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By Young Erhiurhoro
I want to look at this topic from the layman’s view and not necessarily from the legal perspective. I have two cogent reasons for choosing this side of the coin. First, I’m not a legal practitioner by profession. Based on this, I wouldn’t define the three terms making up this topic in the light of Law and Jurisprudence.
But I want to define them from the perspective of a general or common understanding of the topic as a journalist and a columnist.
Secondly, I want all our esteemed readers to get the clear understanding of this discourse from the common and general undertone the topic of discussion implies. That is, I want everybody to be carried along all through the discussion without any form of distraction with respect to bias or wrong interpretation of the terms.
On this note, I therefore define incumbency, as applied to political usage, as a political situation where a sitting political office holder, for instance, the governor of a state or the president of a country, supervises and conducts elections, in which he is a contestant, with the aim of retaining his political position, for as many times as he desires.
Without doubt, many will agree with me that since the current democratic dispensation began in Nigeria in 1999, the power of incumbency has become a major challenge to contend with in the true practice of democracy in this country.
The unfortunate use, or misuse rather, of this so-called power of incumbency has given birth to political vices like election rigging, god-fatherism, federal might, second term ‘do-or-die’ saga, ballot box snatching, fabrication of election results, thuggery and many more.
These political vices are today gradually threatening and weakening our nascent democracy to its roots and foundations. The future of democracy in this country is however very bleak if we continue like this without immediate change to due process and true practice of democracy.
To buttress the above point, whether we accept it or not, the power of incumbency has contributed and continue to contribute roughly to actualizing the second term ‘do-or-die’ desire of sitting governors and presidents of the country since 1999 till date.
For instance, this gave Chief Olusegun Obasanjo the golden privilege to easily come back to power for a second term without much hindrance or rivalry from any political party or opponent.
Since 1999, apart from Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his predecessor, late Alhaji Musa Yar’adua, the other presidents used the powerful of incumbency to their political advantage at the detriment of the electorates. President Buhari’s election of 2019 was no exception. In fact, all the sitting governors and the president benefited much from the power of incumbency in the 2019 elections.
This was why some Nigerians advocated and recommended a single term of six years for the presidency and governorship, just to eliminate the use of this so-called power of incumbency by power-drunk politicians that are bent on winning elections at all cost.
On the other hand, even if two terms of four years each would be allowed, incumbent leaders should not be allowed to organize and conduct elections in which they are contestants. As long as they stay in power to organize and conduct such elections, they would naturally use this so-called power of incumbency to their advantage.
This was why, as president of Congo/Zaire, late Mobutu Sese Seko once said, “How can I lose an election which I organise?”
The truth of the matter is that, an incumbent can’t lose election when he holds a whip in one hand and a bagful of money in the other hand, which he uses liberally to cow or crush an opponent. Mobutu ruled Congo/Zaire for over thirty years and was ousted from office, not through the ballot box but by the bullet. Can we describe the Mobutu government as democratic in operation?
The power of incumbency in this country is similar to a satirical song done by an Urhobo music maestro , late Chief Ugute Otan. According to the song, a farmer’s tubers of yam that were stored in the barn were stolen, and the farmer went to the king of the land to report the theft. At the end of the council meeting, the king mandated Chief Yam Beetle, who was known in the entire community as a yam-eater to adjudicate the matter. Immediately the farmer heard this, he withdrew his case from the king’s court and that was the end of the matter. It’s glaringly clear from the above satire that a judge in his own case can’t be a loser.
This is the political agony and democratic bondage that the power of incumbency has placed Nigerians in with regards to almost all our general elections since 1999.
Without mincing words, I won’t be far from the truth if I say that the recent Edo State gubernatorial election that was conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was also heavily influenced by the power of incumbency. Many political analysts have written much on this immediately the election results were announced by the electoral umpire, the INEC.
Whether we like it or not, the power of incumbency contributed to the victory and success of Mr. Godwin Obaseki in the polls, even after his defection to PDP, a once opposition party in his first term. And even if we have to watch out now, the same drama of the power of incumbency will also play out in the October 10 Ondo state governorship election.
There is an adage among the Urhobo people that says, a cripple is always a winner in a wrestling contest. This is because the cripple is already on the ground and there’s no deeper ground that he will fall into than where he was.
Therefore, as the name implies, a sitting governor or president is somebody already sitting on top of power and at the same time, he decided to join the electoral contest. He must surely win at the end of the contest since he is his own judge and umpire.
However, to correct this political anomaly and error in our general elections is the major purpose of this discourse. Therefore, the 2010 electoral act and the Nigerian constitution must be reviewed immediately by the National Assembly before the next general elections in 2023.
If truly our lawmakers mean well for the unity of this country and the continuity and sustenance of our baby democracy; then the electoral act must be reviewed and such obnoxious sections of the act empowering the governor or the president to still remain in office while contesting an election, should be amended or completely removed.
The electoral act should be reviewed in such a way to make all contestants in the election equal in political strength. All governors and the president, including members of both the national and state assemblies should “drop power” before they are allowed to contest in any political position.
Without this, as a political clique, this set of politicians would tenaciously hold on to power and continuously remain in the same elective office for years without challenge from anybody. It’s a political design by these politicians to continuously remain in office, camouflaging with the banner of a political party as their sponsors.
For these politicians to continue to be in office, it’s not the choice of the people or through their political mandate. They only used the power of incumbency to force their personal political will on the electorates as if it were a military regime in the country.
Without doubt, the power of incumbency is a military tactic wisely incorporated into our democratic dispensation by our military dictators, which Nigerian civilians have considered the best and surest means to secure power as the military made ready to hand over to civilians in 1999.
In line with this military practice, there are some states in Nigeria where a set of politicians in such states decide the outcome of every election. The votes of the people don’t dare count in such elections.
For instance, Delta State is a known Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state in the country since 1999. Even after 2023, I’m still envisaging that Delta State will still remain a PDP state because of the wise use of the power of incumbency in the state by a few selected politicians.
There are other states in the country that are also suffering the same political calamities too. In such states, such politicians know how to rotate the power among themselves.
The sitting governor will always prepare the ground awaiting the incoming governor whenever he completes his double portion of the political meal and ready to handle over power to the next member of the political clique. This is the ugly political experience in Delta State and other states across the nation since 1999.
However, at the federal level, it’s only presidents without military blood and training that are ready to relinquish power peacefully through the ballot box to a contending opponent, e.g President Goodluck Jonathan. The cases of both President Obasanjo and President Buhari proves the point in my argument.
To conclude this discourse, I want to remind Nigerians that the 2023 general elections are not far from now. So many politicians are already showing interest in different political positions at both state and federal levels. In fact, strong consultations are already taking place through many advocacy groups and canvassers at both state and the federal levels for such prominent contenders.
In the same way, if attention is not given to the cries of Nigerians to immediately review the Electoral Act before the said general elections, the power of incumbency will virtually play out as usual. There won’t be much changes as to credibility, transparency, fair judgement in the 2023 general elections.
The political and the electoral system of the country will perpetually remain rotational and cyclical in their hands as before.
The electoral act must be reviewed to reflect the true tenets of democracy by creating equity, fair play, justice, equality and balance in the 2023 general elections and beyond. In other words, to achieve this as fast as possible, our lawmakers must prove to the citizenry that they are the mouth-piece of the people in the national assembly by drafting a bill to review the Electoral Act now.
Such a bill must be vigorously pursued to a logical end, by making the president to sign it into law without political hiccups. This is the only way changes can be created in the next general elections.
On a serious note, the Nigerian constitution as amended has mandated a sitting president or governor to contest the same office or position for two consecutive terms.
In the real sense, I’m not against this constitutional provision. They have both the fundamental and political right to contest the elections, but they should contest after they had dropped the power in that office, so as to create neutrality and equality in the electoral system.
They can’t contest, holding the power of incumbency, and still expect an opponent from a different political party to win that election. If truly they want to go back into office for a second term, then they should allow their services to the people in their first term speak for either their victory or failure at the polls.
It’s against democratic practice all over the world for you as a politician to perpetually tie yourself to the people against their will and interest without allowing their votes to count. It’s uncalled for, especially given that democracy has become the most acceptable form of government in this Nigeria; after we had tasted much of military rule.
Also, another issue we should consider is that politicians should be allowed to contest any election in Nigeria on a neutral ground. To achieve this, interim or caretaker administrations must be established at federal and state levels six months before conduct of general elections to appoint members of the electoral body to organize, conduct and supervise elections and to also perform other executive functions of government.
This is what obtains in Bangladesh and some other countries whose constitutions make provision for a retired chief justice or other distinguished neutral personality to head an interim government to organize elections.
This is why the 1999 Nigeria constitution should be amended to include this constitutional provision.
This is where I draw the curtain in this discussion. Nigerians shouldn’t forget that, it’s a taboo for a herbalist to visit the evil forest for a second time.
Young Erhiurhoro, Kjc, is a reporter and a member of the Urhobo Historical Society
