The court has always been the last hope of the common man and in any democratic society the judiciary is the arbiter and adjudicates on any dispute between parties. At the end of the last gubernatorial elections in Edo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared, the All Progressives Congress candidate, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the authentic winner of the election.
Since his declaration, so many Edo people have been congratulating him and his deputy, Philip Shaibu for their victory at the polls. Even some gubernatorial candidates who contested the election with him and lost have since conceded victory and gone ahead to congratulate him. That is how it ought to be.
But the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on their part are challenging their defeat at the Edo State Election Petition tribunal which itself is not out of place. Aggrieved candidates under the Electoral Act have the right to seek redress. But they are not to go to the tribunal to beat up the judges and lawyers to get a mandate. If a political party mobilises its supporters to the election petition tribunal where the judges and jury are hearing the submissions following the petitions submitted and unleash brigandage on the tribunal then it leaves room for anarchy.
Last week, Edo people were stunned with the level of barbarism displayed at the Edo State Election Petition tribunal by PDP youths who threw caution to the winds and unleashed mayhem on the tribunal attacking supporters of the All Progressives Congress who were left with no option but to defend themselves even as the police was reportedly overwhelmed. At the end of the day, three persons were said to have been hospitalized. The three persons were said to have had their heads broken with bottles when the PDP besieged the tribunal with dangerous weapons singing war songs.
During the sitting, the tribunal chairman, Justice Ahmed Badamasi after listening to the parties, ruled that the petitioners must file their applications latest 3pm on Saturday 3rd December 2016 while the respondents must file their responses latest 7pm Monday 5th December2016 and adjourned further sitting to December 7.
It was not long when the PDP thugs invaded the tribunal premises and unleashed mayhem on supporters of the APC to the chagrin of all who had come to witness the day’s proceedings. Sadly, too, the PDP supporters who attacked the APC members were the first to rush to television stations to accuse the APC of being the aggressor.
Why in the widest imagination of any right thinking man believe that the APC that has secured victory will be the one to attack anybody? It is on record that all through the electioneering, the APC had maintained a gentleman approach to winning the election.
It is wrong for the PDP supporters to attack the APC supporters because at the end of the day those innocent people who the PDP youth broke their heads are Edo people. It is also important to caution parents to call their sons and wards to order because in a rowdy atmosphere such as was witnessed at the election petition tribunal, anybody could be a victim. Conflict does not blow anyone any good and the PDP must understand that they do not have monopoly of violence.
It is equally important to make it clear that what they could not achieve through the ballot box can never be achieved through violence or the use of force. The PDP in Edo must know that there is no amount of violence they would perpetrate or number of people they have their heads broken that could ever force the tribunal to give judgment in their favour. What will inform the tribunal judgment is the evidence before the eminent judges. The judges cannot be intimidated or coarse into delivering wrong judgment.
It is equally important to note that the tribunal reserves the right to relocate to a more conducive environment if the PDP wants to make the tribunal premises not conducive for their sitting. They must also know that election is not a do or die affair. You can no longer achieve political leadership in Nigeria or in any part of Africa by brute force or the use of dangerous objects and instruments.
It is, however, important to state clearly here that the APC own Edo State and other parties, including the PDP are spectators. I say this because of the implicit confidence Edo people have for the APC as a party with the political machinery and sagacity to develop the state since its inception eight years ago.
The APC has practically quashed opposition in the state through visible developments going on in all parts of the state. It is unprecedented in the history of Edo State and Edo citizens would not want to risk their fate in the hands of the weak-willed PDP led by garrulous gangsters who would stop at nothing in pillorying the state. This is why the APC swept the last governorship election in Edo. We have done it before and we have just repeated our winning streak again. Edo people turned out en masse to give APC massive votes as usual because the party under Adams Oshiomhole has established confidence in their hearts over the years. Edo people cannot also forget in a hurry their bitter experiences in the hands of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Some say it is People Deceive People. As a party, the APC has continued to keep its own side of the contract with Edo people.
Today, public schools have regained the appeal comparable to any good school anywhere in the country with well motivated teachers, even though the state is still interested in making them better positioned to deliver quality services to our children under the Godwin Obaseki regime. Most of our roads are all wearing new looks. Old ones are being re-constructed and new ones opened up. Obaseki is going to construct more roads. There are plans to cover areas not reached with road transformation any time from now. Communities that never had potable water in several years where the PDP government said water can never be gotten are now enjoying clean water. Who does not want to sustain this development? Who will see light and says he prefers darkness when you are not a principality? The PDP must stop distracting our Governor with their madness and just allow the tribunal do its constitutional duties.
•Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State.
