By Martin Cole-
Hundreds of Nigerian PDP party members stormed the INEC office to present a petition calling for the INEC to order a re-run of the governorship elections in the areas where the votes were cancelled.
The party members claim the elections were corrupt and manipulated against the party.
The group was led by the party’s governorship candidate, Hon. Ladi Adebutu.
Elections in the troubled country of Nigeria is rarely ever a straight forward affair, with armed attacks by hoodlums, vote buying, and distortion of votes a regular feature of the country’s so called democratic elections.
In a country where corruption is the order of the day, distinguishing genuine election results from those faked to disrupt the will of the people and those that represent the true wishes of the electorate is no easy task. Defenders of the elections insist most election outcomes are legitimate, but few can argue they are always free and fair. If the end result is deemed fair, but observable aspects of the process are not, how can one trust the eventual result?
Supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) surrounded the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Abeokuta, Ogun State on Tuesday to protest the outcomes of the governorship election last Saturday.
The incident echoes several cries of discontent by voters and several voters in the country about alleged electoral corrupt practices.
The PDP protesters chanted anti-INEC choruses and demanded that the election be ruled invalid. They were armed with placards that read, among other things, “INEC should save our democracy,” “INEC betrayed the people of Ogun,” “Electoral fraud will not stand,” “INEC should respect people’s wish,” and “INEC should stop being biased.”
Armed security personnel flanked by members of the military, police, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, reigned gun shots in the air to disperse the crowds and stop the protesters from entering INEC premises
The party members strongly disagree with the declaration of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State of ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) as the winner of the governorship election in the state by INEC, ushering his re-election for a second term of four years.
He told reporters at the entrance of INEC office, the party’s gubernatorial candidate, Adebutu, had insisted that they would not leave until officials of the electoral commission attend to them.
He said his party had submitted several protest letters to the commission demanding the review of the results of the Saturday’s election and organise re-run where elections were either cancelled or disrupted.
Expressing regret that security agencies were being used against the wish of the people, warning that the development could degenerate into another #EndSARS protest.
“We are here to protest, but unfortunately we have been confronted by the Nigerian Army, shooting sporadically into the air, in the hope that they will disperse us, but we are resolute, we are going to stay here until we are addressed by officials of INEC.
“Our contention is that the measures by which other states have been treated and they are allowed to have re-runs, Ogun State should be measured in the same vein.
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ladi Adebutu, had earlier on Monday claimed at a press conference that masked men carrying AK47 rifles disrupted the electoral process and rigged last Saturday’s election in favour of Governor Dapo Abiodun.
Mr Adebutu said the PDP has discovered over 14,000 votes allegedly fraudulently counted in favour of the APC governorship candidate.
He said agents of the party have been able to identify 10,000 excess votes in one local government area and another 4,000 excess votes in Ogijo, Sagamu.
“Adamawa has re-rerun, similarly, Kebbi has run-run, why is Ogun State being denied re-run? We are not particular about whatever interest is guiding this, we are only asking for our rights.
“We have submitted several letters protesting this decision and we are asking that these gentlemen allow us access to INEC to submit an additional letter, but unfortunately we don’t understand what is happening, rather than allow us access, they are shooting sporadically into the air in the hope of scaring us away and we are not going to be scared because this is our fundamental human right.
Please, beg them, we don’t want another #EndEARS, we don’t want another bloodshed in Ogun State, please beg them for us. It is our right that we should protest and exercise our right.
“We are entitled to re-run by all the rules that govern this election, we must exercise and protest to INEC that Ogun State deserves run-off, allow us admittance to see the authorities concern,” Adebutu told journalists.
A number of other parties equally aggrieved with the outcome of the elections called for cancellations and re-run of the elections, but only two states have so far been granted a re-run of the elections following inconclusive results.
The state of Adamawa was granted a re-run of the elections after final results tallied by INEC showed that Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the PDP scored the highest votes, INEC said the cancelled votes were more than the margin of victory between Mr Fintiri and the runner-up, Aisha Dahiru of the APC.
A new date will be fixed for re-run elections in areas where elections could not hold in the state. At the end of the official tally of results, Mr Fintiri defeated Mrs Dahiru, popularly called Binani, with a margin of over 30,000 votes.
The incumbent governor scored 421,524 votes while Mrs Dahiru won 390,275 votes.
Mr Fintiri also won the election in 13 of Adamawa’s 21 local government areas while Binani won in the remaining eight.
The race to the Adamawa government house was a closely contested one between the two candidates.
Yusuf Akinpelu, an experienced bright journalist for The Nigerian PREMIUM TIMES told The Eye Of Media.Com: ”in every election contest, there re always dissatisfied candidates who disagree with the election results .
”However, most of the results for most of the states were consistent with the leanings of the people towards particular parties. Incidences of violence or ballot snatching were isolated, because many of the states did not experience.
”Those who feel aggrieved should challenge the decision in the courts”, he said.
Asked about the credibility of the courts where judges are rumoured to be bought by powerful politicians, Akinpelu said: while there are rumours that some judges may be corrupt and susceptible to bribes, judges have absolute autonomy, and have in many cases delivered verdicts that have gone against politicians with power who have the money and machinery to have their own way and influence the judiciary.
”Peter Obi himself is an example. He became governor after a court overruled the sitting governor, and although he was later impeached, a court overruled the decision and re-instated him in power. I would say by enlarge many of the election results were predictable
The journalist also said that despite some of the agitations about the governorship election outcome in Lagos State, the results were predictable, and the declaration of the incumbent governor of the state, Sanwo Olu, was predictable and reflective of the will of the people.
Gbadebo Vivour is a mix of both the yoruba and igbo extraction, his mother being Igbo.
”Sanwo Olu was definitely more popular than Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour, because most voters voted along tribal lines. Gbadebo was perceived as an Igbo project because he has in the past tweeted anti-Yoruba slurs and came across as being an apologist for the IBOB group. Some of his rhetorics were highly charged’. He also once said ”I think in Yoruba”, and although I don’t think he meant any harm it created a different perception.
Asked why the idea of him being an Igbo project is an issue, Akinpelu said:
”The one thing many of the electorate had against governor Sanwo Olu was his handling of the eEndsars, especially friends and relative of those who got shot and never got justice, but apart from that there was no question about his competency with most Lagosians
Asked why the idea of him being an Igbo project is an issue, Akinpelu said: ”many people see the Igbo as industrious, entrepreneurial, In the long run many Yoruba’s felt they may dominate the group. The governor will need to unite the people, and address the division at some point, and make everybody all feel welcome”.
How the declared governors of various states handle the unrest and distrust about the elections will be subject of analysis in the days and weeks ahead.
An important question is why Nigeria cannot conduct elections without scenes of violence and any questions of irregularities.
Akinpelu will be assisting in further assessments about the elections the days ahead.