By Jude Opara

The much talked about off-cycle governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states have come and gone with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaring the winners in the polls.

In Bayelsa state, it was a two horse race between the incumbent, Governor Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who emerged winner over his closest rival, Chief Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In Imo state, before the election, it was expected to be a fierce battle among the three top contenders; the incumbent Governor Hope Uzodinma of the APC, Sen.

However, the result in Imo was more of an anti-climax for the PDP and the LP as Governor Uzodinma emerged victorious with a whopping 540,308 votes ahead of his distant rivals, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu of the PDP who polled 71,503 and Sen. Athan Achonu of the LP with 61,081 votes respectively. In fact, the winning was so resounding that Uzodinma defeated his rivals in all the 27 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.

Also in Kogi state, there were three leading candidates, Usman Ododo of the APC, Muritala Ajaka of the Social Democratic party (SDP) as well as Sen. Dino Melaye of the PDP. While Ododo enjoyed the support of the outgoing Governor Yahaya Bello, Dino and Ajaka relied on the strength and acceptability of their supporters. Ododo has been declared as the winner with 446, 237; Murtala Ajaka of the SDP placed second with 259, 052 while Dino Melaye of the PDP scored 26,362 to come third.

Typical of the average Nigerian politician, in all the three states, those who lost have all cried blue murder; alleging high levels of irregularities and that the elections were conducted without recourse to the Electoral Guidelines. Like in Imo, Ajaka and Melaye who lost have rejected the result and called for the outright cancellation of the exercise.

In Bayelsa, despite having only eight Local Government Areas (LGAs) it took two days before the final result could be collated and announced. The result had to be completed on Monday following some re-run which was carried out by INEC in some wards in the Southern Ijaw area. Getting results from the parts of Southern Ijaw and Brass LGAs were indeed very difficult due to the difficult terrain of the place as well as fear of insecurity. Indeed, an INEC staff member was abducted while waiting to board a boat to Sagbama before she was kidnapped with all the materials with her. 

Also in Bayelsa where the PDP won, the APC has rejected the result claiming widespread irregularities as well as over 80,000 votes deducted from the party. Chief Denis Ochocho who also served as the agent of the party at the State Collation Centre said taking the results from Brass and Sagbama LGAs to Yanegoa was aimed at ensuring results were doctored in favour of the PDP.

Indeed, due to the desperation of politicians, there were reported cases of violence in some places across the three states. The unfortunate thing is that in most cases these acts of violence happened in the full gear of security operatives.

In Imo, there were several allegations of electoral manipulation. Many analysts, especially those who were on ground, had said they were surprised how Hope Uzodinma managed to poll such a high number of votes, including from places where hitherto the people had deserted their homes due to the prevalent insecurity in parts of the states.

For instance, the Director General of the PDP Governorship Campaign Council in a press briefing on Monday alleged that in places like Orsu LGA, where there was very low turnout of voters, the APC recorded high results. He said in Omuma, the home town of Uzodinma in the Orlu LGA, where there were less than five accredited voters in some wards, the APC recorded over 400 votes.

In Kogi, the SDP candidate, Dino Melaye of the PDP as well as the Action Alliance (AA) candidate, Olayinka Braimoh has threatened court action following what he described as a sham of an election in the state. Apart from being arrested and prevented from voting on Election Day, Braimoh said the result announced by INEC was largely written even before the commencement of voting.

The Situation Room of the various Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) has come out in the preliminary reports to carpet some INEC officials as well as the security operatives for their complicit in the massive electoral fraud witnessed on Saturday.

In fact, what we have seen in this election really negates what INEC promised after the controversial 2023 general elections where the commission could not upload the results of the presidential election due to what it described as ‘glitches’.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu did not mince words when before the election he vowed that his organization will ensure that election results were uploaded real time as they are released right from the wards. This actually ought to have taken some pressure off the electoral umpire and also restored some level of confidence that going forward, votes may begin to count in the country.

There is no gainsaying that INEC actually made adequate preparations to ensure that the off-cycle elections were conducted in a free, fair and credible atmosphere. To kick start the exercise, on October 14, INEC organized the mock accreditation exercise in the three affected states. That was part of the arrangements to fine-tune its equipment especially the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and to ensure that the ad-hoc staff were adequately abreast with the functioning of the device.

Similarly, INEC also organized its quarterly stakeholders’ meetings with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), the Political Parties, the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) as well as the Media. At all these meetings, INEC reiterated its resolve to conduct an election that would be largely judged to be free, fair and credible.

Also, INEC and the National Peace Committee organized the ritual of signing the Peace Accords by the main political actors, but unfortunately, in most cases either some of the expected candidates will shun the exercise or only send their surrogates. In fact, there was the case in Bayelsa state where some politicians openly quarreled right at the venue of the Peace Accord.

It must be reiterated that the politicians are responsible for almost all the electoral heists we have witnessed in the country. The average Nigerian politician has become very desperate for power and it also means that power is not really sought for service but as a means of presiding over the economic and political affairs of the country.

There have been several instances where politicians have even gone to the extent of borrowing money from banks with huge interests just to contest an election. There is no way such a person who has now turned politics like a business will not want to play outside the rules because he wants to win in order to be able to repay his loans.

The use of thugs to win elections unfortunately seems to have come to stay in the country. For instance, on Election Day in Ikenegbu Ward 1 in Owerri, Imo state, it was reported that thugs numbering about 20 stormed the polling centre at about 8 am and warned any voter who was not going to vote for the APC to stay clear of the area.

Certainly, in a situation like that there is little or nothing INEC could do because the Commission does not have the power to enforce any law. It also calls to question the sincerity of the security operatives who will always read the riot acts before every election, yet the thugs will continue to have their way. The question is how do the thugs manage to pass the various security roadblocks to be able to go from one polling centre to another?         

The truth remains that the day the security agencies decide to be neutral in the electoral affairs of politicians, some of these ugly stories will disappear. It does not make sense to come out before an election to threaten fire and brimstone but yet the real criminals usually find a way to manipulate them. It means that somebody somewhere gives them the instruction to turn a blind eye to the miscreants.

Unfortunately, before every election security operatives will be seen giving all manners of assurances and confidence to the fact that they want to be neutral, but the reverse has been the case as the issue of thuggery and open manipulation of the process in their presence abound.

However, there are some areas INEC must pay great attention to in order to continue to gain on the successes of the reformations so far introduced. We saw in Imo and Kogi states where some pre-filled result sheets were already in circulation even before the commencement of voting.

INEC must begin to wield the big stick; because if the Commission had cancelled the election in any state where even if it was only one result sheet was pre-filled, it would have sent the right signal to the politicians that it is no longer business as usual. While this may pass as a first occurrence, INEC must ensure that the culprits were apprehended to answer to their actions.

Unless INEC begins to bark and also bite, politicians will continue to mess them up and the people will continue to see them as willing accomplices in the embarrassing electoral fraud that has become the order of the day.