As
I write now, I am not too sure that I will be able to readily remember the full
name of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate – the major
opposition contestant in the November 16, 2019 gubernatorial election in Kogi
State. So, it should not be surprising that I probably wouldn’t have heard
about Natasha Hadiza Akpoti, the intelligent and courageous young lady who flew
the governorship flag of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in that election if
some fellows in the state’s murky political scene did not choose to attract
undue attention to the state by stretching their desperation and crude politics
to unimaginable extremes in their determination to run Natasha out of the governorship
contest.
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| *Natasha Akpoti |
Indeed,
my interest in what happens in Kogi had been so badly depleted by the
unedifying record of Gov Yahaya Bello whose most significant achievement in
office appears to be his successful de-marketing of the very outstanding
campaign undertaken by some young Nigerians to push for the greater
participation of the younger generation in the leadership of this country. It
is so demoralising that when anyone tries these days to applaud and strengthen
the case of this laudable advocacy (whose delicious fruit was the signing into
law of the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill by President
Muhammadu Buhari on May 31, 2018), the predictable retort usually fired back at
one is: what of Yahaya Bello, is he not a young man? What is the guarantee that
other young people would not only replicate his dismal record if they assumed
leadership positions? It is as bad as that.
It
was very clear as the Kogi governorship election drew close that the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) had become very apprehensive due to the unedifying
performance of their governor in Kogi who owed public service
workers several month’s salary. Imagine what it feels like to stay for some
months without salaries to feed the family, pay house rent, school fees and
hospitals bills! Is it not possible that some people might have died during
this very excruciating period due to lack of funds to solve their most basic
needs like food and medicare?
That’s
what Bello had subjected poor civil servants (some old enough to father him) to
in his state. Obviously, the governor’s rating had achieved such a very low
descent that the Kaduna State Governor and Chairman of the APC Campaign Council
for the Kogi election, Nasir el-Rufai, had to kneel down during the grand
finale of the party’s governorship rally in Lokoja, two days to the election,
to appeal to the people to forgive Bello. The wife of the president, Aisha
Buhari, also joined her voice to beg Kogi people to forgive the governor and
give him another chance.
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| *Natasha and Gov Yahaya Bello of Kogi State |
And
just three days to the election, the APC-dominated senate approved the sum of
N10.069 billion “refund” to Kogi State. Given the timing of this action, the
impression out there was that the party had used its majority influence in the
senate to put an election war chest in the hands of their candidate to
overwhelm the largely disenchanted electorate and other contestants and grab
“victory” no matter the cost.
Indeed,
the desperation and violence that attended the election have been widely
condemned. In fact, the election was described by many as a “bloody war.” And
after “the war” had been lost and won, the Centre for Democracy and Development
(CDD) announced to a shocked world that at least ten lives were wantonly
wasted, with many others wounded. Even after INEC had said that it was Bello
that won the gory election, thugs reportedly celebrating his victory went to
the house of Mrs. Salome Acheju
Abuh, a PDP woman leader, and set her and her house on fire, and
reduced both to rubble!
And
despite all these spine-chilling occurrences that left the civilised world
dumbfounded, President Muhammadu Buhari hastened to congratulate Yahaya Bello
on his “victory” and described the election as ‘a race well run and a victory well won.’
He urged those dissatisfied with the outcome to take their grievances to court.
It
was so saddening and very unsettling watching Natasha Akpoti’s interview
on Arise TV shortly after the “bloody war” in Kogi that
grossly diminished Nigeria in the comity of nations. It was most disappointing
that Prof Mahm0od Yakubu and his “Independent” National Electoral Election
(INEC) could stoop so low to lend a helping hand to the desperadoes in Kogi to
execute their crude self-help designs to deny this young woman the opportunity
to seek the mandate of Kogi people. Why was it so difficult to allow a
level-playing field so that the best candidate acceptable to the people could
win, and those who lost would see clearly that they were rejected by the people
and not shoved aside by the more violent and financially empowered co-contestant
with the help of an electoral body that should have clearly underlined its
neutrality?
Unfortunately,
INEC seems to have perfected the egregious act of bending the rules guiding its
operations whenever it finds it expedient in order to achieve some unwholesome
ends. The commission which had earlier declared that it lacked the powers to
disqualify candidates (in agreement with a Supreme Court ruling of April 16, 2007, which
clearly stated that "INEC has no constitutional power to
disqualify a candidate from contesting elections without a valid order of a
court"), suddenly assumed the powers to disqualify Natasha with the
claim that her submission was “invalid,” because her deputy (and not her) was
below the legally stipulated age of 35 for those running for the office of the
governor and deputy.
And
to clearly underline its partisan interest in the matter, INEC rejected the
effort by the SDP to replace the underage candidate even though, at that time,
the legally allowed substitution window was still open. It instead went ahead
to disqualify Natasha from participating in the polls.
It
took the ruling of an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Folashade
Ogunbiyi-Giwa on November 7, 2019 to compel INEC to readmit her and her
new running mate into the race. But by this time, the commission had succeeded
in causing her to lose a lot of valuable time. She and her party had just a few
days to campaign. And to further complicate her case, INEC excluded SDP’s name
and logo from the result sheets claiming that it had instructed its officers to
add them with pencils or biros, a directive the SDP has alleged was largely not
adhered to by INEC officials, thereby, placing the party at a very great
disadvantage during the collation of results.
By
the way, where was INEC when the Zamfara State deputy governor, a thirty-three
year old illustrious young man, passed through the entire process and won the
election with his governor? Other cases abound and INEC was able to realise
that it lacked the powers to disqualify them; but in the case of Kogi SDP
candidates, it suddenly assumed the powers and disqualified them.
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| *INEC Chair, Prof Yakubu |
As
the election drew close, the SDP secretariat was vandalised and destroyed.
Natasha has continued to accuse the governor’s thugs of being responsible for
the mayhem. And to demonstrate that these were “privileged anarchists”, they
allegedly spent about two hours razing the house, without any intervention from
the police whose station was only two meters away. There were also uniformed
security men observing the destruction, but no one can say if they were of
“fake” or genuine policemen.
Also,
few days to the election, INEC organised a stakeholders meeting in Lokoja
attended by contestants in the election and party leaders. An Assistant
Inspector General of Police (AIG) was also there as well as the INEC Chairman,
Professor Yakubu and many of the top officials of the commission. But when
Natasha arrived and tried to gain access to the meeting hall, she was verbally
and physically attacked by thugs whom she alleged wore APC mufflers and the GYB
(abbreviation for Gov Yahaya Bello) face caps. And despite the about 500
policemen and other security agents present there, nobody put forth a hand to
help her despite appeals to them. Twice she fell down when she was hit and
brutally pushed by her attackers.
INEC
was to later claim that when they learnt about her ordeal, they sent their
legal officer (not security officers) to help her! Well, she had to leave the
venue when it became clear that her life was in very serious danger. But one of
her campaign cars was damaged and her driver was wounded in the head.
Now,
exactly what kind of election took place in Kogi? This is one election from
which videos have emerged showing uniformed men shooting into the air, causing
voters and electoral officers to take to their heels, vacating the places for
thugs to take away the ballot boxes and stuff them with thumb-printed ballots.
Sadly, despite the fact that over 35, 000 policemen were deployed in Kogi to
ensure that the election was not disrupted by hoodlums, the Inspector General
of Police could still tell us that “fake policemen” were able to overwhelm the
thousands of genuine policemen on ground to manipulate the process. This is
quite unbelievable. What is the hope for this country and her democracy
then?
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| *Natasha Akpoti |
Natasha
has alleged that her ordeal was tied to the fact that she is from Ebiraland
like Governor Bello and so was seen as a big threat to his reelection bid.
According to her, some of the thugs had called her all sorts of ugly names in
the Ebira language and accused her of trying to jeopardize the “Ebira
chance.” She has also written to the Inspector General of Police alleging
of plans by Gov Bello to terminate her life.
It
is difficult to imagine how this young lady was able to summon the courage to
push ahead despite the monumental obstacles placed before her and the
obvious dangers to her life in the clearly shark-infested waters of
Kogi politics. But by daring where many other women (and even men) would have recoiled
and retreated into their shells, she has indeed become another shinning example
to many women out there. With her unyielding resolve despite the risks and
obstacles on her way, she is telling them that they can also dare and make a
great impact in the otherwise male-dominated political landscape of Nigeria.
She is no doubt the heroine of the last Kogi governorship contest. One can only
wish her well as she moves on to the next stage of her struggle, that is, the
election tribunals. Other women also should be encouraged to always stand out
and boldly seize the political space.
I
however disagree with her that a percentage of political offices should be
allocated to women due to their gender. That is one badly limiting trap
Nigerian women must never fall into, for it will forever hamstring them from
aspiring to some particular “high” offices.
They
should instead intensify their fight until they, by themselves, stamp their
feet firmly on Nigeria’s political landscape and establish their presence in a
way that no one can deny anymore.
Hillary
Clinton, after all, recently ran for presidency in the United States and almost
won the election not because some concession was extended to her because of her
gender. She had leveraged the past efforts of other women and knocked several
formidable men into a cocked heart to clinch the Democratic Party ticket.
I
know it is a long and tortuous journey in Nigeria here, but one day, and with
persistence, our women will get there.
*Ugochukwu
Ejinkeonye is a Nigerian journalist and writer (scruples2006@yahoo.com
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