Something absolutely absurd is currently prevailing in Anambra State and to some extent, in some other parts of Nigeria in the build-up to this month's (February) elections. One calls this absurd because of several reasons: It breeds anarchy and confusion, it also smacks of recklessness and idiocy. It is a situation where as many as three different aspirants to the same political position, are busy campaigning - organizing road shows, pasting posters, playing loud jingles and other campaign musicals, etc and thereby disturbing the peace of innocent Anambrarians.
For one thing, this type of situation makes the political space in Anambra unnecessarily rowdy, rancorous and nasty, thus negating the very essence of Democracy or Government.
Recall the State of Nature which had obtained before the famous social contract theorist, Thomas Hobbes, laid the foundation for modern form of government. Prior to his emergence, there was the State of Nature, which was characterized by war of one against all and all against one; where life was short, brutish and nasty. In the state of nature, each individual strived to protect, preserve and perpetuate his/her own interest, a situation which generated innumerable conflicts.
In order to mitigate the anarchy generated by conflicting interests, Hobbes made a case for the mortgaging of each person's interest to one single person who, he called the Leviathan or sovereign. For Hobbes, this Leviathan would hold the sovereignty in trust for all other persons and ensure that there was peace in the social space. This is the very beginning of the concept of governance.
Against this background, therefore, it is anathema for several persons to be campaigning and laying claims to one and the same position, the fact that only one person has been deemed to have emerged successful from the party's primary election, notwithstanding.
Not a few people hold that what the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is doing in this regard is a deliberate action aimed at hoodwinking other parties and the electorate. It did it in past elections and immensely benefited there from: at the end of voting, all votes cast by different friends, associates and relatives of the numerous aspirants, were put together to swell the party's (PDP's) votes, and then the party's high command simply announced one of the claimants as the authentic candidate of the party and winner of the election!
But the people of Anambra State have sworn they would not tolerate any such anomie this time. That was why the State House of Assembly recently passed a law, prohibiting all persons who were not pronounced candidates by their political parties from running around the streets at top speed and bombarding the air waves with a staccato of jingles, etc in the name of campaigns.
Anambra Youths fired the second salvo a few days ago, marching through the streets of Awka and all other major areas in condemnation of multiple candidacy.
But is it not unfathomable that while all these are playing out, the almighty Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) has pointed out that Anambra State House of Assembly was wrong in legislating against the monster of multiple candidacy, remarking that the matter is not a state issue, but one in which the Federal Government has an exclusive control?
Does it mean that the Anambra State House of Assembly has no power to make laws for the prevalence of order, peace and harmony in the state as enshrined in the Nigerian 1979 Constitution as amended?
One cannot but feel flabbergasted by the position of the federal Government in this matter.
Surprisingly, apologists to that tier of Government unconvincingly argue that if there is a conflict between a State Law and a Federal Law, the latter would hold sway. While one does not even see any conflict between the law prohibiting multiple candidacy as recently passed by the Anambra State House of Assembly Electoral law, one is wont to ask: assuming there is a conflict between a State Law and a Federal one, but the federal one is repugnant and antithetical to the principles of good conscience, equity and justice, shouldn't we quickly dispense with it and favour the state law?
One thinks that all well-meaning men and women should rise in unison in condemnation of multiple candidacy. Unfortunately, the protest culture is very low in Nigeria. This is why evil persists. In other climes, this monster would have since been cast overboard. Recall what happened at Tiananmen Square in China and the consequences of that action. Recall the sacking of the then President of Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos by protesters! There are several such instances of protests across the world.
If Nigerians adorn their protest garb, the question of multiple candidacy in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would become a thing of the past. Protests could come in form of placard - carrying persons peacefully marching along the streets and in Government premises. Protests could come in form of the media condemning the blunder called multiple candidacy in news reports, editorials, commentar
Udah, Director of Media & Publicity of Dubem Obaze 2015 Campaign Organization, writes from Umueri.
