WHY AMERICA CAN

ALTHOUGH, it is dissatisfied and disappointed with the outcome of the April polls in Nigeria, the US government has said as a point of fact and in blunt terms that it cannot work away from Nigeria, Empowered Newswire reports.

However the Americans want INEC chairman to go.

This official view of the US government came on Thursday afternoon at the US Congressional hearing in Washington DC where Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and the US Assistant Secretary of State Ambassador Jendayi Frazer among others interacted with members of the US Congress Subcommittee on Africa.

While Professor Wole Soyinka said the “ international community must play its role by treating all those implicated in this treasonable conduct – the highest treason being the subversion of a people's sovereignty - as international pariahs,” the US government official had a different idea.

According to Frazer, the American policy now “is to strongly encourage the new government to tackle these problems in the early days of the administration. Indeed, in my meeting with President Yar’adua on May 29, the first issue raised was our disappointment with the polls and the steps necessary to restore credibility to Nigeria’s democratic institutions.”

Responding to those she called “some critics”, Frazer said they “will no doubt urge us to isolate the country. But the stakes are too great to walk away from Nigeria.”

She continued:” And in our judgment, the best way to nurture Nigeria’s fragile democracy is for the United States to engage with them on the very issues at risk: political reform, regional security, and economic opportunity.

For Soyinka however “of all the forms of corruption that afflict a community, political corruption is the most lethal, since those who violate the sacred mandate of political choice lose regard for human lives and hold the people in contempt.”

Therefore “such vectors of political corruption must be taught that there is a price to pay for the abuse of power and the subversion of political system,” Soyinka submitted.

Because lives were lost over the Nigerian electoral exercise, needlessly and avoidably, Soyinka asserted that “responsibility for that crime must be assigned, and punishment becomes a responsibility that belongs to all who value democracy and advocate the dignity of peoples as manifested both in the right to choose their leaders painlessly and in peaceful conditions.”

In Frazer’s own estimation however, US influence on Nigeria, she told the US Congress is “not unlimited,” stressing that principally “Nigerian democracy will be advanced by Nigerians.”

She said the US can contribute most importantly in applying democratic pressure “for reform, sharing technical expertise and catalyzing private sector support.”

On electoral reforms, the US government made it clear however that there has to be changes.

According to Frazer, herself a former American Ambassador to South Africa, “at a minimum, the Government of Nigeria must commit to deep reforms in the Independent National Electoral Commission.”

She said this would include financial and operational independence for a new electoral commission, “with new leadership.” The Assistant Secretary of State then noted that the public remarks of President Umaru Yar’adua show “he understands the need to initiate immediate electoral reform that ensures credible future polls immune from government or political party interference.

In addition she said President Yar’adua also agrees “with our expectation of dialogue between the government and opposition, and that all parties must refrain from violence and harsh, counterproductive rhetoric. In these regards, we stand ready to help.”

In his opening statement, the Chairman of the US Congressional Subcommittee on Africa Donald Payne said Nigeria’s elections this year were “extremely troubling” but he was heartened by the fact that these elections “marked the first peaceful transfer of power between civilian government’s in Nigeria’s history.” He also commended the immediate past National Assembly for preventing a third term amendment of the constitution and also praised the judiciary for ensuring former Vice President’s Atiku Abubakar’s right to stand election.

Also present at the hearing were the former Senate President Ken Nnamani, Professor Sola Adeyeye, a former member of the House of Representatives, Professor Bolaji Aluko, president of the US-based National Democratic Movement, former US Ambassador to Nigeria Howard Jeter, Andrew Young associate and GoodWorks International President Carlton Masters.

Members of the US Congressional Subcommittee at the hearing and who raised questions included Congresswomen Diane Watson, the committee Vice Chairman Lynn Woolsey and Sheila Jackson Lee, who are all Democrats. No Republican member of the committee showed up. The Ranking Republican Congressman Christopher Smith was said to be addressing a press conference, while other members were also said to be voting on one legislation or the other. Indeed the chairman Congressman Payne took a 15-minute recess for the hearing to allow him cast a vote at the floor of the US House of Representatives.

Related Links of Interest

Reach African Pros

Newspaper Sites

WHY AMERICA CAN’T WALK AWAY FROM NIGERIA, BY US GOVT

By Laolu Akande in Washington DC