court panel should decide to nullify the election of Buhari? Having declared CJN Onnoghen as the only guarantee for Atiku to overturn Buhari's victory, why is Farooq Kperogi counselling Atiku Abubakar to go to the Court to place their Nollywood produced video and films about rigged elections at the disposal of the Court from which Onnoghen has been suspended? Once, Farooq Kperogi just like Olusegun Obasanjo said a third force in politics should emerge to topple both Atiku and Buhari. His choice then was a retired Colonel Umar. Just like Obasanjo, Kperogi has now volte-faced completely to embrace Atiku Abubakar. The chicken, Farooq Kperogi, is out in the windstorm and every Nigerian can now freely spectate at his nakedness. 

S. Kadiri   

---

Från: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> för Farooq A. Kperogi <farooq...@gmail.com>
Skickat: den 2 mars 2019 14:45
Till: USAAfrica Dialogue
Ämne: USA Africa Dialogue Series - This is Rigocracy, Not Democracy

 

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin

To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com

Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

Definitely not comparable, but at the same time, the US does not have the moral authority.  The Brits or Germans are in better shape in terms of
sound  electoral  practice, so far. Sarkhozy intimidated Gadaffi into giving him campaign funds so I exclude the French as well.

GE

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Professor of History

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Victor Okafor <vok...@emich.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 2, 2019 6:31:27 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Victor Okafor]

But all this seems like red-herring. The real issue, from my point of view, is not whose country's democratic practice is more or less blemished than the other. Admittedly, there is no foul-proof or error-proof electoral system anywhere in the world. For me, though, every legitimate vote must count; every legitimate voter, anywhere in the world, must be allowed to vote. The closer to which any electoral system gets to that objective is the extent to which such a system deserves to be viewed as functional, reliable and dependable.

As I read it, Farooq A. Kperogi’s article that prompted this forum’s ongoing reactions did not dwell upon human errors or bureaucratic errors that are inevitable in any human-made system. The article asserted that deliberate actions by state/political party authorities were taken to significantly adulterate and upturn the outcome of Nigeria's presidential and some National Assembly elections of Feb. 23.

With all due respect, that charge ought to be the focus of our follow-up evaluative/speculative reactions/commentaries, and not whether Nigeria out-rigged/out-rigs the US or vice versa. That was not a point of that article. Should we be content with comparing ourselves with examples or perceived examples of how electoral procedures are or can be violated? Can’t we aspire to do or be the opposite?

Second, it concerns me that several of the written reactions to Farooq A. Kperogi’s write-up have tended to implicitly endorse election rigging as acceptable, and the commentators have tended to focus on pointing out or trying to point out what/which political party appeared to have out-rigged the other.

Some of these commentators appear to implicitly endorse intentional electoral malpractice, provided that the end justifies the means. What else could/should we make of the following question that one of notable contributors posed in response to Farooq A. Kperogi’s questioning of the outcome of Nigeria’s recent Presidential election: “Is it not true, in theory, that you do what is possible in a political culture to attain power?” This is troubling, to say the least! So, political culture accommodates any and all behaviors that make or could make possible the attainment of political power? I am truly troubled!

In other words, I don’t sense an outright opprobrium of election rigging. I sense a display or endorsement of Machiavellian sense of morality, namely that the end justifies the means. I am troubled by this trend of thought on this otherwise esteemed forum of detached intellectual pundits.

[Dompere, Kofi Kissi]

The discussion on democracy and its all aspect require critical thinking of all Africans.

In this respect,  these two books may be of interest to some of us.

119.

Stock Image

Fuzziness, Democracy, Control and Collective Decision-choice System: A Theory on Political Economy of Rent-Seeking and Profit-Harvesting

Dompere, Kofi Kissi

Published by Springer (2016)

ISBN 10: 3319053280 ISBN 13: 9783319053288

New

 

Softcover

Quantity Available: 1

From: Ria Christie Collections (Uxbridge, United Kingdom)

Seller Rating: 

Print on Demand

Add to Basket

US$ 117.51

Convert currency

Shipping: US$ 5.11

From United Kingdom to U.S.A.

Destination, rates & speeds

About this Item: Springer, 2016. Paperback. Condition: New. PRINT ON DEMAND Book; New; Publication Year 2016; Not Signed; Fast Shipping from the UK. No. book. Seller Inventory # ria9783319053288_lsuk

Thanks

DOMPERE.

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Victor Okafor <vok...@emich.edu>

Sent: Sunday, March 3, 2019 6:27 PM

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - This is Rigocracy, Not Democracy

 

External Email Warning WARNING! Please proceed with caution as this message could be a scam. The sender's account may have been compromised and used to send malicious messages. If this message seems suspicious, please DO NOT CLICK any of the links and/or attachments. If you believe the contents of this email may be unsafe, please send it as an attachment to the ETS Information Security Team: ets-i...@howard.edu.

[Victor Okafor]

All this reads like red-herring. The real issue, from my point of view, is not whose country's democratic practice is more or less blemished than the other. Admittedly, there is no foul-proof or error-proof electoral system anywhere in the world. For me, though, every legitimate vote must count; every legitimate voter, anywhere in the world, must be allowed to vote. The closer to which any electoral system gets to that objective is the extent to which such a system deserves to be viewed as functional, reliable and dependable.

As I read it, Farooq A. Kperogi’s article that prompted this forum’s ongoing reactions did not dwell upon human errors or bureaucratic errors that are inevitable in any human-made system. The article asserted that deliberate actions by state/political party authorities were taken to significantly adulterate and upturn the outcome of Nigeria's presidential and some National Assembly elections of Feb. 23. We are not outraged?

With all due respect, that charge ought to be the focus of our follow-up evaluative/speculative reactions/commentaries, and not whether Nigeria out-rigged/out-rigs the US or vice versa. That was not a point or the point of that article. Should we be content with comparing ourselves with examples or perceived examples of how electoral procedures are or can be violated? Can’t we aspire to do or be the opposite?

Second, it concerns me that several of the written reactions to Farooq A. Kperogi’s write-up have tended to implicitly endorse election rigging as acceptable, and, concomitantly, the commentators have tended to focus on pointing out or trying to point out what/which political party appeared to have out-rigged the other.

Some of these commentators appear to implicitly endorse intentional electoral malpractice, provided that the end justifies the means. Would they posturize in this politically morally-repugnant manner to their American audience? I guess that for Nigeria, anything goes! What else could/should we make of the following stomach-churning question that one of the notable/outstanding contributors posed in response to Farooq A. Kperogi’s courageous questioning of the equally-stomach-churning outcome of Nigeria’s recent Presidential election, even as he professed/proclaimed his non-partisanship: “Is it not true, in theory, that you do what is possible in a political culture to attain power?” What then can the politicians learn from this non-partisan scholar? This is troubling, to say the least! So, political culture accommodates any and all behaviors that make or could make possible the attainment of political power? What then distinguishes us from the rest of crowd? I am truly troubled!

In other words, I don’t sense an outright opprobrium of election rigging. I sense a display or endorsement of a Machiavellian sense of political morality, namely that the end justifies the means. I am troubled by this trend/train of thought on this otherwise esteemed forum of detached intellectual pundits.

 

[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

 

"Just for Saturday musing. Will the Occident intervene in Nigeria a la Venezuela?" Ike Udogu

Clarification

My response was to the above  rhetorical question by Ike Udogu.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali

Professor of History
 

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Victor Okafor <vok...@emich.edu>

Sent: Sunday, March 3, 2019 6:27 PM

[Abolaji Adekeye]

Farook, leader of Atiku's Ustashe is an object of derision on Social Media. Shamelessly partisan, he spews hate speeches garbed in highfalutin grammar while promoting fake news. 

Arrogant, graceless and utterly shameless he insults his betters but can't stand same from his equals on social media. He runs a block industry on Twitter and is notorious there on as a purveyor of fake news, an alarmist and an irredeemable house nigger. 

This pretend intellectual is actually a Taliban. He pretends to be a teacher but he is actually a student of terror, still learning and perfecting his art. 

Farook's relevance has expired. His choice of candidate was submitted by a popular Kimura, and the resultant tumor from that loss is proving to be malignant. Let's brace ourselves for more crooked essays from Caliban, bought and dictated by his tin gods. 

[Emmanuel Udogu]

My family was baptized by the late Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, Nigeria’s first Finance Minister, as member of the defunct National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons/Citizens (NCNC) at our Warri, Western Nigeria (now Delta state), constituency. As a young chap, my late father and members of his family campaigned, distributed flyers, et cetera, in support of the chief in our community. This was how I got introduced into politics by way of socialization. After the war, military interregna and so forth, my father returned to politics in the village as party chairman of the SDP and later PDP until he passed on.

I love politics and for my unflinching support of president Obama, I received a few “trophies” from him and his lovely wife (family) that are displayed in our home.

Gloria, I followed the 2000 presidential election and the rigging in Florida. I also voted in South Carolina. In that year, sarcastically, many Nigerian compatriots invited Americans to come to Nigeria to learn “the Art of rigging elections.” I followed the 2016 election with greater trepidation and frustration than the 2000 election. Suffice it to say, however, that I started following American elections since the Nixon era as a political science major in college.

The peculiar reference to Nigeria and Venezuela in my piece “just for Saturday musing” was intended to bring to the fore the complexity of this matter—rigging of elections and its problematic attributes. In truth, the Occident is violating Article 2 (paragraphs 4 and 7) of the UN charter in Venezuela that forbids member states and the UN itself from interfering in the internal affairs of member states. Chapter VII of the charter is an escape clause that permits intervention to stop genocide, for example. Accordingly, should the Occident intervene?

Just for the record, I am not a member of any of the political parties at home. Nigeria will always be my “constituency” and concern. It was for this reason that I went to the meeting in Atlanta where Nigerians in the diaspora gave President Obasanjo splendid suggestions on how to solve our problems that fell on deaf ears.

I believe in the organic theory of the state—i.e., politicians (and I) are irrelevant vis-a-vis the state and community. In other words, the state and the community are relevant, or should I say more relevant than the wealth politicos amass and their dirty politics. We will all die, and the state and the community will be here after we are gone. What is pertinent to me, therefore, is what we do to make the state and community a little better than what they were when alive—ex., Zik, Awo, Kano...

This philosopher—based on the primacy of the society—informs my works on Nigeria and Africa. It was to this end that I wrote my open letter to President Buhari on this forum after the 2015 election. It was an appeal to him to challenge Nigerians at home and in the diaspora to assist him in tackling our problems. Moreover, the government has the templates to improve our politics and develop the country. We in the diaspora provided a model in Atlanta, and others have done the same elsewhere. We need leaders with the political will and spine to galvanize all Nigerians into action for the good of the motherland.  

The struggle for free and fair elections in Nigeria must continue!  We owe it to our children and our children’s children.

Please see our “Nigeria in the Twenty-First Century: Strategies for Political Stability and Peaceful Coexistence.”

Ike Udogu 

[Dompere, Kofi Kissi]

This information which was sent has not ben posted.

Thanks.

DOMPERE.

---

From: Dompere, Kofi Kissi
Sent: Sunday, March 3, 2019 7:13 PM