The 2023 election in Nigeria was, to put it mildly, a glorious spectacle of democratic theatre, and at its heart, we found our esteemed intellectual giants – the university professors. Tasked by INEC, the electoral body, to be the impartial guardians of electoral integrity, many of them instead chose to moonlight as enthusiastic co-conspirators in the grand tradition of electoral malpractice. And oh, what a spectacular boomerang their choices have become! They are now, quite ironically, enjoying the bitter fruits of the very system they so diligently helped cultivate.
It’s truly a marvel, isn’t it? These beacons of erudition, meant to uphold truth and academic honesty, were caught with their hands in the cookie jar of electoral fraud. Recall the legendary Professor Peter Ogban, who, in a stroke of genius in the 2019 election, simply conjured numbers from the ether to favour certain political patrons. His reward? A cozy stint in jail. Not to be outdone, Professor Ignatius Uduk, from the same illustrious academic fraternity and locale, also earned himself three years in prison for similar electoral acrobatics. These aren’t mere whispers; these are certified, court-proven sagas of intellectual dishonesty, showcasing how those we entrusted with the sacred duty of fairness opted for the path of least resistance and maximum personal gain, shattering public trust with the finesse of a sledgehammer.
And now, for the pièce de résistance, the current administration, led by the very beneficiaries of this electoral ‘innovation,’ has ushered in an era of unprecedented calm from our usually vociferous academic and non-academic unions. Where, oh where, are the thunderous pronouncements of ASUU, NASU, SSANU, and their agitated brethren? The once-mighty voices, accustomed to shutting down universities at the drop of a hat over welfare, unpaid salaries, and the government’s notorious reluctance to honour agreements, have suddenly adopted a Zen-like silence. It’s truly a testament to their newfound maturity, or perhaps, the sweet, sweet taste of the consequences they helped bake.
The poor welfare conditions? The months of unpaid salaries? The government’s steadfast refusal to implement previously negotiated agreements? The rapidly declining standards of education, turning public universities into glorified secondary schools? And let’s not forget the impending doom of public university funding, with whispers of TETFUND’s elimination – a policy that promises to truly cement the ‘excellence’ they helped elect. All these issues, which would have previously triggered nationwide strikes that made the country grind to a halt, now elicit nothing but a deafening, almost poetic, silence. It’s as if they’ve suddenly realized that the “change” they helped usher in has a rather peculiar way of affecting their own pockets and the very institutions they claim to protect. What a masterclass in strategic quietude! One can almost hear the crickets chirping in the hallowed halls of academia, a stark contrast to the usual cacophony of demands.
The problem, of course, wasn’t confined to the ivory tower. The judiciary, that supposed bastion of justice, also played its part. Remember the judge in Yola who, with a flourish, ordered the arrest of an election official, Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari, for daring to defy court orders regarding the 2023 election? It highlighted how even the courts, meant to be the final arbiters of fairness, were either complicit or conveniently impotent. Time and again, despite glaring evidence of electoral malfeasance, the courts mysteriously found ways to rubber-stamp the results, thereby legitimizing the grand charade.
When professors, judges, and politicians engage in such a harmonious symphony of deception, the very fabric of honesty and trust in a nation is shredded. Citizens lose faith when those who are meant to be the pillars of democracy actively conspire to dismantle it. The 2023 election, therefore, wasn’t just an election; it was a glaring mirror reflecting a broken system. We are in desperate need of fundamental reforms to ensure our elections are fair, transparent, and genuinely trustworthy.
In summation, the 2023 Nigerian election was a glorious mess, orchestrated by a collaborative effort between intellectual giants (professors), legal luminaries (judges), and political maestros. Their collective performance ensured untrustworthy results. Now, those very professors, who so eagerly participated in the electoral ‘innovation,’ are experiencing the profound joy of poor governance, a struggling economy, and a rapidly decaying education system – a direct, undeniable consequence of the crooked system they helped erect. They are, quite literally, stuck with the very problems their actions helped bring about. The boomerang, it seems, has returned with a vengeance, and it’s hitting exactly where it hurts.