Political harlotry bane of Nigeria’s politics- Ahamba
BY CHUKWUMA NWAKAMA
CHIEF Mike Ahamba (SAN), was Maj General Muhammadu Buhari’s counsel at the 2007 presidential election petition tribunal. In this interview with Vanguard, he bared his mind on why he quit politics, the conduct of the 2011 polls, which he said were comparably free and fair and why ballot box snatchers and perpetrators of post-election violence must be prosecuted. Excerpts:
You have been in politics for a long time. Why did you leave a few days to the 2011 election?
You see, I don’t believe in political harlotry, jumping from here to there. Moving from here to there is what most politicians are known for. I have been identified with the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP and the Congress for Progressive, CPC, in the same group with Maj General Muhammadu Buhari for a period of eight years, and in fact up till January this year. I don’t think it is the right altitude to jump boat at this time in my life like some politicians in this country do.
You leave CPC and the presidential candidate of the party and jump into another political party to support another presidential candidate in another party, you will be forced to eat your words. I will not do that. And I don’t think that is proper, so I decided to step aside for now. When the climate is conducive, I will have another look to the situation especially as majority of my people here have not really accepted my exit from politics. They still insist that I must come back, that my family alone cannot take the decision of cele
brating my exit from politics alone.
Which means you may likely change your mind and come back to politics?
Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN)
What I quit was partisan politics. I said I would never abandon the people in their quest to get a better deal in this country or thereabout and to me that is politics too. But for now, I have stepped aside from politics and from partisan politics, may be if I consider it necessary in future I may have another look towards that direction, but right now I don’t belong to any political party. It is a decision I took and my family cerebrated it.
The 2011 elections have been concluded. With your experience as senior lawyer and with some years in politics, how would you rate the present Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in terms of credibility especially in the conduct of elections?
I believe the present INEC is by far better than what we had in the past. The fundamental difference between the old and the new is that the old set out to do it wrongly while the new set out to do it properly. So if at the point of doing it properly some errors occur, then it is human. It is different if you don’t have any plan of doing properly. When Professor Attahiru Jega took over, due to the mistrust in the system, a lot of people doubted him but he has come out to prove that it can be done if you are sincere.
You see we are fortunate to come out from the era where persons who should maintain a neutral stand in the INEC were involved and partisan. That was how 2003 and 2007 election got messed up. I can state firmly that 2011 election has been different from the rest though not perfect like everything human but fair enough even though we still have some distance to go. Again on some of those elected, I will advice them as they are fortunate to be elected this time to note that power of incumbency is no more. Money and threat will never save you from the people when the people say no and want to remove you.
The elections in Imo, Oyo even Borno and some other states where incumbent governors lost is a good example and have shown that the people are the true lords of democracy. Money and threat will never save you when they say ‘no.’ We should wake up now. Time has come for the authority to respect those who give them the authority. So far, the oppression has been on the basis of ‘what will the people do? We, are in power.’ Now we have known that there is something the people can do.
Any person who wants to survive politically must cultivate the culture of respecting the people because the people are the real lords of this society. I expect anybody who has the opportunity to be elected this time around to wake up and should put his feet in the sand of history especially here in Nigeria where only 12 people were able to have eight years in office, that is two terms in office in a 100 years.
If God has allowed anybody to be among the 12 people, he should understand that, that is an assignment from the divine. And that assignment is to take care of those who need to be taken care of not him or his family members only. Those elected should also know that an opportunity to serve in high office is a pay back time for the society that has nurtured them to the quality you now have for that position. I expect that they should now respect and recognise the constitution and the people.
That is why I rate elections in Imo and Oyo very highly. I found people standing up for their right no matter the power the governors have.
When people stand up for what they want or their right, no force of cohesion can stop them. It has never worked anywhere and it will never work in Nigeria.
What has so far fueled all these miscreant behaviors in office by those who found themselves in office is the fear of the people for the unknown. Now that people are saturated, what they want is how to come out from their present condition. If you check very well, in the last election, the rate of awareness was high. The electorate voted their conscience, and they collected money and still voted those they had in mind. I want to call on Nigerians in any election to collect money from anybody who has money to distribute and vote your conscience, nothing will happen to you because the money is yours.
By May 29, those elected will be sworn-in. I expect President Jonathan to be president of Federal Republic of Nigeria; he should render justice to all, no evil for evil. He should support the poor and strengthen the weak, he should do whatever he can to make Nigerians have confidence in the country once again and he should not spare anybody, who threatens the country.
The last election was somehow characterised by violence, ballot snatching and monetary inducement of some INEC staff in some states. How do you think that can be corrected in future elections?
That is a challenge to our SSS and other security services. I expect that acts of corruption should not be allowed to go without the person being asked to explain himself. What has perpetuated indiscipline in this country is that people do get away with whatever they do. If you prosecute them they will stay away because nobody wants to be a second in jail in Nigeria.
In some states there was ballot snatching. On April 9 some people carried ballot materials. It happened again on April 26 but the people said ‘no.’ What encourages all these things is that those arrested in the past where never prosecuted. What I am saying those caught should be punished. They should be tried because I far as I am concerned when a man uses weapon to carry ballot boxes away from the polling stations he has committed armed robbery because those materials are things that are capable of being stolen and he has done it with arms.
Armed robbery has no other definition, let them be tried for armed robbery. If we don’t get some tried I want to assure you again by 2015 they will participate in it again since they were not rounded up by the security services. Again all those arrested during the election violence must face the law, they must not be allowed to go scot-free. There must be a trial even if they get acquitted let it be that they were tried. We cannot continue to have this type of situation every time without people going in for it.
The 2011 election tribunals have been inaugurated across the nation and there is an ongoing petition on alleged monetary inducement of some tribunal chairmen up to the Appeal court level, who compromised the judgment of the 2007 election cases. Is this possible and don’t you think this could hamper the confidence of the people in the judiciary?
Nothing is impossible. If a mind is criminal it is criminal there is nothing you can do about that. However, under the present circumstance, I believe the present judiciary would be more concerned to protect the image of the judiciary. I believe they will do better this time around. The indices of corruption that made people believe that corruption will go on like in the last dispensation is no more prominent. I believe these people this time around will improve. Let me tell you, we have improved police on electoral matters, we have improved INEC, we also have improved Federal Government. All we need now is improve judiciary which we are having. All the rest will be added to us in this country.
Coming to accusations of some judges over compromising in some judgments during the last election petitions, things have happened and we are now working correcting them. What happened like I said before is question of mind set. Conscience count in everything we do and that is in the heart and the heart is like a bag everybody is carrying his. I continue to say that whoever is in office or is assigned to do anything for the people should consider that as a service to the people.
So if you look at what happened in the judiciary, one needs to put one’s head straight because doing this divine work of judging is like representing God on earth. Since he is the ultimate judge now, an agent should not act in a manner inconsistent to the will of the principles of nature. So I believe that they will appreciate all in that matter of conscience and patriotism.
Denying judgment because of interest gives the judiciary negative perspective, which does not involve everybody for God’s sake. The few who have been causing this bad name should in the name of God stop destroying the institution.
Most of the election tribunal chairmen have promised to be fair in their judgment, I have to advice them that Nigerians are watching.
