INEC FAILURE DURING NIGERIA’S 2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS PREEMPTIVELY ARRANGED – Smart Ajaja
…. Describes Electoral Process As A Total Disaster
…Insists Peter Obi Did Not Fail At The Poll
…Calls On Nigerians To Unite Above Primordial Considerations.
…Tells Peter Obi To Remain Focused.
… Advises Ika Nation To Enthrone New Political Structure.
The Saturday February 25th Presidential Election held in Nigeria may have come and gone, but the dust raised by the outcome that all important general election has refused to settle.
In this telephone interview by Ika Weekly Newspaper with Abavo, Ika South Local Government Born, but United State based Smart Madu Ajaja, Activist, Rasta, diehard Pan-Africanist, Registered Nurse, Writer, Public Speaker, Public Policy Analyst and Socioeconomic justice advocate, National Security Enthusiast, Broadcaster and Anchor of Nigeria Now @ONN & Nightingale Radio International, USA, And, Convener, “Open Nigeria Consciousness”., he gave a description as to why INEC should roundly and squarely be held responsible for the unexpected outcome of the exercise and widespread misgivings, political and tribal exchanges that enveloped the country right from the moment the purported result he referred to as “dubious” was announced while the country was asleep.
He deeply argued that going by the current political arrangement, Nigeria will continually have its head stuck in the quagmire of underdevelopment, and critically submitted with practical proofs what Nigeria and Nigerians urgently need to do in order to escape the current impasse in the country.
One can only hope that those in positions of authority are listening to this exceptionally patriotic advice.
The Encounter which was anchored by Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi, Special Projects Officer, Ika Weekly Newspaper, is a piece of report that one cannot afford to miss for any reason.
Enjoy it!
Ika Weekly: what is your response to the recently held general election in Nigeria?
Answer: Well, I would say that it was a total disaster. I say this not because the exercise was not supposed to succeed but because some people from the look of things made it possible that we have this kind of outcome. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not have any reason to conduct this kind of crap because the resources they needed to conduct a free, fair and credible election were all available to them. I can say without fear of contradiction that this was a coup, (In applied sense). I say so because all governmental institutions were involved. It was a total disaster. it was orchestrated to fail, and it failed. Now, the Nigerian people are suffering for it and will continue to suffer the consequences of their conspiracy of silence even as things are getting out of control for them every passing minute as more revelations about the beneficiary and his intentions are becoming manifest.
Ika Weekly: so, in clear language, the Saturday February 25, electoral exercise was a disaster?
Answer: Yes, a monumental disaster.
Ika Weekly: Even with the recent declaration by the election tribunal which favored President Ahmed Bola Tinubu?
Answer: That was a tragic failure of the system. All these things were pre-emptively arranged to happen the way they happened, and I tell you, the Supreme Court is going to validate the same thing. So, I have absolutely no faith in the system called the “Nigerian System”. The Nigerian system is a fraudulent architecture that must be dismantled. All its institutions must go down for rebuilding from scratch for Nigerians to have the reprieve that they deserve as citizens.
SEE ALSO: WHY I RESIGNED MY MEMBERSHIP OF THE APC… – Smart Ajaja
Ika Weekly: kindly tell us, what went wrong?
Answer: Well, your guess is as good as mine. Like I said earlier, everything INEC needed to conduct a free and fair election was given to INEC but unfortunately, they decided otherwise to give us what a few self-serving unpatriotic citizens wanted that we’re having right now. The corrupt Nigerian system cannot solve the problem of the Nigerian people.
Ika Weekly: Sir, if you’re asked to share this problem proportionately to the appropriate quarters as mentioned earlier, whom do you think will get the greater chunk. INEC or who?
Answer: INEC is to be held accountable because they failed the people of Nigeria. They disrespected the people of Nigeria and they failed to work in accordance with the electoral act of Nigeria. They failed to execute their own rules. So, yes, the INEC is to be held totally and wholly accountable for anything that would happen to Nigeria from this historic fraud. Corruption has become a tradition in Nigeria involving institutions, both governmental and non-governmental. This is a sad moment for Africa and Africans. It is a sad moment for any person who is black whether born here or lives in the diaspora.
Ika Weekly: But the tribunal insisted that INEC did no wrong. Is that assertion, correct?
Answer How will it be correct? The judicial system is wrestling with corruption. And from what we heard, ‘those judges were allegedly given five million dollars each’. Anything is possible in Nigeria.
Ika Weekly; It’s an allegation.
Answer: Yes, it is an allegation for now. I hope that as usual it will not be watered down again because Nigeria is a place where the people turn the truth upside down and turn it against those who are speaking it.
Ika Weekly: So, you don’t even envisage a different narrative at the Supreme Court?
Answer: Absolutely no.
Ika Weekly: There is a saying that discovering a problem without proffering solution makes the person part of the problem. So, I will ask; What is the way forward sir?
Answer: The way forward is for the people of Nigeria to unite above their primordial, racial, religious and partisan political division and put the interest of the people first. They must unite because the country doesn’t have a lot of time now. It requires all of these, especially those who have been practically driven into extreme poverty, to come together and remove their country from danger. Otherwise, Nigeria is at a point where it will be recolonized. Not just recolonized but will be occupied ahead of the total occupation of Africa by imperial and neocolonial forces already having their fangs over the country right now.
Ika Weekly: Talking about Obi and the others, their failure was it as a result of lack of strategy or tactics?
Answer: How can you say that they failed? They did not fail. A you are talking about party that was barely known and in less than one year put up the best winning strategy and delivered on it including in voting units where they did not have polling agents contrary to the expectations of pundits? Come on! They have virtually proved beyond reasonable doubt Nigerians are tired of being led by hypocrites and tribal, regional and religious nationalists driven by everything but the capacity to provide and deliver actionable leader. They positively turned the whole country upside down, especially with the young people who now want a new country after years of division coming together to create a historic electoral upset that has never been seen or heard of in Africa. This was a huge victory in my opinion.
Ika Weekly: Yes, the time has come for Nigerians to unite. But bearing in mind that this is a country where tribal loyalty is stronger than our common sense of nationhood, will that be possible?
Answer: It is very possible.
Ika Weekly: How do we go about it sir?
Answer: Going about it is the same thing that happened. Nigerians United, they had a symbol, and the symbol was Peter Obi. You saw what happened. So, that gave me hope that the people of Nigeria are tired of being divided. They are tired of being lied to. They are tired of being manipulated. They are tired of being abused. They are tired of being raped. They are tired of being emotionally blackmailed by those who succeed only when the people are hungry and poor. The people of Nigeria came out on that day to say No, we have had enough of nonsense. They didn’t care about where anybody came from. They voted from the North, East, West and South for a symbol that they see as a symbol of unity of Nigeria. And I think we should ride on that and take Nigeria back.
Ika Weekly: Talking about the open Nigeria initiative, which happens to be your brainchild. What is your current contribution towards making it a reality?
Answer: Well, open Nigeria is a viral ideology that is now being progressively adopted by Nigeria. I think that that was what the people of Nigeria voted for on February 25, 2023. We contributed a lot to the outcome of this election, and I can tell you that a youth branch of RP led by Comrade Musa Ali Maishanu from Adamawa state came out behind the Open Nigeria consciousness to express their support for Peter Obi when I openly endorsed him as my own personal candidate shortly before the election. As a movement, we didn’t want to take a position about who to vote for as a block. Because of the diversity and orientation of our members, we wanted people to use their discretion to make their individual choice, but for me, I made the choice of Peter Obi as my candidate to become the next president of Nigeria.
So, I made my own declaration as an individual because I didn’t want to polarize Open Nigeria, but do you know what majority of the people followed because they know I am not deceiving them. They know I am not the one exploiting them for political gains. Once I made my open endorsement, a branch of youths in PRV lined behind me with a pledge of one million votes which I believe they put behind me and by extension, the “Open Nigeria Consciousness Movement” and Peter Obi, the ultimate beneficiary.
Ika Weekly: Sir? there is this belief in some quarters that now that the tribunal has ruled, that people should give the President in person of Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu the time to settle down and navigate the country out of the current socioeconomic wood. Do you align with that argument?
Answer: No. He has no moral ground to rule Nigeria. He is the product of a “coup”. He is the product of fraud. He ought to be arrested alongside Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman and all those who were parts of what happened that made it impossible for us to have a credible election and prosecuted for high treason for violently and flagrantly violating the constitution of Nigeria. He has no moral ground. He has no constitutional grounds. He has no legal ground to be president of Nigeria. The ruling of the Kangaroo tribunal was an arranged judgement, and an affront on the intelligence of the Nigerian people.
He is a fraudster, a US-indicted drug dealer, a treasonously corrupt man and senile and in effect, unfit to be the President of Africa’s most populous country now under arrest, in a dire need of liberation. He is not my president. Those who belong to Open Nigeria do not support the fraud that he represents. We should stand him down and work for a fresh election. Actually? INEC should announce the true result of the election and not the nonsense that they announced and declare Peter Obi winner. Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not and can’t be president of a Nigeria of a sane people. The people of Nigeria did not vote for him. He does not have the mandate of the people of Nigeria to want to be their President. That is an insult to the people of Nigeria.
Ika Weekly: But looking at the current happenings, he is receiving international support.
Answer: No. The global community does not matter as much as the people of Nigeria do. It is the people of Nigeria that make the decisions. And when we make the decisions, the global community will have no reason not to follow our line. What they are doing is they are playing politics.