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IF there is any easy lesson politicians involved in the April 11 governorship election and the State Houses of Assemblies election learnt from the March 28 presidential election, it is the need to be vigilant and on guard. These two attributes are very necessary for them to guard against systematic and scientific rigging of any sort if they hope to emerge successfully at the end of the exercise.  This is because despite being described as free, fair and credible, the presidential and National Assembly election, in some states of the federation, was anything but that. It was hugely manipulated by all the participants and political parties involved in the exercise.

As Realnews editorial suite last two weeks aptly stated:  “In this dicey presidential election, one should not expect so much that the votes of the electorate alone will determine the winner. The party that has the upper hand in dynamics of rigging will carry the day so long as it is done in such a way that the public will be fooled and not so much in a brazen d fashion.“ Suffice it to state that we were not proved wrong as the outcome of the perfidious March 28, exercise has shown no matter how the Independent National Electoral Commission, the nation and world try hard to pretend that all was well. It certainly was not.

However, unlike the presidential election, politicians involved in the guber race in the 29 states of the federation must by now be acutely aware of how and why All Progressives Congress got its victory in the presidential and National Assembly race while the Peoples Democratic Party, the ruling party lost out in spite of the power of incumbency.  Although all things are not equal in politics, the result of the April 11 election could scuttle some permutations of the politicians who think that victory is at their beck already based on the outcome of the March 28 election.

Needless to say that the outcome of the presidential and National Assembly race across the federation, sent jitters down the spine of some political juggernauts. This must explain the current scramble for support and unholy threat by Rilwan Akiolu, Oba of Lagos against Igbos that “they will perish in water” if they fail to vote for his preferred candidate and that he will accomplish his task seven days after the election. Such backward thinking and intimidation is most uncalled for if we truly want democracy to thrive in the country. People must also be allowed to vote the candidate of their choice without fear of any repercussion especially in this 21 century where cave man behavior is totally abhorrent in a civilized and cosmopolitan society like Lagos.

Nonetheless, Realnews decided to X-ray the real chances of the gladiators in the governorship race in the states in our cover story for this week entitled: Guber Race: PDP, APC in Epic Battle. It was written by Olu Ojewale, our general elditor. It is an interesting story. Enjoy it

Maureen Chigbo

Email: mechigbo@yahoo.com  |  mechigbo@realnewsmagazine.net

Tel: +234 8033487603, 8052528603

—  Apr. 20, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT

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