‘Inconclusive’ as new vocabulary in INEC lexicon

The new leadership of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) headed by Mahmud Yakubu may have come under intense criticism following the bungling of the recent elections held in Kogi and Bayelsa States. Yakubu, critics say, may have started on a wrong footing.

The spate of “inconclusive” exercises in the two states has set tongues wagging.

Contrary to expectations of sterling performance, especially when the gubernatorial elections were not clustered, the INEC could neither pull through a successful outing in Kogi nor in Bayelsa without faltering.

As Nigerians were alarmed at the dangerous development in Kogi, Bayelsa’s case appears to be the worse. Not only that the election was heavily marred by violence, the Commission could not conclude even after it had postponed the second day.

As it stands, INEC is going to organise a fresh poll in Southern Ijaw on a new date, which means that it would take the Commission three days to conclude an election in one state.

Critics have expressed fears that the trend if not immediately halted may see the country holding election for over one month, particularly when it involves more than five states at the same time.

They also said that INEC may have unwittingly smuggled a vocabulary in the nation’s electoral lexicon, and that is “inconclusive”. They further pointed to the socio-economic implications of cancelling and extending elections.

Vincent Nwagbara, a legal practitioner and social commentator, said he was shocked at the level of violence in Bayelsa and the postponement of the election, the second time.

According to him, “Nigeria is heading towards chaos if credible election cannot be conducted in one state with all the necessary agencies deployed to the state. It means that the security agencies are going to remain in Bayelsa till the new date and INEC also will be spending more money. Why are we so wasteful in this part of the world? This new vocabulary- inconclusive- is not in the interest of the nation’s electoral system. Does it mean that INEC cannot conduct a general election? Is this part of the change?”

A resident of Yenagoa, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said it was becoming clearer to him that the Federal Government was not ready to walk its talk.

“I cannot describe how disappointed I am over the inability of the present administration to conduct a successful election. Imagine Bayelsa, a small state with eight local government areas is going for an election three times,” the resident said.

“Do we consider the socio-economic implications of this sham? I thought that the change mantra would also, positively affect conduct of elections; I also thought that a government that says it is interested in cutting down on cost of governance would do everything possible to be alive to its commitment. The postponement means, more money to be spent; more violence, and disruption of governance in Bayelsa,” the resident added.

It is also curious that despite the huge number of security personnel deployed to Bayelsa for the election, thugs went on killing spree with ease.

Meanwhile, while the celebration time may have been shifted for the likely winner of the Bayelsa State gubernatorial election, the losers in the exercise may have also been given a little more time to amuse themselves that it is not yet over.

The INEC Monday had announced the cancellation of the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area election, citing violence and ballot-snatching.
Baritor Kpagih, resident electoral commissioner for Bayelsa State, was said to have read a short statement to journalists at the collation centre in Yenagoa, saying a new date would be announced for a fresh election in the affected area. Election result from Southern Ijaw with 120,827 registered voters was being expected when INEC canceled the election, saying it was sufficiently marred.

Analysts say the disturbances that trailed the Bayelsa election was expected given the tension that had been nurtured by the contended parties, particularly the PDP and APC. According to them, the gubernatorial election this time around, for the first time since 1999 is competitive, unlike in the past when the results were predictable.

Clement Nwankwo, chairman, Security Room and human rights lawyer, decried the inability of the security agencies deployed to the state to contain the disturbances, a situation that resulted in massive voter apathy.

The Bayelsa election is believed to have been so badly handled by the security agencies and the INEC that at the end of the entire exercise, not up to 400,000 would have voted in a whole state.

In the concluded local government areas, Seriake Dickson, incumbent governor of Bayelsa State and candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), won in six, which are Ekeremor, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Nembe, Ogbia, Sagbama and Yenagoa local government areas. In Ogbia Local Government Area with 13 wards PDP won. This is the local government area of former President Goodluck Jonathan. The leading parties and their scores in Ogbia are APC 9,106; PDP 13,051 and PDM 86. Total registered voters 69,253; number of accredited voters 24,532 and number of rejected votes are 880. Total votes cast 23,358. Evans Eze of the Federal University, Otuoke, was the collation officer.

In Ekeremor Local Government Area with 12 wards, there were 82,783 total registered voters;
24,667 accredited voters and total valid votes were 22,664. About 634 were voided while total votes cast stood at 23,298. Ekeremor is the local government area of Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, minister of State for Agriculture and director general of the APC Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation.

Moreover, Fred Agbedi, director-general of the Restoration Campaign Organisation of the PDP candidate is from the area. A breakdown of votes scored by the political parties shows that APC garnered 7,918 and PDP 14,602. Johnson Dagana, staff off Open University, Yenagoa Study Centre, was the collation officer.

Sagbama council area with 14 wards was won by the PDP. This is Governor Seriake Dickson’s Local Government Area. Analysis of the results shows PDP won with 28,934; APC 5, 382 and PDM 406.

There were 84,550 total registered voters; accredited voters 36,892; valid votes 34,921; void votes 726 and total votes cast 35,647. It was also gathered that results of six units at Asamabiri were cancelled due to alleged malfunctioning card reader and electoral violence. Collation officer was Perekeme Bertola lecturer Niger Delta University
Yenagoa Local Government Area has 15 wards. The PDP won; scoring 24,258. The APC trailed with 14,563 and PDM 451. There were 135,025 registered voters; valid votes 40,041; void votes 1,710; accredited voters 44,751 and total votes cast 41,751. BusinessDay gathered that 16 units were cancelled due to snatching of election materials, violence and intimidation of electoral personnel.

Victor Torupele, a lecturer with the Niger Delta University (NDU), was the collation officer.

Kolokuma-Opokuma LGA was also won by the incumbent governor. While Dickson’s PDP polled 7,619; Sylva’s APC got 6,896. Total registered voters were 39,748; accredited voters 15,755; total valid votes 14,926; void votes 601 and total votes cast 15527 Anikwe James, a staff of the Federal University, Otuoke, was the collation officer.

Timipre Sylva, a former governor of the state and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won in Brass, his local government area. Brass Local Government Area has 10 wards. Also, Serena Dokubo-Spiff, acting chairman of the state PDP, is from the council area. Breakdown of the results shows that APC led with 21,755; PDP got 6,516 and PDM 222. Total registered voters were 55,923; accredited voters 30,397; total valid votes 28,616; voided votes 592 and total votes cast were 29,208. It was said that results from six units in ward 1 were cancelled due to alleged electoral skirmishes and over-voting. Dr. D. Tambo was the collation officer.