The intellectual manipulation, deprivation of Anambra poll, voters By Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye In the words of Lateef Raji, a renowned public affairs commentator and a political pundit, election means constitutional weapon of change in a democratic setting. Election is the instrument of change in a democratic parlance. Any change of baton without the people voting, either by ballot or by voice, is dictatorial, anti-democratic and ultra-vire. However, for an election to be truly democratic, it must be free and fair; and for an election to be free and fair, all the tenets of democracy and provisions of electoral law must be strictly adhere to. A truly democratic election must be violence free, record of Under age voting must not be seen, all registered voters must be accredited with an amazing ease, voting must be done with utmost secrecy or openness and so on. Compatriots, let me state without any fear of favour that the case of the recently conducted governorship poll in Anambra state, could be likened to the story of a city blessed with an amazing beauty and fragrance but spiritually sick therefore making its descendants to be unsuccessful in their chosen career. As an observer in that election, my take is that the election could not be said to have passed the democratic test though relatively free. It was peaceful but not fair. It is imperative to state here that the people of Anambra state conducted themselves in a peaceful and an orderly manner during the election. Brigandage was jettisoned for serenity. No violence. Very peaceful. No uproar. Political thugs were sent into oblivon. Thuggery was caged. Gangsterism was rejected. Anambra people disgraced desperate politicians by not allowing them to have their usual way(s) of gangatum thuggery. They conducted themselves in a very peaceful manner. Anambra, before the last election, was known for political complexity but events have shown that Ndi Anambra electorates are now matured. No one was ready to sacrifice his blood for a pot of porridge. Furthermore, as posited above, the election was relatively peaceful but let me state unequivocally that the modus oparandi adopted by the Nigerians electoral umpire was a ruse. Evidently, the independent national electoral commission (INEC) has a hidden agenda. Voting materials were short-changed in the areas where the candidates of the oppositions All Progressives Congress (APC) , the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were rooted and strong. ...shortage of electoral materials mars the strongholds of Ubah of LP, Nwoye of PDP and Ngige of APC. Only the areas where the candidate of the ruling all progressive grand alliance (APGA) in Anambra was popular were adequately equipped and serviced with electoral materials. What a well concocted planned game! To me, i make bold to avow that the election was scientifically and carefully rigged. The people of Anambra were the winners of the election while INEC officials were the Villain. In Idimili North and South local government areas, less than 20% of voting materials were brought to the polling units. Many electoral officials absconded for reasons well known to them. The Professor Attahiru Jegas led INEC was a disappointment as far as the election was concerned. Jega, a former ASUU leader and an academic activist, with the aide of about 200 ASUU members recruited for the poll circumvents fairness for unfairness. While the people were ready for change and success, INEC, through Jega, remorsefully demonstrated failure. More also, let me state unequivocally that INECs integrity is in question over its failure to conduct a credible election in just one state after months of preparations. It is clearer that worse days are ahead of the nation of Nigeria. I say without being hypocritical that democracy is in danger in Nigeria. Anambra people were ready for a free and fair election but INEC fumbled. The election was free but not fair. the candidate of PDP, Comrade Tony Nwoye could not vote. His 75 years old father too could not vote. His Uncle, Chukwudi also could not vote. Their names surprisingly disappeared from the voters register list. Alas, the election produced no winner. According to the INEC returning officer, Professor Epoke, the Vice-Chancellor of the university of Calabar, the election was inconclusive and the reason for declaring the election inconclusive was that for a candidate to emerge as the winner, he must have scored not only the highest number of votes cast, but should also ganner 25 per cent in two-third of the local government areas in the state. Apparently because of the large number of cancelled votes, which stood at 113,113, no candidate scored the required percentage. Therefore, the commission had to examine the votes of the winner and the runner-up to determine if the difference is less than the cancelled figure. Whereas, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Chief Willie Obiano polled 174,710 votes to come first, the first runner-up, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Comrade Tony Nwoye polled 94,956 votes to place second. Because the difference in the figures between the first two candidates, which is 79,754 is less than the cancelled votes, which 113,113, the commission could not declare anybody the winner. Oh! This is a ruse. The utterly criminality, irregularities and shame apparently commissioned to sabotage the interest of Anambra people on saturday 17th november by INEC will continue to hunt Jega and his other self-acclaimed academic activists that supervised the poll till eternity. The people accusing government of corruption have successfully aided the wicked form of corruption. This is not about APC or LP or PDP but a cry for the survival of our young and nascent democracy. Lastly, let me briefly write on the voting culture of Anambra people. The electorates in Onitsha where I monitored the election showed peace, serenity and tranquility but their voting culture was tribalistic and sectional. When I sampled the opinion of some students in disguise on whom they would be voting for, their response was not commonsensical. 85% of the youths and students interviewed exhibited love, passion and support for Dr. Chris Ngige, the candidate of the APC but they made it clear that they wont be voting for him because his partys identity is not identical with their culture and tradition. To most of the electorates in Anambra, APC is the party of Yoruba and Hausa people while APGA is the party of Igbo people. Dr. Ngige of the APC, despite his popularity and good will in Anambra, was unexpectedly rejected while Willy Obiano, the relatively unknown candidate of APGA was overwhelmly voted for. Their slang was Ngige was the candidate but APGA was the party. They apparently jettisoned meritocracy for tribalism. Nevertheless, as earlier opined, the governorship election of 17th November in Anambra state was peacefully conducted but scientifically and intellectually rigged. Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye, Magodo, Lagos. Maxwell_adeleye@yahoo
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 18:27:33 +0000
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