INEC chairman wasted opportunity to become Africa’s hero spectacularly – Chimamanda Adichie

OBUKOHWO EGHUARE I Wednesday, April 12, 2023

EFFRUN, Delta, Nigeria – Award winning Nigerian write, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has said that Chairman of the independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and President Muhammadu Buhari missed opportunity to become Nigerian heroes.

Specifically, she singled out the INEC chairman of missing out in the opportunity to become not only Nigeria’s hero but Africa’s hero spectacularly, stressing that many Nigeria, like herself believe what happened was deliberate and had nothing to do with technological glitch.

She does not see any justification why the results of National Assembly officers in the same election held in the same minutes and seconds were transmitted directly to INEC servers from the polling units, while only that of the Presidential election were ignored,  and not transmitted to INEC servers.

In fact, some INEC staff told journalists in Lagos and elsewhere that they were under strict instruction not to transmit results of the presidential election. in fact until now, the results of the February 2023 Presidential election have not been fully uploaded to INEC server.

Chimamanda Adichie who rejected national honour by the President Muhammadu Buhari was speaking on Arise News in Lagos.

She said the INEC chairman so missed out because Africans were watching based on the promises he made prior to the election at the Chatham House and the amended Electoral Act, which made the use of Bimoral Voter Accreditation System, BVAS mandatory and the Obidient movement.

Turning to Professor Wole Soyinka, who has labelled the utterance of the Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Datti Baba Ahmed as Fascist, she said the professor, who she respects a lot, referring to his books like ‘The Man Died’ and ‘Ake’, among others said the professor may have used the world Fascist since he is not given to restraint when it comes to his use of language.

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She said she that although she watched the initial interview, she was forced to watch it again as result of her respect for the Nobel Laureate.

She  said the world Fascist often associated with the Musolini’s Italy is now being used to address authoritarian regime and right wing populace like the former President of American, Mr. Donald Trump, adding that Professor’s Fascist is a more fitting description for the INEC Chairman, Professor Yakubu Mahmood who acted without restrain when he was told hold on and crosscheck results from the field before proceeding.

She said Fascist is a befitting description for the unparallel violence that trailed the 2023 general election and that Fascist is a fitting description for those who kept quite in the midst of violence and intimidation without speaking up and government that has refused to addressed issues relating to the ‘madness’ that trailed the election.

She said that Datti-Ahmed’s utterance that “if our democracy is rooted in our constitution and you go ahead and swear in a person who has been elected unconstitutionally, you  are in fact ending democracy”, and this is quite a reasonable, adding that the use of 2/3^rd in the constitution is arguable but that ‘and’ remains a conjunction used with plural and wonders why the use of ‘and’  is contentious, when it clear to every user of the English Language.

“I have a lot of respect for Professor Wole Soyinka, though I watched the interview initially I went back to watch the interview again, wondering, did I miss out anything. I think Fascist is a very strong word, used during the Musolini’s Italy but we use it now to address authoritarianism, right wing populace, even the former American president.

“If you look at these things, you see why they are tagged fascist. But I did not see any reason why Datti-Baba Ahmed interview will be tagged fascist, he was making a very strongly and felt  point about the election. What he was saying, I thought is very reasonable  is that if our democracy is rooted in our constitution and you go ahead and swear in a person who has been elected unconstitutionally, you  are in fact ending democracy, and this is quite reasonable.

“ Of course we can argue what and means in the constitution.  Mr. Datti Baba Ahmed is saying 2/3^rd majority and the FCT. And is a conjunction and of course the court will interpret it. If the labour party is in court, it is because they do not believe that this election is constitutional and so I just didn’t quite see why he should be tagged fascism.

“I think Professor Soyinka is not given to restrain in language in general and I think that is where that word came from. And I do have suggestion of what we can use fascist for, we can use fascist for INEC, because as it is now, many Nigerian feel  deeply cheated by INEC and deeply disenfranchised  by INEC, and authoritarianism which is a the basis of fascism at the centre of manipulating election, because what you are doing is your are gagging people; you are  forcibly taking away their voice, that is fascist,  fascist is more of the violence that happened during the election, fascist is remaining silent about the violence, fascist is a government that has not come out to address the very tangible and discontent in this country.

“So, what I mean when I said we can use fascist for INEC, is because many of us including me believe it has nothing to do with technological glitch. I feel that prof Yakubu had an opportunity for heroism and I think he wasted it spectacularly, because he could very easily have become a hero of not only Nigeria but Africa, because so many Africans were watching, they were so inspired by what happened before the election about the obedient movement, so I also think that President Buhari missed an opportunity for his last chance of heroism. Nigeria felt that he meant well and will support credible election but I don thing many Nigerians think that now.