Before the May 9 governorship and State House of Assembly elections in Delta State, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had cried out that the
main opposition party in the state, the All Progressives Congress(APC), was planning to use ex-militants to rig the election.Today, it is the APC that is crying foul. And there is finger-pointing in the camp.
The turn of events followed the victory of the PDP at the polls, resulting in the incumbent Governor Ifeanyi Okowa being returned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). He has also been given his certificate of return to the Government, House, Asaba for the next four years.
Six days to the elections, there was palpable tension following the outcry by the PDP, that the purpose of the Vice President Yemi Osibanjo’s visit to the APC in Warri, was to stoke trouble and
for the Federal Government and the Delta APC to perfect their grand plans to rig the elections.
The PDP cried out for the intervention of the international community to prevent the alleged planned rigging, which PDP said was to be carried out using ex-militants in army uniform. But APC in countering the allegation, said PDP members were the ones planning such dirty deal.
The deployment of a combined team of security personnel for the purpose of the elections seemed to heighten the tension as most residents feared the elections would not be done under a peaceful atmosphere.
The presence of soldiers and other security personnel made people believe that with the federal might, the elections would be rigged to favour APC.
Tension rose to its peak on the D-Day, as the security squad barricaded major roads and streets of the state, especially in Asaba, the state capital. It was feared that there would be much intimidation of Okowa’s aides and supporters just to enable the APC capture the state as Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the APC, had boasted months ago.
Contrary to the fears and apprehension, as journalists and observers moved round the state to monitor the elections, it was observed that the elections held peacefully to the extent that Governor Okowa himself hailed the peaceful conduct, saying that there were no complaints. The pre-election fears were therefore misplaced.
It then became the turn of the APC to cry when they saw that the PDP was winning at the polls. The more the results were announced LGA by LGA in favour of PDP, the more APC screamed foul and rejected the outcome of the elections.
At the end of the exercise, it was announced that Okowa of PDP polled a total of 925,274
votes to defeat the candidate of the APC, Great Ogboru who scored215,938. Okowa won in 23 out of the 25 LGAs of the state while Ogboru won in the remaining two LGAs.
This was the second time in two election cycles that Okowa would defeat Ogboru, although back then in 2015 Ogboru ran on the platform of Labour Party (LP), polling 130,028 votes against Okowa’s 724,680.
INEC state returning officer, Seth Jaja while announcing the details of the 2019 gubernatorial election result, said the state had a total of2,831,205 registered voters while the total number of accredited voters for the election were 1,188,784. A total of 1,178,335 votes were cast during the election, out of which 1,154,188 votes were valid while 24,147 were rejected, he added.
The result showed that PDP won even in LGAs where APC thought it had bigwigs and more supporters.
The APC rejected the results so declared by INEC, alleging that massive irregularities marred the election. According to the party,there were incidences of ballot box hijacking, violence and thuggery atthe polling units, card reader failure which resulted to illegal thumb-printing of the ballot papers by the PDP, adding that the elections did not take place in most places.
Jones Erue, APC chairman in the state who echoed the party’s position, said: “The Delta APC is using this medium to call for the cancellation of result announced by the INEC because we were under siege. Our people were not allowed to vote during the election. The military was used to scare the APC members. There was no election in Delta State not to talk of a free and fair election.”
According to him, “The agents of the party were sidelined and intimidated by the military. Our people were not allowed to enter any collation centre; our agents were treated as enemies of the electoral process.The whole place was militarised against the APC and results were changed at will.”
The APC consequently threatened to challenge the outcome of the election at the tribunal should INEC “go ahead to declare the results”.
Apparently, INEC could not see any reason for the cancellation of the results, hence it declared Okowa the overall winner of the gubernatorial election.
The Commissioner for Information, Patrick Ukah was the first to send out congratulatory message to his boss on the victory just as he commended Deltans and other inhabitants of the state for trooping out enmasse to re-elect the governor through their votes.
Ukah said the victory of the governor was a clear manifestation that“there is reward for hard work as the governor worked round the clock to ensure that the inhabitants of the state benefit from his SMART Agenda.”
Executive Secretary, Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (DEMSMA), Shimite Bello told BDSUNDAY that it was victory for all.
She said the victory was the end result of the love Deltans have for Governor Okowa and that they worked for him to be re-elected. “The end result shows that Deltans worked, we were committed and dedicated to ensuring that after the governor has done a good job in infrastructure, in job creation, in human capacity development, peace management and so many things he did, that we say we want more of him.That is what our result says, that we are really happy.”
Kennedy Ochei, special assistant to the governor on youths mobilisation, while congratulating the governor, said Deltans massively voted for the governor because he is a man that keeps his words and doesn’t reject a common man. According to him, the governor has laid a foundation by bringing up the youth into leadership which, according to him, indicates that they are the leaders of tomorrow.
He noted the achievements of the governor in his first term of four years, saying even the building of infrastructure has continued toattract people to Asaba, the state capital, thereby boosting the economy of the state.
A resident of the state, Victor Sorokwu, observed that the election was a keenly contested one. “Yes, victory is for the better prepared and power comes from God. And I would want to say that God in his infinite wisdom has decided that the governor should continue in office. Deltans voting massively for him could also be an indication that he is doing well.”
Sorokwu further said: “The testimony in this election is that the governor is doing well and you don’t change a winning team. Irrespective of the party, platform or affiliation, what is good is good. You can’t stop the people from believing or supporting what is good.”
Why Ogboru lost to Okowa
Another resident of the state and a veteran journalist, Barry Agbamigbi, speaking on why Great Ogboru lost to Okowa, said: “Conspiracy among APC members made Ogboru to lose.There is disunity and acrimony in the party. Vice President Yemi Osinbnjo’s efforts in uniting the warring factions during his visit proved abortive and this manifested in Ogboru losing convincingly to Okowa.”
Agbamigbi noted that lack of money on the side of Ogboru to fund his ambition also contributed to his failure. “Most of his party members see him as a proud man,” he further said.
According to him, “APC moving its presidential rally to Warri instead of Asaba may have contributed to Ogboru’s failure as he may have been seen by some Deltans as sectional leader rather than a leader in the State.
“When there is a keen contest, there could be chances of rigging but when you have two parties and one is minor and the other is a major, there is no way you can rig for the minor to become a major partyovernight when the major party maintains a clean lead in the contest.”
Other residents who spoke to BDSUNDAY advised the governor to up his game in governance,reach out to all, and do more in his second tenure just as they
advised the opposition parties not to drag the election further. Theyshould accept Okowa’s victory as the will of God and join in building a stronger Delta.
The governor has already solicited for the cooperation of the people for him to leave a legacy that would make the state a pace-setter in the federation, adding that now is the time for reconciliation.
Mercy Enoch, Asaba
