2015: Ominous signs from Nzeribe’s backyard on July 05, 2013 / in Politics 12:17 am / Comments The outcome of the rerun election in a vacant state constituency in Imo State raises concerns on the tenacity of politicians not to play by the rules. Remarkably, the election which took place in the base of controversial politician, Arthur Nzeribe follows the stalemate on the Nigerian Governors Forum chairmanship election. Tweet By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor The outcome of the rerun election in a vacant state constituency in Imo State raises concerns on the tenacity of politicians not to play by the rules. Remarkably, the election which took place in the base of controversial politician, Arthur Nzeribe follows the stalemate on the Nigerian Governors Forum chairmanship election. IT was remarkable that the first major election in recent times to be declared inconclusive by the electoral authorities would be at the home base of the maverick one, Chief Arthur Nzeribe. Nzeribe it would be recalled was a major facilitator of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. Though almost feeble on account of age and not his usual boisterous self, his support and backing for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and its candidate was evident on the ground. The formal declaration of last weekend’s Oguta state constituency re-run election as inconclusive, came few weeks after the election of the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF ran into an “inconclusive” end. The election which was clearly won by Governor Rotimi Amaechi was subsequently disputed by some other governors aligned to the presidency. It was indeed remarkable that Governor Amaechi, only last week referred to the NGF crisis as a possible pointer to possible dispute of the 2015 elections. “Let me put it on record that the way things are going, 2015 elections will end in this manner where people will win democratic elections and those in power will not accept the results,” the NGF chairman said at a stakeholders’ symposium on the review of the 1999 Constitution in Abuja. It didn’t take one week for that prediction to set in at the Oguta re-run election last Saturday. The Oguta State Constituency seat had been in dispute since the 2011 election when the PDP and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA candidates vied for the seat. Gov Okorocha Though the PDP candidate, Eugene Dibiagwu was returned by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC as the winner of the election, APGA’s Walter Uzonwanne immediately sought to block his inauguration and it took a court order for the PDP candidate to be inaugurated. The PDP candidate was eventually ousted by the pronouncement of the Supreme Court last February forcing INEC to organise last week’s rerun. It was an election that was laced with much intrigues and anxiety. The PDP which had been displaced from the Government House in 2011 had refashioned itself with the mind of taking advantage of the perceived misgivings against the APGA governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha. Okorocha was swept to power in 2011 upon popular clamour against the PDP governor at that time, Chief Ikedi Ohakim. The PDP officials conscious of the possible effects of parading Ohakim in the run up to last week’s election, carefully secluded the former governor from the campaign train. It was also remarkable that in the run-up to the election that the two contending parties, PDP and APGA raised mutual accusations of rigging against each other. For Governor Okorocha, the election was an opportunity for him to validate his credential as an electoral asset to his colleagues in the fledgling All Progressives Congress, APC. Given the reported assertions that the governor could vie for a position on the APC presidential ticket in 2015, Oguta served as a platform for him to reassure other APC stakeholders that he could deliver. APGA through the State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Chinedu Offor had accused the PDP before the election of importing thugs to achieve the aim of discrediting the election. It was an allegation that was robustly parried by the PDP’s state publicity secretary, Chief Blyden Anajirionwu, who termed the APGA officials as “ranting losers”. “It is only the ranting of losers. We will beat APGA convincingly in the House of Assembly re-election. All they have accused us of are their plans which we have carefully scuttled.” Amajirionwu had on his part accused the state authorities of intimidation alleging that all cadres of officers of the state government were mobilised to Oguta last Friday for the purpose of pushing the victory of the APGA candidate. However, at the end, INEC declared the election inconclusive upon the fact that the election was disrupted in three of the 11 wards where the election took place. Water tight security The violence was despite the water-tight security that was deployed in Oguta. Remarkably, just like the NGF election the two major parties involved in the election claimed victory. APGA claimed to have won the poll, while the PDP crying foul, said it was in the lead in the areas where election took place. Sen. Nzeribe Okorocha had at a press conference last Monday, among others, alleged that there was election in 121 of the 129 polling units and that he was in possession of authenticated result sheets for the wards where election took place. Amajirionwu was quick to rebutt him in a press statement where he challenged the governor to present the “authenticated” result sheets. “We want to state without any fear of contradiction that contrary to the wild claims of Governor Okorocha, election did not take place in the whole of Osemoto/Enuigbo and Egbuoma/Egwe wards both of which are made up of 17 polling units. Add these to the 8 units where results are outstanding as a result of snatching of election of election materials by APGA thugs and the falsity of Governor Okorocha claim will be glaring,” Amajirionwu said in a statement last Wednesday. In its formal reaction to the stalemate, the INEC in a press statement issued by Kayode Idowu, chief press secretary to INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega said: ”The Commission finds it worrisome that politicians and hooligans brazenly flouted the restriction order on movement during the election. Reports showed that officials of the Imo State Government and some members of the National Assembly across party lines moved around freely despite the restriction order – some of them with security escorts! Worse, some of these politicians aren’t even from Oguta constituency where the election held. “Field reports showed that even though security agents mobilized appreciably for the exercise, there were cases of violence as well as ballots and result sheets snatching by thugs, as a result of which the election was cancelled in the following polling units: PU 001 in Ward 05 (Ndeloukwu/Umuowerre) – with 768 registered voters; PU 007 in Ward 03 (Izombe) – 939 registered voters; PU 009 in Ward 09 (Oru) – 708 registered voters.” Justifying why the election was declared inconclusive, he said:” The procedure is that where the number of registered voters involved in a cancelled election exceeds the difference in the votes of the two leading candidates in collated results, the election will be declared inconclusive.” Remarkably, President Goodluck Jonathan weighed in on Tuesday while receiving a delegation of former senators when he flayed the actions of the political combatants in Oguta. ”Those who made it impossible for the rerun election in Oguta to be conclusive must be brought to book. We must make it clear that impunity in the perpetration of violence and irregularities during elections will no longer be tolerated. Sanctions, promptly imposed on guilty persons, will deter others from engaging in such acts in future,” he declared. His assertion nonetheless, the fresh lexicon, “inconclusive election” is one that is scaring many ordinary Nigerians especially after the inconclusive NGF chairmanship election. Print Email
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 16:11:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015