On Buhari's call for the use of Option A4
By
CORRECTION TO "BUHARI CALLS FOR OPTION A4" in the Guardian of April 17, 2003: I do not want to join issue with the most esteemed General who is a credible candidate in the ongoing election. I just wish to correct his statement that the INEC should revert to the use of Option A4 in the subsequent election especially for the April 19 election. This same error was contained in the outburst of Dim Ojukwu in Warri sometime ago.
I wanted to correct him. I held back in order not to generate more accusation from Igbo commentators to my earlier essay on the status of the Presidential candidate based on the Constitution and the requirement of the geographical spread that candidates must meet. When I saw the same mistake being made I thought I should offer a correction with the hope that I would not be accused of being a hater or lover of one group or the other.
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Option A4 is a nomination system contrivance out of 8 Options recommended for the use of the two political parties after the botched presidential primaries of November 1992. . Its focus was the system of elimination of candidates beginning with the ward, passing through the local government and the State and culminating at the national level. This is well spelt out in my book on the June 12,The Tale of June 12.
What General Buhari must be referring to is the system of voting that we call the "Modified Open Ballot System" (MOBS) that incorporated the ingredients of secrecy and openness. This is also well discussed in my book, The Tale of June 12.
On the advisability of the system proposed by General Buhari that we call the Open Ballot system, may I with humility advise that the international community frowned at that as it tends to detract from the requirement of free, fair and credible election, which is the element of secrecy in designating who one would be voting.
I agree with General Buhari that the element of openness should be an ingredient in a free, fair and credible election. How openness can be guaranteed is also well spelt out in my book and I do not want to repeat myself in this correction.
My final observation is that Electoral laws should be agreed upon months before election and therefore to change the rules after the commencement of the series of elections would not amount to a credible election in my view. One would ask where were the parties and the candidates when INEC came up with what they are complaining about today? The Vice President of the ANPP was key player; the candidates of the UNPP and NDP were also there. They knew what i did in the past and with a simple email I could have advised them on the requirements of a free, fair and credible election.
It is not tidy to change the rules once the a game is half way.
Professor Omo Omoruyi
April 2003