ACN and It's Fledgling Bureaucracy ..... By Wale Bakare

In the build up to the April 2011 general election, the opposition parties, especially the Action Congress of Nigeria rekindled what is left in hope for Nigerians in the quest for a true opposition to the ruling party PDP who has held sway abysmally for close to 15years at the helms of affair of the nations ivory tower. The anxiety cum hysterical that caused a lot of ripples in the air during the election wasn’t solely borne out of the fact that we had conceived a messiah in the ACN to transform the country overnight but rather a virile opposition that will give us all the mist of a nation in dire need to preserve its nascent democracy as it was the practice in other third world countries. In essence, we wanted to send a positive signal to the global community to behold that our democracy is indeed practiced in line with best international standards, hence the need for a multi party system. The wands of power shifted within the South-West , the chicken has come home to roost and the Action Congress of Nigeria coast home to victory, thanks to the incorruptible judges who ensured that stolen mandates were returned to the rightful owners. It was a hard fought battle and the international observers were pleased with the country for getting this right at once. There is no gainsaying that the ACN would later become the major beneficiary of the judicial ruling, upturning one court case or the other in their favour to send a stern signal to their arch rival that they have indeed arrived the arena with the eyes of an eagle and the strength of the elephant. The landslide recorded via the judicial was applauded by everyone, and by contrast we’d all expected the same party to accept the judgement of the judiciary should the pendulum swing against it. Justice proved a costly mien in replicating itself and the people’s belief in the ACN as an upright party waned like a façade let loose prematurely. This was by far a deviation from the creed and the legacy left behind by Pa Awolowo which the party often claimed to hinge its ideology. Such was the case with the Chairmanship election for the Ikoyi/Obalende LGA council when the lower tribunal ruled in the favour of the PDP candidate, Mr Babajide Obanikoro upturning the earlier mandate given to the ACN candidate sacked from office by the court for misconduct and mass irregularities in the last general election in April. For the avoidance of doubt, the evidence(s) brought before the court had been established to be fraught with mass irregularities and electioneering racketing. Glaringly, the exhibits presented before the panel of judges was convincing enough to upturn the stage, this time , against the mercenaries of the ACN. It is rather disheartening and undemocratic for the ruling party in Lagos to use the judiciary in its favour to declare their candidate victorious after deliberate attempts to adjourn the cases severally in order to perfect their evil acts despite the bribery and corruption allegation levelled against the judges. Nonetheless, the real democrats who defied all odds to vote for the candidates of their choice and denied by a human machination must be reeling in their thousands on the calamitous effect of such hegomy and its likely implication in future elections. This remains largely one of the brazen ruling witnessed in a long while under a democratic dispensation, feeding the public with false innuendos such as the lawyers not obeying the date to make appeal on technical ground is a brazen lie that is patently unjust thus creating animosity & fear amongst the judges and its citizenry.There is an urgent need to embark on a post mortem of the challenges militating against the autonomy of the judiciary to prevent criminals from hijacking future elections. Local government laws should be amended, INEC should be left to conduct all elections, a separate accounting system should be run by the states and local government and all allocations should be published by the ministry of finance as it is being done for the allocations to the states. Bootlegging, thuggery, bribery, election racketeering and intimidation of opponents in a perceived democratic environment will not augur well for our development. The case again, is no longer a one horse race. Nigerian’s at home and in the Diaspora are watching. Enough is enough; what is good for the geese should be sufficient for the gander. Wale Bakare is a writer for BailiffAfrica.org and a social media commentator. Waleflame@gmail.com @waleflame www.facebook.com/waleflame

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