Electoral Crisis in Nigeria
Government SSS 3 Second Term
WEEK 1
Electoral Crisis in Nigeria
Performance Objectives
Student should be able to explain:
i. Federal election 1964
ii. Western Nigerian election 1965
iii. General election 1979
iv. Executive vs legislative crisis in Kaduna
v. General election 1983
vi. General election 1993
Content
i. Federal election 1964
ii. Western Nigerian election 1965
iii. General election 1979
iv. Executive vs legislative crisis in Kaduna
v. General election 1983
vi. General election 1993
Federal Election 1964
The volatile political scene leading up to elections in 1964 was ominous. The Action Group virtually disappeared from the federal parliament as a result of the Awolowo affair, thereby fundamentally altering political alignments at the national level. By early 1964, therefore, the federal parliament no longer had a recognized opposition. Akintola's party, which was renamed the Nigerian National Democratic Party to attract more support, now dominated the Western Region. The federal government nominally consisted of a consensus of the ruling parties of all four regions, but it was a fragile alliance at best and had emerged as a result of heavy-handed tactics. The NCNC had strengthened its position by gaining firm control of the Midwestern Region, so that it dominated two of the four regions. Akintola managed to undermine the NCNC in the Western Region, even though nationally he was pledged to an alliance with the NCNC. For its part, the NCNC denounced Akintola's party as a "tool of the NPC" and allied itself with remnants of the Action Group.
As the campaign for the Federal Election heated up during the second half of 1964, all of the energy of Nigerian politics was sucked into the vortex of ethnonational conflict. Historic tensions between North and South and between the Igbos and their ethnic rivals now reasserted themselves with a vengeance. Vituperative rhetoric was joined by widespread violence and repression, as the main political parties — now polarised into two competing alliances — clashed head-on in a momentous ‘struggle for supremacy’ that would produce the worst political crisis in Nigerian history. Several elements of this crisis were foreshadowed in the Mid-West Regional Election of February 1964.
This crisis led to a statement and an advice given by President Nnamdi Azikiwe on 10 December 1964, in a ‘Dawn Address’ to the nation ‘I have one advice to give to our politicians: If they have decided to destroy our national unity, then they should summon a round-table conference to decide how our national assets should be divided before they seal their doom by satisfying their lust for office…. Should the politicians fail to heed this warning, I will venture the prediction that the experience of the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be child’s play, if it ever comes to our turn to play such a tragic role.
Western Nigeria Election 1965
After 1964 general election which was not rightly concluded early 1965, the UPGA prepared for the November 1965 legislative election in the Western Region in an attempt to gain control of the three southern regions and the Federal Territory of Lagos, the region surrounding the capital. If successful, the NPC-dominated NNA still would have controlled the House of Representatives, but it would have given the predominantly southern UPGA a majority in the Senate, whose members were chosen by the regional legislatures.
Once more NCNC strategy failed. Amid widespread charges of voting irregularities, Akintola's NNDP, supported by its NPC ally, scored an impressive victory in November. There were extensive protests, including considerable grumbling among senior army officials, at the apparent perversion of the democratic process. In the six months after the election, an estimated 2,000 people died in violence that erupted in the Western Region. In the face of the disorders, the beleaguered Balewa delegated extraordinary powers to the regional governments to deal with the situation. By this time, Azikiwe and the prime minister were scarcely on speaking terms, and there were suggestions that Nigeria's armed forces should restore order.
General Election 1979
Following the assassination of Nigerian military Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed in 1976, his successor General Olusegun Obasanjo initiated the transition process to terminate military rule in 1979. A new constitution was drafted, which saw the Westminster system of government (previously used in the First Republic) jettisoned for an American-style Presidential system. The 1979 constitution mandated that political parties and cabinet positions reflect the "federal character" of the nation — Political parties were required to be registered in at least two-thirds of the states, and each state was required to produce at least one cabinet member. In 1979, five political parties which are National Party of Nigeria (NPN) nominated Shehu Shagari, Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) nominated Obafemi Awolowo, Nigerian People's Party (NPP) nominated Nnamdi Azikiwe, People's Redemption Party (PRP) nominated Aminu Kano, and Greater Nigerian People's Party (GNPP) nominated Waziri Ibrahim, competed in a series of elections in which Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was elected president. Obasanjo peacefully transferred power to Shagari, becoming the first head of state in Nigerian history to willingly step down. All five parties won representation in the National Assembly
The Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO), established in 1960 conducted the immediate post-independence federal and regional elections of 1964 and 1965. The electoral body was dissolved after the military coup of 1966. In 1978, the Federal Electoral Commission was constituted by the regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo, organizing the elections of 1979 which ushered in the Nigerian Second Republic under the leadership of Alhaji Shehu Shagari.
Executive vs Legislative crisis in Kaduna
After the 1979 election into Kaduna State House of Assembly, the NPN won 68 out of 99 seats; PRP won 12; GNPP 10; NPP 6 and UPN 3 seats. The most challenging aspect of this crisis was the governorship election which the People’s Redemption Party won through Alhaji Balarabe Musa. The crisis cane up in 1981.
What led to the Kaduna crisis
Balarabe Musa on assumption of office as the governor of Kaduna State effected great changes in the state administration geared towards the betterment of the lot of the poor, much to the disapproval of the rich conservatives of the state.
He abolished community tax and cattle tax and also abolished the emirate councils, transferring their duties to a council of chiefs constituting of chiefs and ordinary citizens, thus widening participation in decision making.
To use the instrument of a committee to address complaints over land ownership and compensations therefrom, he stopped the processing and issuance of certificates of occupancy concerning lands within the state.
He promoted the establishment of industries by setting aside N2 million annually for each local government. He dissolved all boards of state companies and constituted new ones of members from all levels of the society.
He submitted names of his nominee commissioners for the approval of the state house of assembly with the whole list turned down each time. The Kaduna high court rejected his plea that the court compel the house to approve his list, after which he decided to run his government without commissioners.
On 7 May 1981, the house-made its first move of impeachment of Governor Balarabe Musa when 69 of them signed a motion declaring Musa guilty of ’gross misconduct’, listing 10 offences against him. Balarabe Musa proved at the court that many of the signatures were forged, a submission upheld by the court in annulling the motion against him. The motion for impeachment was moved again on 21 May 1981 and approved.
None of the motions filed in court by Balarabe Musa to stop the impeachment succeeded. On 7 June the house appointed a seven-man panel to investigate the charges against him. The panel invited him, an invitation which he declined especially because he was given three days only to prepare. On 23 June the investigating panel submitted its report, and by a vote of 69 out of 99, Balarabe Musa was removed as governor of Kaduna State.
General Election 1983
In 1983, another election was conducted and NPN which was the incumbent government won using a tremenpower rigging and violence like was in the first republican elections and this eventually generated so much violence in the various states to rationalize the military takeover of December 1983 and as a result, brought to the end of the second republic. However, 1979 election brought some reliefs as regards to how freer it was, compared with 1964/1965 elections but the 1983 election uttered the rewarding standards set by the 1979 election. To support this argument, Tijani (1986:15) notes: A massive collision involving the NPN, the FEDECO (The Federal Electoral commission), the police and some sections of the judiciary had produced governments that could not claim legitimacy by dint of even the most rudimentary requirement of a bourgeois democracy. Pointing the level of fraudulent the election was, Kurfi (2005) notes: All sorts of strategies and stratagems including manipulation of the ballot or “rigging” were employed to win election. Each of the opposition parties used its local power of incumbency to retain power and /or to improve its position vis-à-vis other contenders. However, federal might was used to dislodge state governors in Anambra, Oyo, Kaduna, Gongola and Borno states, thus raising NPN’s tally of governorships from seven to twelve states, reversing the power structure existing before the election when opposition parties had twelve against NPN’s seven governors. There was this scenario in Ondo state between Chief Akin Omoboriowo (National Party of Nigeria gubernatorial candidate) and Chief Micheal Ajasin (Unity party of Nigeria gubernatorial flag bearer). The former was declared the winner by Electoral Commission (FEDECO) with 1,228,891 votes as against 1,015,385 votes credited to the later. However, base on the election count, the verdicts from the Federal court of Appeal and the Supreme Court as shown in the certificates of results duly signed by the assistant returning officers, party agents as well as oral witnesses from returning officers indicated that the true results were 1,563,327 votes for Chief Ajasin and Chief Omoboriowo scored 703,592. Evidence from these verdicts showed that Chief Omoboriowo’s scores were inflated by 523.389 votes leaving that of Chief Ajasin decreasing by 547,942 votes. Report showed that the fabrications of the figures were carried out by the deputy returning officer. Nwabueze (2005) noted that Chief Michael Ajasin was declared by the court to have duly elected the governor of Ondo state. The 1983 election is characterized as one of the most corrupt elections ever conducted in Nigeria. Iyayi (2005:2) captions this argument, when he states that election includes massive electoral frauds, the conception and practice of politics as warfare, the lack of continuity in the political platforms used by members of the political class, high levels of opportunism and thus a low level of commitment to the different variants of right-wing political ideologies that characterize the political class, the objectification of politics, and the mobilization of ethnic identities as the basis for defining the legitimacy of claims to political power.
General Election 1993
In 1993, the military government headed by Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida introduced two political parties namely; Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC). The election for these two political parties was seen by Nigerians as the only hope to eradicate military administration in Nigeria’s body polity and went to the pools massively on June 12, 1993, to support democratic emergence. The introduction of two-party was a good move from the military in power because all ethnic interests have no choice than to accommodate themselves in either of the parties, and the two parties became essentially representative of all ethnic groups. This made the electorates to fully express their wishes by voting for their candidates on the ground of competence than voting along strictly ethnic considerations. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republication Convention (NRC) were the two political parties that contested the 12 June 1993 presidential election. Chief Moshood Abiola was the SDP's presidential candidate and Bashir Tofa ran for the NRC. Sylvester Ugoh was Tofa's vice-presidential running mate while Chief Abiola's running mate was a former SDP chairman, Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe.
Decree 13, the Basic Constitution and Provisions Decree, gave the National Electoral Commission (NEC), under the chairmanship of political science professor, Humphrey Nwosu, "sweeping powers to disqualify a candidate" and "to postpone the election," and charged it with the responsibility of running the polls. Consequently, the NEC made meticulous preparations to minimise irregularities including setting up election criteria and procedures for the presidential candidates and voters. On 10 June 1993, an Abuja High Court served the NEC an injunction to stop it from conducting the election, pending settlement of a lawsuit brought against the NEC by the Association for a Better Nigeria (ABN). The NEC, under Decree 13, ignored the injunction and the election took place as scheduled on 12 June 1993. On 13 June, Professor Felix Iredia, the Chief Returning Officer, was charged with compiling the "results coming in from the states". Interim results on 14 June 1993 showed Abiola leading with an overwhelming majority in 19 states while NRC had a clear majority in 11 states.
On 16 June 1993, the NEC declared that it had decided not to release the final results of the 13 June 1993 presidential election 'until further notice,' as the ABN had once again taken the NEC to court, and as another Abuja High Court injunction had been served to restrain the NEC from announcing the results.
On 17 June 1993, following popular demands for the results, two court orders reversed the NEC's decision not to publish the election results and a Lagos High Court judge, Justice Moshood Olugbani, ordered NEC to release the results within 24 hours. On the same day, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti, the chairman of the CD issued NEC with an ultimatum to release the results within 24 hours or the CD would do so. Although the NEC's chairman was the only one originally authorized to declare the results.
On 18 June 1993, in defiance of NEC's decision not to publish the results, the CD released the election results and declared Moshood Abiola winner of the election. On the same day, Moshood Abiola reportedly "went on television to claim victory".
On 23 June 1993, however, the Abuja High Court declared the election "null and void" allegedly because the NEC had ignored its first injunction not to conduct the polls. On the same day, the government made an announcement cancelling the elections and suspending the NEC.
Unfortunately, the election that was considered as the end of military dictatorship and a departure from the previous elections conducted, still had its negative impact ranging from election rigging or what Moshood (2009) summarized as: A new phase to election rigging in Nigeria when the military president Ibrahim Babangida, could not achieve his mission at the poll, he publicly manipulated i.e. rigged people of their interest by annulling the election results considered as the most free and fair in the history of Nigeria’s election. The annulment of this election’s result threatened the political stability and unity of Nigeria and pushed the country back to deep-seated political turmoil and further military authoritarianism. Amidst the tension that gripped the country resulting from political instability that was emanated from the winner of the said election who threatened mutiny if not given the mandate in an election he won with great margin, General Ibrahim Babangida stepped aside and handed over the government to an Interim Government led by Chief Ernest Shonekan but this was a mere gimmick to usher in another military government as General Babangida’s second in command, General Sani Abacha dethroned the Interim government and ruled until he died in power.