The 2018 local government elections have come and gone but the memories remain a driving force for our political evolution in Edo State.
The Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC) must be commended for doing a good job, in spite of a few issues being raised by some aspirants and opposition Action Democratic Party, ADP in some wards.
The going to court by the People’s Democratic Party, PDP and subsequent refusal to participate in the election was the best thing that could happen to the state as it was obvious that the All Progressive Congress, APC would sweep the polls at the end of the day. It was an obvious good riddance to bad rubbish.
The Edo PDP knows too well that it has ran out of tricks and deceits and that it cannot even win one councillorship seat so, they resorted to cheap blackmail and chickened out early enough.
The unfounded allegations of planned rigging by the sunken PDP in Edo State even before the election wasn’t surprising to those of us in the All Progressives Congress, APC, which won most of the seats contested in the areas declared so far by EDSIEC. Everyone in Edo State knows that this has been the attitude of the Edo PDP leadership since their ouster from power in the state in 2007.
It is imperative to recall that the APC, then ACN won all the re-contested State House of Assembly elections held in Akoko-Edo, Etsako Central, and Ovia North East Local Government Areas in 2008/2009. The APC went ahead to win all the Local Government seats in the last Local Government election in the state.
Historically, the PDP downward slide degenerated at every election as the party equally suffered defeat during the general elections held in April 2011. The State House of Assembly election that followed was quite humbling for the PDP remnants.
The Governorship election held in July 2012 was more of a humiliation for the PDP as the APC won all the eighteen local government areas in the state. This saw the total collapse of the PDP in the state in elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, not even EDSIEC.
The last governorship election that brought in Governor Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki to power also saw a woeful defeat of the PDP in all the Local Government Areas of the State. These were the major reasons why most of the PDP members were routing for the ouster of Chief Dan Osi Orbih as the party chairman in the state as he has always led the party to failure. But the comatose and confused leadership of the party at the national has continued to impose him on the party in the state.
So, there is a clear history of APC being in total control of the electorate in Edo State. Once a March 3rd date was fixed by the EDSIEC for Local Government elections, the Edo PDP Chairman, Mr. Dan Orbih and his cohorts went into coma and when they woke up from their nightmare, they felt that heading to the court to challenge the amendment of the EDSIEC Law by the Edo State House of Assembly was the only ploy to throw a spanner in the works. The next move of the sunken party was to engage in mindless and cheap blackmail of the electoral process.
But to God be the glory, various political parties filed out to contest various positions. The election was reported to have kicked off in several polling units across Edo State on a good footing, with high turnout of voters in most parts of the state and low turn out recorded in a few areas. The electorates freely cast their ballots to elect new helmsmen of their choice at the councils.
With the restriction of movement between 7am and 3pm announced by the state government to ease the voting process across the state, voters were afforded ample opportunity to exercise their franchise. Information from the media revealed that polling units across the three Senatorial districts in the state witnessed massive turnout of voters contrary to insinuations that there was going to be voter apathy due to boycott by the PDP.
At the end of the day, it was obvious that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was certain of victory. This shows that the electorates are truly behind the APC and are committed to seeing the ‘wake and see’ phenomenon repeated at local council level.
What was uppermost in the March 3, council poll was the security architecture put in place by security agencies in the state. The Police alone deployed 16,000 personnel, the NSCDC deployed 5,000 of its personnel and the Army, DSS and other agencies deploying sizeable number of their personnel to ensure full-proof security during the local government election. This feat was also acknowledged by the Chairman, Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC), Prof. Stanley Orobator and some electorate who on their own, commended the security arrangements during the council polls. The state commissioner of police Mr. Johnson Kokumo and the state Comptroller, Nigeria Immigration Service Mr Eniolorunda Kayode deserve commendation as well.
Much more, a huge segment of Civil Society Organisations in the state lent their voice of commendation for the elections. Civil Society organisations that are in the state assessed the readiness of the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC) for the polls, the dispositions of the electorates and political parties towards the elections and other variables crucial to a hitch-free exercise, and scored EDSIEC high on its preparedness and actual conduct of the polls.
Team Leader, Forum of Civil Society Organisation in Nigeria, Comrade Fidelis Nweke, said that after his team’s pre-election observation exercise, they “observed that the Edo State government has provided the necessary logistics for EDSIEC to organise and conduct credible elections in the state without the state government’s interference.”
Nweke said his team “gathered that some political parties will not participate in this Saturday, 3rd March, 2018 Local Government Election in Edo State.” He maintained that “boycott of elections is not healthy for our democracy,” and recommended “that such political parties should be sanctioned and stopped from participating in any elections for a period of five (5) years.”
He explained that in the course of their work, they met with various stakeholders in the electoral process, including Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC), the political parties, security agencies and the electorates. This was aimed at determining the level of preparedness of all the relevant stakeholders, as part of the critical component of election observation in the state.”
Nweke noted that EDSIEC was committed to conducting free, fair and credible elections in the state, by providing a level playing ground for all political parties in the state to participate in the elections.
Aside Civil Society Organisations, the electoral umpire in conjunction with civil society organisations and the political parties themselves engaged in massive voter education and sensitisation before the election, commendable efforts which have given a seal of credibility to the elections.
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Besides, kudos must be given to the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki for providing needed support for the EDSIEC to successfully carry out their independent assignment with dispatch, providing a level-playing field for all contestants.
Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Edo State.
