From Gbade Akanbi, in India.
There are numerous acts of insensitivity and abuse of office by the current President, PMB as popularly known. This ranges from lopsided appointments to feet dragging when firmness is required.
However, one of these lopsided appointments for which one expects notable institutions and individuals like the media, civil societies, and political leaders to have raised serious alarm is that of the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission INEC. The current chairman comes not only from the same geographical constituency with Mr President, he is also from the same religious constituency!
This is the man who will conduct the 2019 election and yet not many Nigerians are bothered about this. Is this a high-level witchcraft working against the minds of Nigerians? How come this doesn’t bother us? Are we under a spell? Are we so subjugated by the intimidating posture of Mr President and his cabal?
Since I grew up to understand the electioneering process in Nigeria, it has never happened for the election referee and the sitting president to come from the same constituency. Shehu Shagari never did it, Obasanjo never did it, and GEJ never did so, but why is PMB doing so and yet we are silently approving it?
If the current leadership of INEC should be allowed to conduct next year’s election as they are already gearing up to do, you can be sure that the election will not be credible. The appointment of the INEC chairman, as I see It, is one of the ways that PMB and his cabal has carefully planned to ensure their perpetuation in power.
They know that come 2019, Nigerians will reject PMB and, so, in order to frustrate the decision of Nigerians, the referee INEC will be used to achieve that purpose. But the more disturbing aspect of the whole saga is the silence of the media, the civil societies and human rights organizations, sincere church and Muslim leaders, and especially the opposition parties.
There should be a nationwide mobilization against the INEC as currently constituted and this has to be spearheaded by the above mentioned institutions. Let the religious leaders not limit their ministry to the four walls of their buildings. If the early clerics in Europe had limited their ministry to the four walls of the church, slavery wouldn’t have been abolished!
The Nigerian church especially need to be involved in the issues affecting the country as a whole more than ever before. We all need to remember that wickedness thrives more when the voices of reason choose to be silent. Even if all other people are bewitched, it not expected that the church will also be bewitched except something has gone wrong terribly with her.
●●Akanbi, a post-graduate student, is based in India.