Worrying in advance for the elections 2011

I used to be very optimistic that in 2011 we will get it right with the Nigerian elections but now I confess I am not so sure.

Last week we had the re-run elections in Delta State. I watched the candidates debate and was appalled at the quality of people seeking to lead the state. I was also dismayed that the principal opposition stayed away from the debate.

On election day, I was reading the updates from monitors and it was one case of snatched ballots, beating and intimidation of voters after the other. There was even data of the names and identification numbers of the policemen who had been involved in the incidences. There were also details of number plates of cars used to snatch ballot boxes meaning we can trace their owners.

Yet, the president who has vowed to conduct free and fair elections came out to say the elections went well because his party was adjudged to have won. And the chairman of the electoral commission who I believed in a great deal gave his commission a pass mark for the shoddily conducted elections.

It's less than a week to commencement of voters registrations and 46,000 DDC machines have not arrived the country. And we hear some of the staff required to carry out the exercise cannot even use the DDC machine yet. The government has shut down schools for 3 weeks to use their premises to carry out the registration. What stops them from using a part of the school while the kids stay in their classrooms?

Now I see the same leaders we want to change coming back in different guises. Governor vying to be senators. Deputy governors running to be Federal representatives. Ministers running for governor. And I realise "same cast, different act".

The party I thought was the credible alternative are using coronation for their primaries rather than elections...

Which way are we headed? I hope I get news that would make me cheer up concerning the elections but I know we can't afford to mess this chance up.

Posted via email from Femi Longe's Zone