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Odigie-Oyegun, Muazu

The beauty of participatory democracy is election. The right to have a say in who directs the affairs of the country is a licence granted to all adults in a democracy. It is what separates citizens from residents. It is the pride of the electorate, on the basis of which they raise their shoulders and say to operators of powers and authorities: We put you there!

Forget that elections are rarely perfect. Results can be rigged. Figures can be manipulated and ballot boxes can be snatched. Nigerians are familiar with all the maladies of elections, yet, like all people who desire a say in their affairs, we still like to vote. It is the most essential power granted the citizens: The power to be part of the decision to choose the rulers. The choice of the word, rulers, here is deliberate.

Elections do not only define the power of the citizens in a democracy, it also offers hope and opportunity to reward and revenge. The electorates look forward to elections to reward benevolent elective office holders or take their pound of flesh on weak, clueless and corrupt and non-performers.

In a democracy, the authority of the government derives solely from the consent of the governed, and the most important method of granting such an authority is through elections. Elections must be periodic and schedules held sacrosanct. Anything short of that brings confusion, tension and anger. The electorates hate dictators and life presidents; they detest anybody standing in the way of elections.

When they are denied the opportunity to participate in deciding who to ascend to the throne or who to stay for more years, they become apprehensive and lose their feeling of freedom. Oftentimes, such a denial leads to mass protests, social discontent and violence.

No self-respecting leaders deny the people the chance of going to the poll at the appropriate time. Nigeria is not a banana republic. Denying the people the right to vote at the appropriate time could be a fatal error.

The signs since the poll shift by the Independent National Electoral Commission from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11 have become ominous. Suddenly, the peoples minds have gone back to the June 12, 1993 abracadabra by the ex-dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, and the attendant political crisis foisted on the nation.

In low tones, the people now talk of a pending interim government; in their hearts, they have started imagining another election annulment; in their prayers, they tell God to rain fire on whoever wants to take the country back to post-June 12, 1993 era; and in their dreams, they now see President Goodluck Jonathan refusing to allow the elections on the rescheduled dates.

Behind the Presidents emergence from obscurity to fame and power has always being election. He became a deputy governor, a governor, a vice-president and President all through the authority of the people transmitted through elections. He should be the least to be afraid of elections.

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Who is afraid of elections?