In the election held recently across the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, won in three of the six area councils chairmanshipseats, while the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, won the three remaining area councils chairmanship seats.
The PDP trounced the ruling party by winning majority of the councillorship seats. This is certainly a joyous moment in the anals of our nascent democracy when authority allows the people to choose their leaders without hindrance.
The change mantra of the Buhari administration is already showing glimmer of acceptability in our country and it is to the glory of the Minister of the FCT Mallam Mohammed Musa Bello that it is happening first in the FCT.
Many people have praised the minister and the APC for allowing this systematic change to happen. The encomiums being showered on the minister and the APC are basically for the peaceful conduct of the polls.
Since the restoration of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, most, if not all, the local government elections conducted by the state independent electoral commissions across the federation are usually won by the parties in power in the states, leaving nothing for the opposition. As a result, some persons are clamouring for the transfer of the power to conduct the local government polls from the SIECs to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The successful, peacefull, free and fair conduct of the council elections in the FCT is a signal to a better political atmosphere in the FCT. This development is a glimmer of hope for constitutional democracy and a mark of integrity on the part of the political and electoral leadeships in the FCT, led by the able minister.
Before now, only very few discerning Nigerian respect the electoral bodies and indeed authorities because of the prevalence of the syndrome of he who pays the piper dictates the tune. More often than not, the prefix of the SIECs is missing and it is always a zero-sum mindset for the party in power on whom the electoral umpires depend to announce results.
Those who head such electoral umpires are usually in cahoot with politicians in power to rob the people of their voice and votes. They declare whichever party in power as having almost 100 percent of all positions for all the positions in the state. This did not happen in the FCT.due to the integrity of the authorities led by the Mallam Muhammad Bello.
We therefore commend the minister for the manner he handled the electoral process despite losing half of the councils to PDP. We urge other political leaders to allow democracy to take its natural course in their respective domains.
The minister’s action shows that there is no disputing the benefits of good politics to the well being of the society. Religious freedom, economic development, healthy environment, security, peaceful co-existence, good governance and general progress are off-shoots of political choices and policies. We are convinced that if Nigeria gets her politics right at all levels, everything shall be alright across board with positive multiplier effects on the society using the FCT example as a metaphor.
Therefore, we call on Nigeria’s political elite to do the right thing in order to serve as role models for the incoming generations of leaders as the FCT minister has demonstrated. This does not apply only to politics but also the personal lives of individual leaders. Abuja is today upholding a new chapter in elections in Nigeria using technology and the rule of law. The FCT elections validate government’s efforts to invest in technology to promote electoral integrity and transparency.
This is championed by a government that is determined to respect the outcomes of polls whether it wins or not. With utmost humility, we express our profound gratitude to the people of the FCT for the largely peaceful and orderly conduct of the council polls.
We pay tribute to the people of the FCT for their maturity and sophistication in exercising their franchise. Thanks to the minister who has consistently held the view that we all win when democracy triumphs. He has demonstrated political maturity by congratulating all the winners of the polls, irrespective of their political party. He challenged them to use their period in office to serve the people, uphold democractic tenets and promote peace and development in the FCT.
The just concluded FCT polls demonstrated that the FCT administration walks its talk and stands resolutely for free and free elections. The minister placed the credibility and integrity of the electoral process above the discredited practices of previous governments that sought to win every election by any means. This election has shown that there are no obstacles to the successful usage of electronic voting in Nigeria if the political will is there.
This emphatic statement from the ballot boxes has shattered the unhelpful myth that every part of the FCT is an impregnable stronghold of any party. It has removed the baseless stereotyping of certain party as ethnic bastion and religious vehicle. This calls for all in the FCT to cherish this moment by making it the beginning of an enduring reapprochment.
This minister should be particularly proud that his governance attainments and efforts to promote democracy are bearing fruits in the FCT and helping to further unify the people across party lines.
We welcome the significance of the results as an important first step in advancing political consensus and choice and overcoming divisions in the polity because every vote counted. This unprecedented election a well for promoting and advancing unity and commitments to common goals endeavours in the interest of unity,peace,progress in the FCT.It has become an embrace that should not be taken for granted.
The people should celebrate it as a moment of opening new vistas,extending bridges and saying farewell to needless political tensions and divisions in the FCT.
This emphatic political statements by the people of the terittory shows the people have spoken resoundingly about denouncing the selfish territory claims of political merchants.The people have also rejected populist timidity as credible political behaviour in the FCT that seeks rapid and enduring progress.
The action of the minister has restored democracy in the FCT, reformed the local council system enabling them to deliver services at the grassroots and for the bankrupt ones to move to solvency.
We hope the newly elected officials will reciprocate this gesture by the minister and run the councils in an inspiring new way. Their electiin is a sacred obligation to deliver to the people and move closer to realising the goals for which they were elected because of the firm belief that democractic governance at the local level must have substantive, real impact on the life of their people.
Finally, we thank and cmgratulate the FCT electoral body for successfully completing a revolution in election management in the territory. We congratulate also the security agencies for providing the safe canopy for the people to joyfully exercise their democractic preferences.
Wada writes from Abuja.
