Africa
Unfortunately, Ekiti has been associated with politically motivated violence during elections. Some political analysts have attributed this culture of political violence to trust deficit and winner takes all syndrome in Nigerian politics. Perhaps, this election will serve as another test case for political transitions in Ekiti State.
By Goddy Ikeh
AS Nigerians await the conduct the second off-season governorship election in Ekiti State on Saturday, June 18, 2022, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, there are obvious signals that the consequences of trust deficit and winner takes all syndrome in Nigerian politics that keep political leaders at loggerheads may be repeated in the Ekiti poll.
Already, the National Peace Committee has performed its pre-election ritual of suing for peaful and transparent elections in Nigeria. Speaking on Wednesday in Ado Ekiti, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese and member of the the peace committee, Bishop Matthew Kukah, implored the voters in Ekiti State to take advantage of the off-season elections and vote to install leaders of their choice on Saturday.
He appealed to the voters and 11 governorship aspirants to ensure the exercise is peaceful and transparent and urged them the emulate the examples of what transpired in Anambra, Edo and Ondo states.
According to him, the political actors should ensure that they do not see the signing of the peace accord as a mere formality and a photo opportunity and prayed that the friendship exhibited by them at the signing ceremony should follow them all through the election.
In his speech at the peace accord signing ceremony, the Chairman of the INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, assured Ekiti State voters that their votes would count and appealed to the political parties and their candidates to ensure a peaceful conduct of the election in line with spirit of the peace pact.
Although, some political analysts and stakeholders believe that the involvement of fresh and young political aspirants in the gubernatorial race in Ekiti may bring about a peaceful conduct of the election, but recent events in the state of attacks and killings during the campaigns have raised some concerns over the ability of the political leaders in Ekiti to guarantee a peaceful election.
For instance, the agitations and rancor that were noticed during and after the party primaries raised the tension in the state. According to Bunmi Makinwa, the result of the primaries changed the situation in the state. He stated that many of the interested candidates were either out-manoeuvred or blatantly pushed aside in the process of party nominations. In anger, several of them decided to depart from their erstwhile parties and move elsewhere.
In his article titled “The next Governor of Ekiti State”, Makinwa cited the case of a major aspirant to the gubernatorial position who contested the PDP primaries, former governor Segun Oni, felt deeply aggrieved and left his party to emerge as Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) gubernatorial candidate for Ekiti State. According to him, until Oni’s position became public, SDP was a nominal party and considered as a relatively small player the state. “It has been transformed by the candidature of Oni and without doubt both PDP and APC are re-calculating how to overcome the challenge posed by SDP and its new candidate,” he said.
According to Makinwa, who is the CEO of AUNIQUEI Communication for Leadership and previously, Africa Regional Director of United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, the contest is a performance assessment of former governors – Segun Oni and Ayodele Fayose, and current governor, Kayode Fayemi. “Fayose and Fayemi are seen as strong leaders of respectively, PDP and APC in Ekiti State, and expressly targeting national political relevance and leadership. Their candidates, APC’s Abiodun Oyebanji, a former Secretary to the government, and PDP’s Bisi Kolawole, a former Commissioner, emerged from their parties’ primaries. The two candidates are important pillars for the future steps of Fayose and Fayemi in national politics. Hence the coming state election is a vital stepping stone for the future goals,” he added.
Despite the permutations and the concerns raised over the peaceful conduct of the elections, INEC has moved sensitive materials to the 16 local government areas of the state ahead of the Saturday’s election ahead of Saturday’s election. Local media reports confirmed that the deployment, which was done at the state INEC headquarters, was observed by security operatives, accredited media, observers and other stakeholders.
The Ekito State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Adeniran Tella, who distributed the materials, told journalists that the electoral officers would take the items to their councils where it would be sent to the polling units on Saturday morning. He assured that there would be no late arrival of materials to the polling units on Saturday, and that the ballot papers were colour-coded for each Local Government area in order to prevent electoral fraud. He also explained that the result sheets were also customised according to the polling units.
On security arrangements for the poll, more police personnel deployed to Ekiti State for election duties arrived the state on Thursday. The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Johnson Kokumo, who is in charge of the state governorship poll, has appealed to the people of Ekiti State to be law-abiding during and after election and respect all the processes for the conduct of a peace election.
In his press briefing in Ado Ekiti, the DIG said: “Over 17,000 police operatives deployed for the Ekiti poll are meant to secure the state and not for any form of intimidation of citizens, but to secure lives and the rule of law.” He disclosed that soldiers would be at the borders of the communities to prevent any form of intruders, and that all the policemen attached to VIPs should be withdrawn and made to return to base for the purpose of the election.
In addition the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ahmed Audi, has said that the 9,747 operatives of the service would be deployed for the election. In a statement, the Corps Director of Public Relations, Olusola Odumosu, said in a statement that the deployment of the officers would ensure a watertight security during the election.
Certainly, all the parties involved in the conduct of the gubernatorial election in Ekiti State are set and hopeful of peaceful and transparent exercise on Saturday, Perhaps, this election provides another test case for political transition in Ekiti devoid of bloodshed.
– June 17, 2022 @ 15:07 GMT |
AI.
Tags: Adeniran Tella Bishop Matthew Kukah Bisi Kolawole INEC Johnson Kokumo National Peace Committee Olusola Odumosu Prof Mahmood Yakubu
