Award winning author, Chimamanda Adichie, has said president Muhammadu Buhari and the independent national electoral commission (INEC) squandered their last chance to become heroes.
Chimamanda said this during an interview with Arise News on Monday.
She said many Africans were displeased by what transpired during the poll because they were inspired by the Obidient movement in the build-up to the election but INEC chairman, Yakubu Mahmood, dashed their hopes.
She also said the outcome of the election has now shown that Buhari’s display and statements of commitment to credible poll were mere posturing to hoodwink the electorate.
She added: “I think that Prof Yakubu had an opportunity for heroism. I think he wasted it spectacularly. Because he could very easily have become the hero of not just Nigerians but Africa because so many Africans were watching and they were so inspired by what happened before this election and by the ‘obidient’ movement.
“I also think that the President Buhari missed an opportunity for heroism, maybe his last chance at heroism, because Nigerians felt before the elections that he meant well and meant to support credible elections. I don’t think many Nigerians think that now,” she noted.
Doubling down on her criticism of the INEC chairman, Adichie, a 2008 McArthur Fellow, argued that having not uploaded the results immediately, INEC totally lost credibility in the eyes of Nigerians.
“We can’t see them in real time. We cannot see them as Prof. Yakubu Mahmood said. He said I’m going to put it there… I read several times that the public will be able to view that polling unit results as soon as elections are finalised on election day.
“The Electoral Act says that INEC was given the legal backing to have electronic transmission of results and did say in a format that INEC decides. We know that format, because the chair of INEC told us what the format would be when he said that the results will be uploaded at the end of voting from the polling units. And that was not done,” she argued
While hoping that parties in court will get justice, Adichie however said that there were reasons to doubt it especially given the kind of judgements that have come out of the court in recent times.
“I hope they will. I think there’s reason to doubt that because the Supreme Court has had rulings that just did not make a lot of sense to most people. And so there’s reason to worry, but I’m hopeful. I’m generally hopeful. I’m optimistic that they will do the right thing and that people will get justice,” she said.
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