23rd July, 2012
By Jethro Ibileke
The Edo governorship election was not logistically perfect, but good enough to deliver a crushing Oshiomhole victory
Events at the governorship election in Edo State two Saturdays ago showed that those who branded the state “Heartbeat of the Nation” had their thinking caps on when they settled for the sobriquet. The run-in to the election did not only make the figurative heart of Nigeria beat, but was also rocked to its foundations. Edo State had all the ingredients of a flashpoint.
Infernal exchanges were commonplace. Accusations, counter-accusations as well as rumours and counter-rumours were manufactured in near-commercial quantities. The two major parties in the election, the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in words and actions looked like contending faiths. Edo was politics’ equivalent of bungee jumping: exciting but dangerous. The general public was fascinated, but fretted at the possibility of violence. Pre-election, lives were lost in circumstances suspected to be politically-created. It was therefore not in vain that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and President Goodluck Jonathan did everything possible to allay the people’s fears.
At a PDP campaign rally, held about two weeks to the election, the President gave his word for a free, fair, credible and violence-free election in the state. “I have heard so many stories on Edo. I called the Inspector-General of Police and I asked if he was ready for Edo. He said yes. I asked the Chief of Defence Staff, and he said yes. I guarantee 100 per cent for your election, and there will be no manipulation. Election results will be entered at the various polling units and nobody will change figures. This time around, no stuffing of ballot boxes, no thuggery. It must be one-man-one-vote. I came here to promise the people of Edo that they should keep faith with that promise. Edo is going to be one state that will show that example.”
The State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Kassim Gaidam, who was deployed to the state just weeks to the election, also promised to conduct a credible election. “This election will have the highest number of local and foreign observers. It will also have the highest number of commissioners to monitor the exercise, as no less than 20 commissioners are coming,” he told journalists.
Security agencies also played their constitutional role to ensure that the election was free of violence. Weeks to the election date, all security and para-military agencies in the state met at the office of the Zone 5 Police Command in Benin to perfect plans for a hitch-free election.
The army deployed 3,500 troops for the election. And to show the people their readiness to combat violence, the army paraded the fully armed troops in all major towns of the three senatorial districts of the state. The Police deployed thousands of its men from neighbouring states to enforce law and order. They ensured that no one without voter’s card was allowed into election venues.
Against all expectations, however, the election went smoothly in most parts of the state. Reports from across the state showed that accreditation of eligible voters began as early as 8.00 a.m in most places, except for the late arrival of INEC ad-hoc staff and voting materials in Oredo Local Government Area, which almost ruined the laudable efforts of INEC. The case was worse at Garrick Memorial Primary School in Benin. That was where Ward 1, units 18 to 21 of Oredo local council were located and where PDP candidate, Charles Airhiavbere, was slated to vote.
Whereas voting materials arrived at Aghenebode early enough for accreditation to begin at 8.30 a.m, a journey of about two hours from Benin, voting materials arrived at Garrick Memorial Primary School, a distance of not more that 20 minutes from INEC office, at about 10.30 a.m. Shortfall in supply of ballot papers was also reported at various voting centres. An INEC official at Agbado Primary School, where Ward 12, units 21 to 30 were located, informed the magazine that 5,600 ballot papers were supplied instead of the 6,000 expected.
It was further discovered that the INEC officials came with two different sets of voters’ register. Some carried voters’ names with corresponding pictures, while pictures were missing from many names in the other voters register presented at the venue. As a result, those whose pictures were not in the register were asked to go home as they would not be allowed to vote.
This sparked an uproar. Attempts by INEC officials to restore calm failed. Passionate appeals from Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Marvel Akpoyibo; Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Hashimu Argungu; and Brigadier-General Abel Umahi, Commander, 4 Brigade, fell on deaf ears as those affected stood their ground. Accreditation was further delayed for several hours.
At a point, some party agents proposed that voters with genuine cards be allowed to vote even if their photographs were not in the register, but the PDP agent disagreed, insisting that people without pictures should not be allowed to vote.
Peter Obakpolor, one of the aggrieved voters told the magazine: “In 2007, they chased us with hoodlums and we could not vote. Now that security men are here, they said we would not vote because our pictures are not in the voter register. But this was the same register we used when we voted massively for the President. Now that we want to vote for our governor, some names and pictures suddenly disappear from the register. It is a plot to reduce the figures of votes from the South, and this we will not allow.”
The chaos was resolved when Gaidam finally showed up at the venue and ordered that those with valid voter cards be allowed to vote whether their pictures were on the register or not. Before long, Oshiomhole raised an alarm, alleging that INEC was planning to rig the election in favour of PDP.
To many, Oshiomhole’s alarm was a move too soon. But to the governor, it would be suicidal to let the situation go on for long before raising alarm, moreso when there appeared to be valid grounds for such. Oshiomhole tasked INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, to conduct an investigation into the delay in the arrival of election materials in the Benin metropolis with a view to forestalling a repeat in other parts of the country.
Oshiomhole maintained that one outcome of the election was the unanimous agreement of the people that his government deserve a second term. “Edo people from the South to the North to the Central have spoken as one. This shows that all efforts of some people to whip up ethnicity failed woefully,” said Oshiomhole.
With the logjam resolved, election went smoothly and collation of results went into the night. For Oshiomhole, it was a party, as he won with a landslide. But for Chief Tony Anenih and other PDP bigwigs, including the Chief of Staff to President Jonathan, Mike Ogiadhome, the results announced had the mournful impact of a dirge. Not one of them succeeded in delivering areas they had treated as footstools in the past.
The PDP won in Anenih’s polling booth 40 votes to ACN’s 39. But that was as good as it got. All the other PDP bigwigs were floored in their units and wards woefully. Oshiomhole, who was once derided as only good in unionism, won the election in all the 18 local councils.
—TheNEWS magazine