Edo election must be different
No. 20 P.O.W. Mafemi Crescent, Off Solomon Lar Way, Utako District, Abuja
On Saturday, September 19, 2020, Edo State’s 2.2 million registered voters shall go to the polls to elect their next governor for another four years. All eyes are on the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Nigeria Police Force, other security agencies, and politicians to see whether or not the governorship election would take the shameful and violent pattern of last year’s elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states. Also being watched are the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to see whether or not they would allow the will of the people to prevail.
In this election, the main contenders are the incumbent governor and PDP candidate Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki and APC flagbearer Osagie Ize-Iyamu. Recent events indicate that former chairmen of APC, John Adigie Oyegun and Adams Oshiomohle, are desperate about ensuring their candidates won in this election. Such desperation is creating tension that could scare voters from the polls due to fear of violence. In spite of the ominous clouds, the National Peace Committee, led by former Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar and Bishop Matthew Kukah, has persuaded the rivals in the election to sign a peace pact. For this, we highly commend these eminent Nigerians whose initiative has doused tension in Edo State.
Before the peace pact was signed, there were pre-election violence, verbal assaults and undisguised hate speech during campaigns and meetings in several parts of the state. They occurred in Oredo, Ikpoba/Okha, Egor, Owan West, Esan West, Igueben, Etsako West, Akoko Edo and Esan Central LGAs. Yiaga Africa, in its pre-election situation analysis, reported that “Political party supporters refused to grant supporters of opposing parties access to some part of the Apana community of Etsako West LGA, during a campaign rally. A similar incident was reported in Ekpe, Akoko Edo LGA on August 28, as supporters and members of the APC and PDP clashed during their campaign rallies.” The election monitoring body also reported that the small arms in the hands of youths in Edo State are a cause for concern during this election.
The election in Edo State would be free and fair if INEC and security agencies play their roles conscientiously. First, INEC must task its officials on the need to be impartial, as the election’s umpire. Violence occurs when the electoral umpire, through its officials, is seen to yield to pressures from the powers-that-be to circumvent the will of the people in favour of a particular political party or candidate. Also, if security agencies are impartial they will prevent electoral fraud in diverse shapes and shades. In the elections that took place in Kogi and Bayelsa states in 2019, diverse reports by local and international election monitoring groups indicted security agencies, saying instead of protecting the votes, security personnel connived with political parties to rig the elections. This is shameful and unacceptable, to say the least. In reaction to the fraud, the United States has imposed visa ban on some political figures who played ignominious roles in those elections
All stakeholders in the Edo State election must ensure that it is free of the repulsive incidents that took place in Kogi and Bayelsa states. The police must protect voters from trouble-makers. It is good that as many as 35,000 policemen have been deployed for this election, but the officers must not be compelled to work in support of a particular party or candidate. They should arrest trouble-makers, regardless of their political leaning. They must prevent vote-buying, stuffing of ballot boxes, writing of fraudulent election results, and diverse corruption that have defaced Nigeria’s elections.
Most importantly, we call on political actors to allow the will of the people to prevail. Democracy is all about the choice of the people. It is clear that all political parties involved in tomorrow’s election have vigorously campaigned and sold their agenda to voters. Now, they must allow the people to decide who should rule them.
Let this election be different.