Difficult Hike To Expectations
Nseobong Okon-Ekong reports that though the Ekiti State governorship election did not record fatalities, there were still a lot of room for better performance
Whatever the people expect from Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, Governor-elect of Ekiti State, it does not look like he wants to populism for which outgoing Governor Ayodele Fayose is known. On the day of the governorship election, Fayemi again failed to seize the moment to show off himself as a people of the people. Choosing to ride in a convoy of cars for the short distance between his and the polling unit, he again showed insensitivity to the people who trekked longer distances to vote for him.
Fayemi candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election arrived his Polling Unit 009 in Isan Ekiti, local government area at 10.20am accompanied by his wife and members of his household.
He promptly took his place on the queue, but one of the Presiding Officers approached and offered him the opportunity to cast his vote immediately. However, Fayemi weighed the option for a while and consulted with his wife. Thereafter, he asked the voters, if they would permit him to vote ahead of them. Their response was an overwhelming, ‘yes’.
After casting his vote, Fayemi noted that the process has been smooth. “It has been seamless, so far. I was accredited and voted seamlessly. But I have heard reports of issues with the card reader from other parts of the state. Largely, we thank God that not much ugly incidents have been recorded. “
Isan-Ilafon-Elemeso axis, which is in Ward 11 in Oye local government area has 12 Polling Units. It is also home to the governorship candidates of the Unity Party of Nigeria, Mr. Olufemi Bade-Gboyega (UPN) and Senator Bode Olowoporoku of the Advanced Congress for Democracy.
It is not doubt that his people love and that he have committed himself to other ways of reciprocating their support for his ambition. The evidence abound. He won the election convincingly in his ward. His result in the entire Oye local government area was also very impressive and showed that he had a firm crop in his homestead. It may even be argued that his popularity covers the whole state. With a total number of 197,462 votes, ahead of his closest rival, Prof. Kolapo Olusola of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 177,927 votes, Fayemi who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared winner.
The difference in votes that separated the two leading candidates in the election stood at 19,535 votes. A breakdown of the result by Collation Officers from the 16 local government areas revealed that the APC won in 12 local government areas including Oye local government area, the home of Fayemi, where he polled the largest number of 14995 votes. The PDP candidate, Olusola won in four local government areas including Ikere where he polled a total number of 32,810 votes, the largest number of votes recorded in any local government area.
Fayemi returns again as the Number One in Ekiti State where he previously governed between 2007 and 2011.
The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) commenced collation of the governorship election result in the state around 2:00 am on Sunday, July 15 amidst tight security.
Both Fayemi and Olusola won in their home local governments of Oye and Ikere respectively. However, one of the recorded upsets in the election was the loss suffered by the PDP in Irepodun-Ifelodun local government area, home of Governor Ayodele Fayose. The APC scored 13,869 votes against 11,456 votes for the PDP.
The election took place in all the sixteen (16) local government areas and the three (3) senatorial districts in the southwest state.
With 913334 registered voteres exercising their right to vote in 2195.Polling Units spread across 177 wards, the turn out of voters was between 44 per cent, lower than the 2014. average turnout of 47 per cent.
Some of the highlights of the election were cancellation of results in places like Efon local government area, where polls in 11units were cancelled due to incidents of violence like snatching of ballot boxes, harassment of INEC officials and gunshots. According to Yiaga Executive Director, Mr. Samson Itodo the incident of violence recorded stood at 1 per cent and was not enough to mar the result of the election. Though monies openly exchanged hands between persons suspected to be officials of the different political parties and voters at the polling stations, INEC said they had no way of knowing if the purpose was to influence voters. An INEC official in Ijero local government area told our reporter, “How do I know if the man was paying off a debt or he asked the person to buy refreshment? And besides they are wearing anything to identify they belong to a political party. “
Another remarkable feature of the election was enthusiasm shown by People With Disabilities (PWD), who actively took part in the election I’m many local government areas.
Voters in the Ekiti State governorship election exercised their right to vote, under an atmosphere that was largely secure, calm and peaceful.
In all the polling units visited in seven local governments including Ado, Oye, IrepodunIfelodun, Ikere, Ilejemeje, Ijero and Ido-Osi, agents of the umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), voters, security agents, the media and election monitors were participating in the electoral process without any hindrance.
All the polling units had the presence of a police team comprising five unarmed personnel. The INEC officials were clearly distinguished in their uniforms. The voting area was also secluded to ensure privacy for voters and set a distance from the accreditation point
Ekiti has an ugly past steeped in electoral violence, pre-dating its excision from the old Ondo State. A couple of violent incidents were recorded during campaigns leading to the 2018 governorship election, which led many political pundits to predict that 2018 governorship election may spark another round of violence
However, armed soldiers were observed mounting roadblock and sometimes patrolling major highways. Other armed personnel of security agents including the Police, the DSS and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence moved around the state to keep would be trouble makers at bay, but they observed the INEC electoral guidelines which forbids armed personnel coming close to a voting area.
Commenting on the security siuation, an independent election monitor, Mr. Chapp Jumbo Jonathan, Coordinator, Values Reorientation Initiatives and Advocacy observed that earlier reports on the social media were scary and did not at all coroborrate the largely peaceful nature of the election. He said, “Going by the image painted in the media, you would have thought that Ekiti State would go up in flames today, but we are on ground and everything is going well. There is calm and peace everywhere. “
Another civil society organisation, Yaga Africa Watching the Vote led by its Executive Director, Mr. Samson Itodo noted, “This has been a very impressive election, in 79 per cent of the polling units, INEC officials arrived at 7.30am. We have 541 observers on ground. We are going to jndependently verify the result of today’s election. “
Impressed by the determination of the people to end the cycle of violence during electoral process in Ekiti, Mr. Obinna Nwaka, director, Political and Democratic Matters of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) , commended The synergy between the agents of the political gladiators in the Ekiti governorship contest. “I think we witnessed a new Ekiti. They have sent a loud and clear message to youths in other parts of the country:. Don’t kill your brother over political differences.”
In the same vein, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Paul Thomas Arkwright said, “the most important thing is that people are allowed to vote and be seen to have done so in a secure environment and that is what seems to be happening. “
Ekiti has an ugly past steeped in electoral violence, pre-dating its excision from the old Ondo State. A couple of violent incidents were recorded during campaigns leading to the 2018 governorship election, which led many political pundits to predict that 2018 governorship election may spark another round of violence.
Despite the fact that the INEC accredited candidates representing 35 political parties for the Ekiti state governorship election, in many polling units visited by THISDAY, only the APC and the PDP had agents to monitor the electoral process on their behalf. But in Ward A, Polling Unit 006 at the Ilori Community High School in Ijero local government area, Bamidele Moses Oluwafemi acted as agent for the African Democratic Party (ADP), Mr. Segun Adewale.
Mr. Oladapo Kolawole, a former commissioner in the state spoke in the same vein as Fayemi. He observed, “Thank God that I am not disenfranchised like the 2014 governorship election. Though I was a commissioner, I had to run into the bush. In this town (IloroEkiti), I know a polling booth where my candidate will lose. I know where I hope to win. Overall, I am confident that my party, the APC will emerge victorious. “
Early indications from some polling units in Oye local government area confirm prediction by many political pundits, that the Ekiti State governorship election was mainly contested by Fayemi of the APC and Olusola of the PDP.
INEC accredited aspirants representing 35 political parties, but in Ward 11 comprising Isan-Ilafon-Elemeso which has 12 polling units, only the APC and PDP were represented at polling units. Agents of the other political parties were not in attendance.
At Isan, the hometown of Fayemi , polling unit 010.had Abejide Kayode representing the APC, while Akanbi Tafa stood for the PDP. Polling Agent Ogunnola Lateef was on the look out for PDP at unit 005, his counterpart, Garba Olalere Wasiu was the APC watchdog. Oyenusi Mayowa was on duty for the APC at unit 007, where the PDP was represented by Oyeleye Sanjo. Polling Unit 009 had Ogundare Johnson Ilesanmi representing the APC. Gboyega Idowu John represented the PDP at unit 006, while the APC had Ajayi Olaoluwa minding its affairs.
THISDAY observed that the party agents carried out their duties without accrimony. One of them told our reporter that they resolved to eschew bitterness for the progess of their community. He said, “We are all from this town. We know ourselves. We are brothers. We cannot allow political differences to tear us apart. If we destroy anything here, we have only set ourselves back. “
INEC Electoral Guidelines allows candidates in an election to nominate an agent who is duly accredited to monitor the election in the interest of his principal and the party he represents.
A major stakeholder that devised a scientific method of monitoring the election, Yiaga
Some of the highlights of the election were cancellation of results in places like Efon local government area, where polls in 11units were cancelled due to incidents of violence like snatching of ballot boxes, harassment of INEC officials and gunshots
Africa Watching The Vote released both a preliminary report on the eve of the electoral room day in which it made various suppositions. It’s Executivec Director, Mr. Samson Itodo and his team published another report after INEC announced the result. The group deployed 500 stationary observers in pairs to a representative statistical sample of 250 polling units and 25 mobile observers located in all 16 local government areas of Ekiti state. WTV also deployed 16 collation centre observers to each of the LGA Collation Centres. This deployment strategy enabled YI AFRICA to provide timely and accurate information on the conduct of accreditation, voting, and counting as well as to independently verify the official results and turnout for the Ekiti gubernatorial election as announced by INEC.
Yiaga Africa validated the INEC result this: “Based on reports from 98% (246 of 250) sampled polling units YIAGA AFRICA’s statistical analysis shows that All Progressives Congress (APC) should receive between 49.1% and 54.7% of the vote; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should receive between 43.1% and 48.7% of the vote; no other party should receive more than 1% of the vote share.he INEC official result is for the 2018 Ekiti State gubernatorial election consistent with the YIAGA AFRICA WTV estimate. Had the official results been changed at the ward, LGA or state collation centres, the official results would not have fallen within the YIAGA AFRICA WTV estimated ranges. Because the official results fall within the estimated ranges, governorship contestants, parties, and voters should have confidence that INEC’s official results for the Ekiti 2018 gubernatorial election reflect the ballots cast at polling units. It is important to highlight the counting process at polling units was transparent and included representatives from the two political parties that received the most votes.”
The organization noted further that “NEC’s official results for turnout and rejected ballots are also consistent with YIAGA AFRICA WTV estimates. YIAGA AFRICA is able to estimate that turnout is 44.5% with a margin of error of ±3.1% (between 41.4% and 47.6%) while INEC’s official result is 44.4%. Similarly, YIAGA AFRICA estimates rejected ballots are 4.3% with a margin of error of ±1.1% (between 3.2% and 5.4%) while INEC’s official result is 4.7%. These results are consistent.”
In conclusion, Tisha posited that “In view of the consistency between INEC official results and our WTV estimates, we confirm that the official results reflect the ballot cast at the polling unit. To this end, we urge all stakeholders to accept the outcome of the election or seek redress using legal means of electoral dispute resolution.”
Itodo who delivered the Yiaga report to the media stayed, “The incidence of vote buying and voter inducement during elections undermines political legitimacy and makes a mockery of our democracy. This growing trend needs to be abated ahead of subsequent elections. INEC should take intentional steps to protect the secrecy of the ballot to enforcing her electoral guidelines. The Security agencies should devise new strategies for detecting and apprehending individuals or groups involved in vote buying and selling during elections. Stakeholders like INEC, NOA and CSOs should engage in robust advocacy against vote buying. Political parties and candidates should be encouraged to promote issued-based participation at elections.”