Before Edo State Is Set On Fire!

By Sufuyan Ojeifo

Political extremism was an outrageous flaunt by the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2015 general elections: to win at all costs. It was accompanied by virulent propaganda never seen in the history of electioneering in Nigeria, which was, overall, sustained by a bare threat to destabilise the polity. The APC put aside all decorum and threatened to form a parallel government if the outcome of the presidential election did not favour them.  Some political analysts had, at that point, rightly dubbed the APC as an amalgamation of political extremists and desperate politicians whose common purpose was to hijack power by force of threat.

*Gov Adams Oshiomole of Edo State 

But before that assertion is faulted, I invite you to also take a critical look at political events in Edo State ahead of the September 10, 2016 governorship election.  There is no doubt that the fortune of the APC in Edo has plummeted, and since there is no likely quick fix in sight, its main political actors have resorted to threats. They want to unleash Armageddon on a State that is already gripped by hunger.  By allegedly planning to rig the forthcoming election, the APC government is preparing the ground for anarchism.

The fear of possible mayhem is real.  The fear is strengthened by a bizarre development in Edo, which has further fuelled suspicions that the APC is committed to perpetrate electoral fraud. The development is called hunt for thugs (similar to the talent hunt show), and it is basically fashioned out to assemble the most daring of the area boys in town ahead of the governorship poll.  Today, thuggery is considered as, perhaps, the highest paying job in the State, with a lucrative recruitment scheme such that if you can stake the unexpected as an area boy, just expect a call from Oga at the top to be enlisted for the task ahead. It is that bad!

At the center of this despicable political gambit is a certain Brother Adams, demonstrating a do or die attitude in his conduct at rallies in a desperate bid to impose a “puppet-candidate” on Edo State. He has thrown caution to the winds in his extreme disposition to enforce his third-term by other means.  He has threatened that a particular candidate will only be governor over his dead body. But unfortunately for Brother Adams, the people do not want him dead yet.  Even though they have made up their minds to vote out the APC, they want Brother Adams to be alive to witness the consequences of his action of betraying their trust.

Though there is an increased consciousness on the part of the people to frustrate any plan to manipulate the election, it is however necessary for the law enforcement agencies to be on the guard as impartial security outfits working to keep and ensure the peace and stability of the State. The mood in Edo is now that of a people ready to defend their mandate and protect their state against any internal or external forces of destabilisation.

There is, however, a major concern, the kind that was witnessed during the 2015 general elections when an accreditation-technology of card reader was introduced and used against the provision of the Electoral Act and the common sense of testing it at smaller elections before a large scale application. Aside the fact that the innovation was an unmitigated disaster during the general elections, the Supreme Court has since ruled on its applicability and asked the electoral body to appropriately include it in the Electoral Act if it so desired.
But it appears the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is again up to something else in the forthcoming Edo and Ondo States governorship elections with yet another introduction of an electronic platform for collation of results. This has not been captured by any law or guaranteed by the Electoral Act. It is called e-collation and e-transmission of results.