For the February 6 election in Anambra state, the boss of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Maurice Iwu, has amply demonstrated the commission's readiness to discharge its duties as a neutral umpire. But his unrepentant critics have taken his apparent outpouring of neutrality for a charade. Though the INEC head had literally poured scorn on the manner a particular candidate in this election zapped from one political party to the other in order to appear on the ballot, his traducers (now emerging from both the left and the right) have charged that it was a smokescreen, that Iwu was actually rooting for that candidate. You now begin to think of a theatre filled with an army of cynics and a strong-willed INEC boss; a boss that has a track record for not getting easily bent even by a legion of critics. Meanwhile, the cacophonous voices berating Iwu are already giving stakeholders some pre-prandial pains. The stage is thus set; it is set for either a theatre of the absurd, or a theatre through which faith in representative democracy can be resurrected in Nigeria. 

However, the copious exuberance within INEC's quarters regarding this election has remained infectious. Many are invaded by the belief the head of INEC would want to use this election to prove his critics wrong. There is the feeling that Maurice Iwu would want to use this election to underscore these important messages: (i) if the vote-seekers and the electorate largely abide by the existing election rules, it could be difficult for any body in INEC to manipulate the results of these local elections. (ii) for presidential elections, the country's unfolding realities within the last two decades depict that until Nigeria embraces true federalism which shall water down the near-almighty powers conferred by the 1999 constitution on the executive arm of government - and the maddening scramble to take control of it - the best of electoral laws may never give us free and fair presidential elections.

It is easy to dismiss Maurice Iwu's current traducers as being stereotypical. This is on assumption that Iwu is expected to be foremost among those who know what is at issue in this election. The South-East is currently besieged by numerous social anomalies. If one drives into any of its five states from any of the surrounding states, there is the instant feeling of entry into another country. The dwarfed development of social infrastructures, the feeling of deprivation, and in some instances, outright despondency, on the faces of its people, the near break-down of law and order, you see them, you hear the people's lamentations. The long cycle of having political leaders imposed on the people in the area exacerbated the situation. During the military era, many governors and administrators were ferried in from outside their states of origin to administer elsewhere in the country. And since the return to civil rule in 1999, unlike in most other parts of Nigeria, not many of the South-East states can boast of having had governors truly elected by popular choice. The Igbo have a culture of leadership through a council of elected village heads, a practice that metamorphosed into election of members of Town Unions executives; in some rare cases where the leadership of any village or Town Union did not emanate from popular choice, it had always been stiffly resisted by the people. This would then set the stage for social maladies that usually compromised real development in the area. This phenomenon had been intermittently playing itself out at the state level in the South-East states over the last four decades. Therefore, there is the urgency in allowing Anambra state to now set the lead in having people in the South-East chose their leaders. If Anambra state flares up this time from election fraud, the rest of the old South-East of Nigeria must get scalded. In this apparent mother of all elections in this region, those that have critical roles to play are expected to eschew hanky panky.   

Prelude to February 6, Maurice Iwu struck the right cord when he told 'big men' who, on election days, parade themselves from one election venue to the other to please, stay home and remain 'big men' only in their houses on February 6. Tough talk! It is these 'big men' in the clothing of  ministers, party chieftains, legislators, commissioners, aids and advisers to the president and governors, local government chairmen and councillors; in fact, those upon whom the masses have put their trust, they are the usual features and major culprits in cases of election fraud. The veracity of this has been severally demonstrated, nonetheless, from the recent rerun elections in the South-West of Nigeria. To aid free and fair election on February 6, INEC through the law enforcement agents needs to seriously monitor, and if possible, clamp down on the movement of these 'big men'. The media houses may help by announcing premiums for amateur video camera footages of voting/collation venue misdemeanours taken by accredited election observers.

Unarguably, for much of the evolving trends in Nigeria, Ndigbo have remained pace-setters, often for the good and seldom for the bad. The forthcoming election in Anambra state presents the people with an opportunity to provide another worthy direction for the rest of Nigeria. Given the array of time-tested and respectable front-runners in this election, optimists continue to ruminate over the possibility that INEC shall conduct an election where the winner is congratulated by the losers even before the last votes are tallied. They are more upbeat given the reality that the man at the centre of this 'experiment' (Prof. Maurice Iwu) stands to have a bigger share of the glory if he pulls off a successful poll.