Interview
Digging Deep: Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim On Nigeria’s 2023 Elections
Published
2 years agoon
By Toyin Falola
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…” This is the epic opening to Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, considered one of the world’s classics. If this opening were adapted to the reality of Nigeria’s 2023 elections, the result would be akin to this saying, “the presidential election that took place on March 25 was the 7th since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, and depending on who you ask, it was the best or worst election the country has had.” This latter saying is Dr. Chido Onumah’s — the panel discussion moderator at the last edition of the Toyin Falola Interviews.
Dr. Onumah’s claim that Nigeria’s recently concluded election could be adjectivized as either the best or the worst lends credence to the belief that in a democratic setting, a confluence of predispositions and outcomes determine people’s conclusions on matters. And given a case where opposing parties are often in a keen contest for power — the winners will almost always adjudge the process fairly, while the losers will adjudge it as far from credible. Such is the power of outcomes on human conclusions.
Better said, if the election were to have been won by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, would the Tinubu supporters and the All Progressives Congress claim today that the elections were free, fair, and credible? Would they accept that the elections reflect Nigerians’ true democratic wish — especially as it was the most keenly contested in the country’s recent democracy, the winner emerging by just about 37% of the total votes cast? This percentage, considered extremely low in the context of other elections since Nigeria’s return to democracy, is being touted by many — especially those on the side of the declared winner — as proof of how democratic the process was. To them, the winning candidate would not have scored that low if the election was not fair and credible. However, regarding perception-influenced conclusions, human perceptions and outcomes determine people’s conclusions.
Nigeria’s 2023 elections will go down in history as part of the most emotionally invested elections in the country. Although the same might be said for the 2015 elections, the difference in the two cases is that the results of the 2015 elections were in favour of the majority of the emotionally invested voters — those that were fed up with the People’s Democratic Party’s one-sided rule of 16 years and the worsening state of security in the country. However, the 2023 elections did not favour the larger percentage of the emotionally invested — the third force that had risen in the wake of the multi-dimensional problems of the past 8 years to forge a new alliance and revamp the Nigerian approach to governance.
As the elections did not sway in favour of the rising opposition, there have been doubts about the election’s credibility, and the doubts that could have been about the 2015 elections pale in comparison to the ones we have had in 2023. Are those doubts valid? Or are they only being voiced because the candidates of the doubters did not emerge as the winners of the elections? This, among other things, served as the foundation of the discourse moderated by Dr. Onumah.
One of the first things that come to mind when considering elections in Nigeria is that no matter how seemingly free, fair, or credible the elections might have been, the country is known to have pockets of malpractices across its polling units — from expected and full-blown bribery to over-voting, to voter intimidation, to manipulation of results, to the severe cases of maiming and killing. The nonsense surrounding the gubernatorial election in Adamawa State is proof of this. For days, the Adamawa Gubernatorial election results remained inconclusive, and as the Independent National Electoral Commission strove to make things right, the All Progressives Congress candidate, Aishat Binani, alongside the Adamawa State Electoral Commission and the returning officer, announced what they claimed to be election results. In what seemed to have been a calculated move, news media all over reported Aishat Binani’s win and emergence as Nigeria’s history-making female governor. The shenanigans of the Adamawa gubernatorial election are pointers to two things: first, the 2023 elections had their pockets of irregularities and malpractices. Whether these pockets of violence are enough to declare the elections as far from being free, fair, and credible is yet another issue entirely. Second, Nigeria is being ushered into — or has already been in — a full cruising state, whereby ridiculous and outrageous issues are the order of the day, grabbing the attention of national dailies and the Nigerian populace.
Professor Jibrin Ibrahim believes that the 2023 elections were credible. His belief is rooted in the notion that the claims of irregularities and malpractices are insufficient to invalidate the results. Being a seasoned election observer and the Director-General of the Center for Democracy and Development, Prof. Ibrahim drew on his wealth of experience to establish his claim that the reality of Nigeria’s elections is being masked by claims of irregularities which are not substantial compared to the largest organized process in other parts of the country.
The learned professor based his postulation on the claim that all countries have their electoral irregularities and that, seeing as no country is exempted, emphasis should not be on the irregularities. This begs the question of the degree of gravity. To what extent would irregularities occur in the electoral process before they are considered process-altering irregularities? What percentage of irregularities is allowed in a given election year?
There is no denying that media houses deploy the focused reporting approach, where happenings are attacked from all angles and by all media houses, making them trending issues. This is true for malpractices, electoral violence, and irregularities during elections. Professor Ibrahim’s bone of contention is that if these irregularities and violence happen in possibly less than 10% of all polling units, why do they receive so much attention, so much so that they become the focal point for defining the state of the election? The question would then be whether irregularities — no matter how minute — do not automatically mar the sanctity and credibility of the process. Should we rather play technicality and give a margin of error? Or should we unanimously agree that as long as there is violence — even in 10 of 10 000 total polling units — the elections were not free and fair?
Drawing on what was earlier said about predispositions and election outcomes being the determinants of the conclusions people reach on the credibility of elections in the country, Professor Ibrahim posited that Nigerians approach the matter of elections with an expected outcome in mind and then choose to either positively or negatively react based on the eventual outcome and how it relates to their stance. Thus, if the expected outcome of one Mr. Johnson is that the Nigerian elections are always rigged and that 2023 will be no better, and if there were to be reports of violence in some parts of the country during the election, and if, coupled with these two, Mr. Johnson’s preferred or expected candidate loses the election, then, there will be a positive reaction to the preconceived expected outcome — where Mr. Johnson will go around claiming that the elections were rigged as usual.
There is no doubt that Nigeria has been steadily trailing down a slippery slope as it concerns its elections. The larger percentage of the presidential elections in Nigeria since the return to democracy was eventually resolved by the judiciary. And given that the judiciary in Nigeria is not as independent and devoid of external influences as it should be, it is dangerous for the democracy of the country to keep having elections that are not credible enough to be unanimously agreed as free, fair, and credible.
This also raises questions about the motives of the contenders in court — are they contending the results because they are aggrieved or because they truly have a case? If it were the former, it would be difficult to have Nigeria reach that state where most stakeholders would agree that the elections were free, fair, and devoid of irregularities. However, if it were the latter, Nigeria and all stakeholders in the Nigerian project have to consciously work toward building the country into a truly democratic state where the expected outcomes of a few people are not forced on all through intimidation and electoral malpractices.
This is Part 2 of my reflections on the Panel Discussion on Nigeria’s 2023 elections by Ayisha Osori, Jibrin Ibrahim, Cynthia Mbamalu, and Chido Onumah. The session, which has received millions of views across different platforms, discussed the various aspects of the elections. My views are not necessarily those of the four panelists. For the transcripts, see:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mDGGO7ffzuw
Facebook: https://fb.watch/jX_ecFA_ZE/
You may like
-
M. Yayale Ahmed: Filling Gaps In Nigeria’s Administrative Reform History
-
Burning Issues: (Hunger In The Land) 3
-
Kemi Badenoch’s Bad Knocks On Nigeria
-
Tinubu Congratulates Civil Service Commission Chair Olaopa As He Turns 65
-
A Conversation About Hunger
-
Leadership Ethics Template For Reinventing Akinyele Era Of Civil Service In Nigeria
INTERVIEW
Lerato Mbele To Interview Kingsley Moghalu January 19
Published
18 hours agoon
January 9, 2025Lerato Mbele will on January 19, 2025 hold a conversation with Prof. Kingsley Moghalu under the auspices of the Toyin Falola Interviews. Mbele is an international broadcaster, talkshow host, TV personality & media consultant with a passion for African development.
She is the 2023 Recipient of one South Africa’s highest honours (2023) the Charlotte Maxeke Women in Leadership Award – for her work done in international broadcasting.
She is the owner of “Moon Landing Media” (pty) Ltd & proprietor of the African Leadership Dialogues series. In her native home South Africa, she currently hosts a daily talkshow & podcast titled “PowerTalk with Lerato Mbele”.
Prior to this Lerato Mbele spent nine years as a TV presenter and broadcaster for the global news organization BBC World News.
She hosted the BBC’s main Africa-focused business shows “Talking Business Africa”, “In Business Africa” and “Africa Business Report”, as well as hosting international documentaries such as “Follow the Food” and programming that linked Africa’s relationships in global trade, commerce and international development institutions.
Lerato Mbele has also been a senior business anchor at CNBC Africa and also a prime time news anchor in her native South African Broadcast Corporation.
She has worked as a foreign policy researcher and advisor, as well as heading the multiparty democracy programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs. Here she was co-editor of the book “Designing Democracy in Africa” with Ayesha Kajee.
Her international journalism has seen her interview global leaders, chief executives and Nobel Laureates – amongst others being Bill Gates, Ajay Banga, Christine Lagarde, Kristelina Georgieva, Richard Branson, Sundar Pachai, Graça Machel, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Wole Soyinka, Muhammed Yunus, the late Kofi Annan & Wangari Maathai, President Paul Kagame, President Thabo Mbeki, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other leaders.
She has moderated numerous plenaries at the World Bank, World Trade Organization, New Development Bank (BRICS Bank), World Economic Forum, UNGA, UNECA, OPEC Fund Development Forum and AfDB.
Lerato Mbele is a Chevening Scholar who holds an MSc Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London.
She was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, in 2014 chapter.
Lerato Mbele was recently awarded one of South Africa’s highest honours (2023) the Charlotte Maxeke Women in Leadership for her contribution to media and broadcasting across Africa. An honour given to her by the Minister of International Relations & Cooperation, and the South African government in recognition of her broadcast journalism across Africa and the developing world, which they stated has helped to change narratives about Africa in the global community.
She has appeared on the power lists of the Oprah Magazine, NewAfrican Women, Leading Ladies Africa, the Star Newspaper, featured in the Mail & Guardian’s biography of the most influential women in South Africa titled “On the shoulders of giants”.
She’s also a former member of the council and board for the University of Cape Town, ranked Africa’s number 1 university and institute of higher learning.
Please join us for a conversation with Kingsley Moghalu, President, African School of Governance (ASG) in Kigali, Rwanda.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
5 PM Nigeria
10 AM Austin
6 PM Rwanda
Register Here:
https://www.tfinterviews.com/post/kingsley-moghalu
Join Via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87199406999
Interview
Toyin Falola Interviews Holds Conversation With Kingsley Moghalu
Published
20 hours agoon
January 9, 2025The Toyin Falola Interviews is set to hold a conversation with Prof . Kingsley Moghalu, President, African School of Governance (ASG) in Kigali, Rwanda.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
5 PM Nigeria
10 AM Austin
6 PM Rwanda
Register Here:
https://www.tfinterviews.com/post/kingsley-moghalu
Join Via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87199406999
Professor Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, a political economist and transformational leader in governance and public policy, is the President of the African School of Governance (ASG), a graduate-level pan-African university established to build the next generation of purpose-driven leaders for Africa and headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda.
He was the Founder & President of the Institute for Governance and Public Transformation (IGET), a public policy think tank. Professor Moghalu served as Special Envoy of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Post-COVID Development Finance for Africa, and was Professor of Practice in International Business and Public Policy at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and Senior Fellow at the Council on Emerging Market Enterprises.
He previously served as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2009-2014, leading the implementation of extensive reforms in the banking sector, development finance and impact investing, financial inclusion, and payment system reforms that took Nigeria to become Africa’s largest fintech market and the leading hub for fintech innovation. He also supervised the asset management of Nigeria’s $37 billion foreign reserves.
Prof Moghalu earlier founded Sogato Strategies SA, a global strategy and risk advisory firm in Geneva, Switzerland after a 17-year career in the United Nations system in which he served in strategic planning, legal and external affairs assignments in Cambodia, New York, Croatia, Tanzania, and Switzerland, rising to the highest career rank of Director. He is the author of several books, including the critically acclaimed Emerging Africa: How the Global Economy’s Last Frontier Can Prosper and Matter (Penguin, 2014), and obtained Ph.D., M.A. and LLB degrees at the London School of Economics, The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and the University of Nigeria. Moghalu also is an executive education alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Business School, Wharton, and Columbia Business School.
He is the recipient of several honors including the National Honor of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (FCIB), and the degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) Honoris Causa conferred by Anambra State University (Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University) , and holds the traditional title of Ifekaego Nnewi, conferred on him by HRH Dr. K.O.N. Orizu III, Igwe of Nnewi Kingdom. He is also the Founder of the Isaac Moghalu Foundation (IMoF), an education-access philanthropic foundation.
Kingsley Moghalu was born in Lagos in 1963 to Isaac Moghalu (now deceased), a Nigerian Foreign Service Officer, and Vidah Moghalu, a teacher at the time and now a long-retired dietician. Professor Moghalu is married to Maryanne Moghalu and they have 5 children.
INTERVIEW
How A Dull Student Graduated From University With A First-class Degree
Published
7 months agoon
June 18, 2024How do you feel after making a first-class degree from the Nasarawa State University?
I feel very elated, in fact it’s a dream come true. At the time I got admission into Nasarawa State University Keffi, a lot of students tried to discourage me, including some of my course mates for being too serious with my academics, some of them even said “nobody will give you first class”. But after my first semester result at 100 level came out, I had 4.30/5.0. This was the moment that changed everything, I realized it was a goal possible to attain only if I put in more effort and work smarter. At the 200 level first semester, I already had a first class CGPA of 4.53, so I just kept on with the tempo. Although faced with so many challenges, at the end graduated as the best student in my department with a CGPA of 4.59
What are you doing currently?
Currently, l’m serving my father’s land under the umbrella of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). It’s a privilege to serve, I must say and I’m using this opportunity to impact the students at my PPA and ensuring they get the best education in both practical and theoretical aspects of their studies.
Judging by your name Emmanuel Edirin Onomuakpokpo, you are obviously from Delta State in the South-south. Why did you leave all the universities in the South-south to attend Nasarawa State University?
After I wrote my first JAMB in 2017, Delta State University, Abraka (DELSU) was the first school to which I applied. My dad wanted me to go for medicine but unfortunately I applied for medical biochemistry instead because I didn’t hit the cut-off mark for medicine in my JAMB. However, I had 98/100 in their Post-UTME exam but yet was not given admission to study medical biochemistry. I could remember crying my eyes out that year, seeing my friends whom we graduated from secondary school together gaining admission to universities, I never wanted to sit at home doing nothing. May be it was actually God’s plan not to get admission then because medicine was never something I envisaged for myself. My drive had always been agriculture because I have always loved the idea of growing food and feeding the nation as a kid. So, studying an agricultural discipline would be to me a fullfiment of that dream. The next year 2018, thanks to Engr. Uzoma Kenneth .K, a neighbour of ours at the time and a family friend who introduced me to the concept of agricultural biotechnology, he told me this was the future of modern agriculture and encouraged me to focus my attention there since I already had interest in agriculture. So that very year I researched schools that offer this course, to the best of my knowledge Nasarawa State University Keffi was the closest I could find. Proximity to the university was another advantage to me since we resided in Nasarawa State. These and many other factors contributed to me leaving all the universities in the South and studying at the prestigious Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
What inspired you to attain that academic height?
Let me cut the long story short. I wasn’t always this brilliant and intelligent. There was a time I was called dull by my principal when I was in primary school. I struggled with my academics so much that my principal had to advise my mum to change my school because he couldn’t help my situation. This made my mum cry so much and I could feel her pains. After my mum agreed to change my school, I was repeated and had to be in the same class with my younger sister at the time. The moment I will never forget was one fateful morning, I was seated at the back sit of the class writing my exams, I think English Language, as I was focused on my paper suddenly I heard my name Emmanuel!! with a thunderous and aggressive voice, when I raised my head up it was my quantitative reasoning teacher Mr. Haruna. I will never forget his name. He called me out to the front of the class, and without first telling me the crime I had committed, he gave me a dirty slap. After which in an angry tone, he told me I failed his quantitative reasoning exam, that I had 16/70. I held my face with my hands, because I was very fair, the marks of his hands were visible on my face. I went home that day with that trauma and anger and told myself that never again would I be humiliated because of my academic performance. I didn’t just tell myself out of emotion, I backed it up with actions. Nobody was telling me to read my books, I told myself, I stopped playing too much and I began focusing on my books. The next term after the previous one the incident happened, I came second in class. This made my mum so happy . My dad was in Benin at the time, he had to send a bicycle for me as his present to show his appreciation of my performance. I was happy with myself too. From then on, there was this consciousness I woke up to that ignited my desire to become the best in everything I do. I was also inspired by my dad’s academic performance, Mr. Augustine A. Onomuakpokpo. He graduated with a second class upper. At the time I got into the university I told him I was going to beat his results. He challenged me to it and now I guess I won, all glory be to God.
Did you envisage coming out of the university with that class of degree?
At first I envisaged graduating with a good grade, maybe second-class upper degree. But after my first semester result at the 100 level, I took a pen and wrote on a sheet of paper “l’m a First-class Plant Biotechnologist” and pasted it on my wall in my room. At this point I knew it was possible and waking up everyday to the writing on my wall, I became restless and heavy each time I missed out on my reading timetable because the man on the wall was the only thing I could see.
What were the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?
The challenges were numerous but the most daunting one was the issue of balancing my academic life, social life and spiritual life. I had to find a way to be active in all. To surmount the issue of socialization, when I got into the university at the 100 level, because of how pro-active I was in all things pertaining to student welfarism, I was made the course representative. This exposed me to interacting with students from different backgrounds, cultures and traditions. I had to develop leadership skills, listening skills and attentiveness to be able to shoulder the responsibilities of being a course rep and secretary general of the department. I was also very active in religious activities. During the 100 level second semester, I discovered that from 100 – 400 levels, there was no group dedicated to actively putting my school especially my department in prayers, so I formed one and congregated students to intercede for the department. I believe our prayers worked and God helped us. Although I was engaged with all these activities, I also ensured that only 20% of my time was given to them and 80% of the time, I was always on my books.
How did your lecturers support you ?
I wouldn’t have achieved this great feat without the help of my lecturers. At this point, I’m proud to call them my mentors. They include Dr. Bello Abdulkarim, Dr. Muhammad Hassan Sani Loko and my very unquantifiably supportive supervisor Prof. J. C. Onovo. They saw the potential I was carrying, and they drew me close like a father would a son and constantly fed me with words of encouragement. Dr. Bello Abdulkarim and Dr. Muhammad Hassan Sani Loko would always admonish me and call me to order when they noticed I had derailed. University is a place filled with so many distractions, sometimes we may get carried away by activities forgetting the very reason why we are there. Having people like these was a blessing to me and I’m proud to say these were the people that encouraged me and pushed me beyond my self to bring out academic excellence in me.
What is your plan after your youth service?
My plan after my youth service is to get a fully funded scholarship in Canada, USA or Europe, to further my academic career in order to gain advanced knowledge in scientific research especially in the area of biotechnology, genome sequencing, environmental conservation, plant breeding and genetics, and bio-resource engineering. So that with the scientific skills acquired from this programme, I would be able to positively impact the Nigeria agricultural sector and the world at large, to help combat the issue of food insecurity and to proffer solutions to plant-related issues using biotechnology.
What advice do you have for students who desire to graduate with a first-class degree?
My advice is simple, make your academics your priority and exclude unnecessary distractions and put God first. Have a CGPA goal for each semester and remember each time you fail is an opportunity to reinvent yourself to do better the next time you try.
NEW TIMES CULTURE
Oboghoro: Dubai Of Itsekiris
Lerato Mbele To Interview Kingsley Moghalu January 19
Faith In God Or Guns: Priests, And Divine Protection On Trial
Top Stories
-
Opinion3 days ago
M. Yayale Ahmed: Filling Gaps In Nigeria’s Administrative Reform History
-
Opinion4 days ago
Professor Nuhu Yaqub, 1951 To 2025: The Departure Of A Great Man
-
Opinion4 days ago
Much Ado About Defamation
-
Opinion4 days ago
We Listen, We Don’t Judge
-
Latest News2 days ago
Parents Of Secondary School Pupils To Pay 2700 Naira Levy – Govt