LAST week’s peaceful demonstration by stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, was not for nothing. It was a well-reasoned reaction to the disturbing peace-meal release of results of the March 19 legislative elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Almost one month has come full circle since after the conduct of the rerun elections ordered by the State Elections Petitions Tribunal, yet most of the results are still locked in the electoral umpire’s ‘strong room’.
What could be the reason(s) behind this undemocratic conduct by INEC? Are there clandestine, behind the veil moves not known to the voters of Rivers State? These are some of the questions that have agitated the minds of many Nigerians. These facts are already known anyway. Before INEC the announced suspension of the results, and indeed, the entire exercise, it had released just nine state constituency and three Federal House of Representatives result. None for the Senate.
In the results released and signed by the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Aniedi Ikoiwak, the ruling PDP in the state maintained its lead having won three Federal Constituencies, five House of Assembly seats while the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has won just one. But, the continued withholding of the remaining results is what has resulted in the current raging storm in the state. Many Nigerians are also concerned. And they are asking, why?
It has not done the corporate image of INEC any good either. Instead, it has raised some questions on the impartiality of the electoral commission. And when a blanket of suspicion is cast upon the neutrality of an electoral umpire, democracy could be the worse for it. Which is why members of PDP in Rivers state are asking questions. You don’t blame them. Only last week, one of the chieftains of the party, a prominent citizen of Rivers state, and Deputy National Chairman of PDP, chief Uche Secondus had to raise alarm. He was not crying wolf. He was right when he alleged that INEC could be taking “instructions” from the ruling APC on what to do with the outcome of the Rivers’ rerun. He categorically said that his party (PDP) won the elections hands down. Many people also think so. Some even said pointedly, to borrow the words of Secondus that INEC “is now a parastatal of APC”.
But apart from the allegation, one thing seems to vindicate what Secondus has said: it is the disturbing fact that since the assumption of office of Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, all elections conducted by the electoral body, including last Saturday’s poll in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, ended inclusive. We are all familiar with the earlier elections in Kogi, and Bayelsa states. The dust kicked up by these polls are yet to settle. Again, that is not a good testimonial for our democracy.
Could it be that the delay in releasing the result of the rerun in Rivers state and fixing a new date for fresh elections in the areas where the polls were cancelled be because, as some INEC critics have alleged, that the commission was waiting for instruction from the APC at the centre? President Muhammadu Buhari has been dragged into the fray. There are allegations that he is the man behind the delay tactics by INEC.
That has not been proved though. However, the President’s comments so far in the outcome of the March 19 rerun may not been pleasing to some stakeholders in Rivers and beyond. Some say the President behaves like “an interested party” in the matter. Of course, he is. Many Nigerians have not bought the explanation by INEC that it is not under the influence or direction of any party or interests. According to INEC Deputy Director of Publicity and Voters’ Education, Mr. Nick Dazang, the commission was right in announcing the results in peacemeal, saying that as at the time the rerun elections were suspended, most of the collated results were either inchoate or at different levels of completion. “You can only return an election or announce results where elections are concluded”, Dazang said.
Nonetheless, many do not believe that these were sufficient reasons to continue to withhold the results or the delay in fixing a new date for areas where the elections were cancelled outright because of violence. Those who have been keenly following happenings in Rivers politics say INEC is acting from a well written script. One of which is to search for a “smoking gun” to blame the violence during the election on Governor Nyesome Wike. It is no longer news that there is no love between the governor and his old friend, former governor and current Minister of Transportation, Chief Chibuike Amaechi.But governor Wike seems a step ahead of the schemes by APC, to rope him in the violence that marred the polls. Last week, the governor inaugurated a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the violence and killings that took place during the rerun. The Judicial Panel is headed by Justice Monima Wenike Danagogo. The governor charged the panel to identify those involved in the killings, the victims and the scope of the violence, as well as the property damaged in the course of the violence and the owners of such property.
Clearly, the plots of APC are well orchestrated. If one plot fails, try another. That is the stratagem. If APC can’t find the smoking gun to associate Wike with the violence, the next plot could be to put pressure on President Buhari to declare a state of emergency on Rivers State. It is a vicious, disingenuous, selfish and destructive plot to smuggle APC to power in Rivers state, through the back door.
As we said in this column recently, this is one hell of a bait Mr. President must resist. It is for his own good and that of the country in general. We know the APC National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun has lamented the loss of the state, and that of Bayelsa to PDP. President Buhari will save his presidency if he resists such gamble. If he succumbs, the unpleasant consequences could be such that APC government may not calm the raging storm, that will follow such mistake.
The way forward for lasting peace in Rivers state is what Governor Wike has suggested, and that is, let APC, and indeed, its arrowhead in the state, Chief Amaechi, to accept defeat of the party in the legislative elections. The wisdom in politics is that there is always life after politics. A loss in election is not the end of a politician’s career. One understands how Amaechi feels since the outcome of the election did not go the way he wanted. We know the elections were the battle for the soul of the state. It was also a fight of ego.
But the reality is that APC is not really the preferred party by the people of Rivers state. The party is not rooted in the state, particularly at the grassroots level. Unlike Amaechi, Wike is a grassroot politician. Many Rivers’ voters see Amaechi as arrogant, and even egotistical, one who plays loose with the facts. They still see the rerun elections as a referendum on both men – Amaechi and Wike, even though their names were not on the ballots on March 19. The outcome therefore was seen by many as a “vote of confidence” on Wike’s administration. The voters trust Wike more than they trust Amaechi. That was the verdict of the voters
Where does all of this lead the people of Rivers state? One step forward is for the APC leadership in the state to accept the reality that the rerun elections have been woefully lost by the party and clearly won by PDP. Therefore, the state should be spared the current agony of unnecessary hostility and allow the state to move forward in peace and security. Any contemplation of state of emergency will deepen the crisis in the country, which the President seems already overwhelmed to deal with. INEC should release the remaining results without further delay.
SUN
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