Presidential Election February 2019
Imagine 73 parties fielding candidates for the February 16 Nigerian election! Still, the two major contenders are the incumbent Muhammadu Buhari of the ADP and Atiku Abubakar, of the PDP.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2019/01/22/what-to-expect-from-the-2019-presidential-election-in-nigeria/?utm_campaign=Brookings%20Brief&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=69252188
In the last election tribe and region played a role. But this year, both are Fulani Northerners. “In contrast, it is expected that religion and region will play insignificant roles in determining the outcome of the February election.”
So what will determine the election? Buhari’s handling of Boko Haram will certainly be a factor. He was chosen at least in part because he was a military man with a determination to end the insurgency. He has not succeeded.
Another major question is restructuring. Since independence in 1960 there have been attempts to change the political structure. Restructuring could mean changing the amount of revenue that goes to states as opposed to the federal government. Or it could mean getting a better balance “between the overrepresented north and the South.”
You can read about other important issues in the Brookings article.
Nigeria’s Chief Justice Suspended
As if to illustrate the challenges facing Nigeria in this election, President Buhari has suspended the country’s Chief Justice who has been accused of corruption.
Chief Justice Onnoghen who has been suspended.
Buhari has been attacked for this move: “Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has come under intense scrutiny for suspending his country’s Chief Justice just weeks before a general election, a move that critics have attacked as tyrannical and unconstitutional.”
President Trump is not the only Twitter user among heads of state! President Buhari responded with a Tweet to say the Chief Justice should have stepped down on his own so he is not heading the organization that will decide on his case.
The EU has been asked to observe the election. Their spokeswoman expressed concern about whether due process was followed in removing the Chief Justice who would rule on any election dispute.
Another article, this time from the Associated Press via ABC, commented on the story. For deeper analysis, read this.
Accusations of vote-buying and vote-rigging will certainly be rampant. There is likely to be a challenge to the election results. If there is, the deputy chief justice, appointed by Buhari and also a Northerner, will be in charge.
How You Speak Affects Your Ability to Get Justice
A New York Times article described the danger of errors made by court reporters. John Eligon wrote the article about a study in Philadelphia. He focuses on African-American English.
“Researchers played audio recordings of a series of sentences spoken in African-American English and asked 27 stenographers who work in courthouses in Philadelphia to transcribe them. On average, the reporters made errors in two out of every five sentences, according to the study.”
Speaking African-American English, or another dialect not known to court reporters, can have disastrous consequences. And very few court reporters know these dialects.
If you are white like me, how do you react to someone using African-American English? I’m not sure I respond well. I may feel that the person should speak better, like I do! I also know this is not right or fair of me.
“ ‘People who speak African-American English are stigmatized for so doing,’ said Taylor Jones, a doctoral student in linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the study’s authors.
“Mr. Jones added that there was nothing improper or broken about the dialect that some African-Americans inherited over generations, but negative stereotypes have influenced the way people hear or perceive it.”
Mr. Jones added that people who live separately because of segregation “develop their own ways of speaking that people outside of their cultural communities are not exposed to.”
There are so many parts of our justice system that harm people of color. I hope this study helps court reporters get the training they need to understand African-American English, one small step against racism.
A Bit of Nigerian History
I’ve been clearing stacks of papers in the basement. My husband does not categorize his research and printouts well, so I may find a file called Gas Flares, and find articles about electricity tariffs!
I’m saving most of the papers, but still able to reduce the size of the stacks a little!
Yesterday I found a fascinating article from the BBC News Channel written in 2009 by Andrew Walker. He interviewed Chief Sunday Inengite, 74 years old at the time of the conversation, who “remembers the day the foreigners who had come to his village in Nigeria’s Niger Delta struck oil.”
Oil Well No. 1 in Oloibiri
When Sunday was young he made friends with the foreigners, curious about their exploration of the forests and swamps. Not until they were shown the “black stuff,” did he and others in the village realize that it was not palm oil the explorers were seeking.
The Nigerian government is now the majority shareholder of Nigeria’s oil industry. NNPC, or Nigeria National Petroleum Company, is the major revenue source for the country. But oil also sometimes enriches government employees and their friends. Several of the richest people in Nigeria became wealthy when the government allocated parcels of the oil fields to them. The state government also gains from the wealth.
Meanwhile the people who live in the area most affected “complain they have not seen much of the money made in the [then] 52 years of oil production.”
Chief Inengite said he did not welcome the violence that has taken place in the Delta region, but he understood the frustration that has led to it.
