OSUN 2014 GOVERNORSHIP MANDATE: GENUINE OR STOLEN? Goke Butika One Yoruba famous proverb that says, if a thief is not caught immediately, he may turn around to arrest his victim seems to have concisely captured the drama of absurd being played out in the State of Osun after the just concluded governorship election. Quite interesting, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, Mr. Iyiola Omisore who was doubly sure that he would send the incumbent governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola back to Lagos state, where he once served as Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in the August 9, 2014 governorship election; premising his conviction on an innuendo that Aregbesola had no root in Ijesha land, adding that the Governors claim that he is of Ijesa stock was false and that the Ijesas would puncture the claim for him through the election, is now praying the election tribunal to declare him the winner of the election where he came second or have the election cancelled for rerun poll. It would be recalled that two weeks to the election, Omisore appeared on channels television on the platform of a program tagged: POLITICAL UPDATE anchored by Seun Okinbaloye and assured his audience that Aregbesola would be defeated in all polling units including his (Aregbesolas) own, asserting that his party had done its homework very well and that he would be waiting for the governor to congratulate him after his victory at the poll. However, before he went for the interview, Omisore while addressing his supporters in Ifewara situated in Atakunmosa East local government said that he was sure that he had already won, because according to him, all chieftains of the APC, particularly a member of the House of Assembly representing the constituency, Mr. Babatunde Komolafe would be arrested and have their houses sacked. Whereas it was a chest beating some months before the election by the PDP candidate that he would not accept any election conducted by the then Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Ambassador Rufus Akeju, for Omisore alleged that he had a familiar relationship with the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and that soldiers must be deployed to provide him level playing ground. As a matter of fact, he drew attention of those who care a hoot to what obtained in Ekiti state as touching the militarization of the state, insisted that such scenario would be doubled up in Osun. As expected, close to 73,000 security operatives from different formations were deployed to Osun against the 36,000 operatives deployed in Ekiti state a week before the election and almost half of the men wore mask, particularly men from Department of the State Security (DSS); they were menacingly parading the streets in the state capital and other cities and towns with show of force, while some were wasting bullets into the air. Instructively, chieftains and supporters of the PDP were happy and jubilating that their faithful partners had arrived; while the APC loyalists responded with broom wielding peaceful resistance and chatting of partys slogan. The election was keeling contested, the opposition parties threw up different jokers, they wiped up different sentiments against Aregbesolas government. Both pretenders and contenders chose the bandwagon approach: they started with unsubstantiated debt profile of the state, moved against education policy and other spheres of influence, particularly the delayed payment of wage bill caused by the epileptic allocation sharing, it was used sufficiently against the government to the extent that the demographic data of the election reflected the damage done to the psyche of some civil servants who vowed to punish the governor for the delay no matter the adjustment. As if the election was programmed to favour the runner-up, REC Akeju was removed, and the man who conducted Ekiti election was brought in alongside two others to come and oversee the election and on the eve of the election, the security operatives in mask began to deliver on orders from Aso Rock men on ground. As the Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro was dishing out order, the Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan was allegedly issuing directive on the police. As boasted earlier by Omisore, men of DSS went full blast at the unholy hour of the election day as they arrested over 700 APC members and leaders across the 30 Local government council areas; some homes of selected chieftains of the APC were turned to battlefield, for sporadic shootings raged on for hours. All was to scare the daylight of the people with a view to creating apathy so that alleged thumb printed ballot papers in favour of the PDP would be used generously for those who chose not to come out to vote. Unfortunately, the antics of militarization, brutalization and the ultimate siege visited on the state turned counterproductive for the PDP, as it welled up anger of the electorate who defied the siege as people, women in majority poured to the polling boots in legions for accreditation and voting proper. Reports from the field indicated how money and rice were deployed at the polling booths by the agents of the PDP with impunity, while APC agents who were found with money as much as five thousand naira were whisked away. For instance, some amateur video clips had shown how the PDP agents were giving promissory notes when the money brought to Isokan Local Government Council Area was exhausted. Interestingly, subtle violence and intimidation were employed in some villages of Ife South Local Government council area, as voters were threatened to either vote for Omisore or lose their farm land, while there was no election in some densely populated villages like Omi Funfun, Mefoworade, Garage Olode and few other villages, because the sentiment of our son must not be humiliated at home was sold to those who attempted to raise a finger of protest. In a related development, Obanikoro, Chris Uba and Adesiyan were moving round in convoy during the election, while some Niger Delta warlords like Asari Dokubo, Tompolo and others were in Ile Ife, allegedly hatching plot to supplant the process, according to a credible information. Another interesting dimension to the drama was that, it was very easy to recognize how voters voted, for the APC supporters folded their ballot in line with the instruction of Aregbesola, while the PDP supporters folded as instructed too. So, that made the counting and sorting easy for the presiding officers. At the dusk, the Internet facilities through social media platform had obtained and pasted results of the 3012 polling units across the state, that obviously rattled the PDP camp which responded with a weak fist that those results on the web were false, but when the returning officers and Electoral officers across the 30 Local Government Council Areas began to submit the results, they were the same with what everyone already had. At dawn of the following day, President Goodluck Jonathan had congratulated Aregbesola and expressed his desire to work with him, followed by Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade , Musiliu Obanikoro, Femi Fani-Kayode and hundreds of others who stormed the state for Omisore. But to the PDP candidate, losing the election was a nightmare, quite unthinkable and ego deflating. Thence, the outcome of the election must be challenged at the election petition tribunal. Of course, Omisore reserves the right to approach tribunal after election if he feels an injustice was done during the process, but his moral ground appears steep, for questions would be asked: who was meant to benefit from 73, 000 security operatives deployed to lay siege on the state by the federal power controlled by his party? Whose mission was the likes of the Minister of state for Defence, Obanikoro and the Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, Asari Dokubo, Tompolo, Chris Uba and armed masked men, genuine and counterfeit came to champion? Were the PDP polling agents not at the polling booths? Which party lost over 700 supporters and leaders to wanton arrest and humiliation the night before the election? Who pays the bill of INEC? Who pays the NYSC corps who served as Presiding officers and clerks? These questions and many others are begging for answers. To belabour the obvious, the PDP candidate was programmed to be the prime beneficiary of the instrument of intimidation unleashed on Osun, it was just that the people of the state defied the siege by hugely turned out to vote their choice and the deployment of technological devices made it practically impossible for open manipulation. So, the content of the 815 page petition of Omisore to be prosecuted by seven Senior Advocates promises to be dramatic. Interestingly, the winner had also sought tribunal order to inspect the ballot papers of the 23 Local Government Council Areas for forensic analysis, first of its kind in the history of Nigeria election tribunal, expressing his readiness to probe the figure appropriated to the runner-up. Indeed, it promises to be legal battle royale. It would be recalled that Aregbesola brought the stolen mandate into the political lexicon in 2007 when he dragged the PDP and the then Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola to the tribunal after the governorship election, where he fought for three and half years before he was declared as the winner of lawful vote and returned as the governor in 2010. Now, Omisore has bought political coinage as he claims that his mandate was stolen, compelling him to approach the election tribunal. The poser is, is there any mandate for the runner-up, whose leaders had congratulated the winner? The election petition tribunal will determine the answer? Butikakuro from Osogbo, State of Osun.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 08:15:23 +0000
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