Unholy Siege In Rivers State

By Dickson Okonta  

The story of the March 19 re-run elections in Rivers State is that of perilous siege. It is the story of a state being held hostage by forces of darkness whose main intent is to unleash a reign of terror on the environment. A major accomplice in this unholy siege is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Under the headship of Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, it has become an object of unedifying banters; hardly living up to its billing. It has never conducted any election that can, strictly, speaking, pass the test of substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

President Buhari and Rotimi Amaechi 

In Kogi and Bayelsa states, for instance, the commission gave us a travesty of an election. Both could not be concluded in one ballot. They were, as has become customary, declared inconclusive. The Kogi scenario will, for a long time to come, pass for one of the sore points of our national struggle to join the league of democratic nations. In Bayelsa State, the elections were almost marred by violent conducts. INEC displayed lack of capacity. But the Kogi and Bayelsa scenarios pale into insignificance when the case of Rivers state is introduced into the mix. In Rivers, the commission presented the image of a lame duck. It just could not handle the re-run elections satisfactorily. Even when the commission declared to the world that it was ready for the exercise, everything ended up shoddily.

The commission allowed security agents whose role was the protection of life and property to intrude into and hijack the electoral process. The security agents abandoned the job they were sent to do and, instead, made themselves a part of INEC’s complements of staff. In the face of this dereliction on the part of INEC and the security personnel, the exercise ended in a fiasco in a number of places. That was why INEC cancelled the exercise in about 10 constituencies. The commission was responding to its own mess. But weeks after the conduct of the elections, the commission is still holding on to the results of some of the constituencies. It has been releasing the results piecemeal, thus creating the impression that election is a mystical exercise. You have to employ the expertise of diviners to decode the meaning of what you are into.

In the case of Rivers State, the commission has given an impression that it is taking instructions from a vested interest. Otherwise, why is INEC so incapacitated in its own election? The delay in releasing results is causing anxiety and heightening tension in the state. People now believe that the results of the elections are being manipulated to serve the interest of INEC’s masters.