The truths and half-truths of Edo guber postponement

Osaro Agbonifo, Ehidiamen Otibhor and Amanoghena Oshiorenoya, penultimate Wednesday, in spite of their tight schedules and economic hardship, left the comfort of their various locations in Lagos to Edo State, in anticipation of exercising their franchise in the September 10 gubernatorial election.

While Osaro Agbonifo headed to his father’s house in Benin metropolis, Ehidiamen Otibhor and Amanoghena Oshiorenoya were at Edo central and Edo North senatorial districts, respectively.
Their enthusiasm of participating in the electoral process of electing a governor that would pilot the political affairs of the state in the next four years was however, temporarily truncated by the sudden postponement of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The trio, full of determination and propelled by spirit of patriotism, had shunned all odds to find their way to the state with a view to entrusting their political destinies in the hands of their trusted candidate. They were only among the several thousands of registered eligible electorates who thronged the various places of origin to cast their votes for a governorship candidate of their choice. Some of the electorates travelled all the way from the United States of America, United Kingdom and other countries of Europe, Asia, among others to vote for the candidate of their various parties.

Prior to the postponement,  security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police in readiness for the exercise announced the deployment of over 25,000 officers, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCD) about 10,000 personnel while the Nigeria Military, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Department of State Security (DSS) personnel  have also concluded arrangements to complement the efforts of their sister agencies with undisclosed number of officers.

Joshak Habila, deputy inspector general (DIG) of Police in charge of Operations, made the disclosure during the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security in Benin-City on August 25, adding that 1,152 hilux vans and 54 coastal buses would be provided to convey the personnel to their various duty posts across the 18 local ‎government areas of the state.

Habila said the police personnel would be deployed to 2,627 polling units across the political 192 wards in the state and that marine police would cover the riverine locations in Ovia North-East, Ovia South-West and Ikpoba-Okha LGAS, while flash points had been mapped and geo-located for additional security.

They had also assured of provision of adequate security protection for electoral materials and the entire people of the state during the exercise. INEC had on its part organised several training programmes for all electoral staff, workshop/sensitisation seminars for all political parties, security agencies as well as announcement of the deployment of 18,511 electoral staff to Edo State.

The commission National Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu who made the disclosure at the final stakeholders’ forum with security agencies, political parties’ leadership, among others, said the staff deployed for the exercise was mainly   made up of members of the Nigeria Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

He further disclosed that non-sensitive materials had since been deployed to the various INEC headquarters in the 18 local government areas of the state.

But the sudden postponement of the election by INEC on the advice of the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Nigeria Police over security threats in some states including Edo less than 48 hours to the exercise elicited mixed reactions from Nigerians, political class, both local and international election monitors and observers as well as the civil society organisations.

The news of the imminent postponement of the election occasioned by DSS and Police advice on security threat in the state amidst INEC, security final pre-election stakeholders’ forum with the leadership of political parties in Benin-City on September 7, 2016 was first broken to members of the general public by the various  media organisations as breaking news.

The meeting had in attendance the electoral umpire National Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, top echelons of the commission and security operatives that were led by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris who was represented by Joshak Habila, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police in charge of Operations.

As the postponement was yet to be officially announced by INEC, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, had in his reaction on the fateful day in a state-wide broadcast kicked against the postponement of the election for two weeks or more, advising that the new date of the election should not clash with the coronation of Oba of Benin.

According to him, “we have a big event in Edo on September 26 which is the Oba’s coronation. Before that day, there are other events that must be done. It will not be proper to hold election during that period. Why not postpone the election for one week?”

The governor, further advised INEC not to postpone the “burial” of PDP too far, pointing out that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was over-prepared for the election.

The state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in its reactions said the postponement was received with mixed feelings.

The state chairman of the party, Anslem Ojezua who reacted for the party, opined that the party was never consulted before the postponement.

Ojezua noted that the timing and communication by the security agencies could have been better handled having regards to the very hard work and huge resources deployed towards the election.

“The postponement, therefore, provides an opportunity for the security agencies to address these concerns in addition to whatever other threats they may have discovered.

In its reaction to the planned postponement, Edo State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) accused Oshiomhole and the state chapter of APC of being behind the postponement following the alleged sponsored protest of GCE examination candidates to demand for the shift of the election date from September 10 to another date to enable them write Mathematics paper 1 and 2 in the ongoing examinations.

Dan Orbih, the state chairman of the party also alleged that when the protest failed to yield the needed result, the governor and the APC in the state resorted “to this other alternative plan that there were security concerns and that the election should be postponed.”

“A few days ago, Adams Oshiomhole’s APC sponsored some group of boys to demonstrate to the government house and the secretariats of the APC and the PDP asking for the postponement of the election because they were preparing for the Mathematics paper in the GCE examinations.

“Seing that it will not work, they resorted to this other alternative plan that there were security concerns and that the election should be postponed. Having failed in their bid to convince the electorate, they are all out to use available means to buy time”, he said.

“We are surprised because we just concluded an exercise with the INEC national chairman and INEC national commissioners about the election. They have even invited party agents to inspect sensitive materials and their movement to INEC offices.

“It is difficult to understand exactly what is going on. We hope this is not a ploy to confuse the electorate. We want a clear statement from INEC about this election. They are the body constitutional empowered to conduct the election”, he said.

Also speaking to journalists on the issue, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, a coalition of more than seventy civil society organisations berated the authorities of the Department of State Security Services and the Nigerian Police for interfering with the operations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The convener of the group, Clement Nwankwo in a press briefing in Benin-City said the call for the postponement of the governorship election in Edo State was a violation of section 160 subsection (2) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended as well as the provisions of the Electoral and contended that conduct of election is the constitutional responsibility of INEC.

Nwankwo also deplored the wasted huge financial and material resources so far committed to the preparations for the elections by INEC, CSOs and other stakeholders by the action of the Police and the DSS.

He urged INEC to be guided by the provisions of the Electoral Act in relation to postponement which stated that all reasons must be cogent and verifiable.

Nwankwo called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call the police and security services to order as well as to give their support to INEC to deliver on its mandate of conducting free and fair governorship elections in Edo State as scheduled.

Breaking its silence on the litany of reactions and criticisms that had greeted the security agencies advice, the Independent National Commission (INEC) at a press conference in Benin-City stated that the commission had no intention to postpone the election.

Solomo Soyebi, national commissioner on Voter Education and Publicity who briefed journalists, added that the commission had weighed the consequences in the postponement of the election.

He said that INEC has come out with a decision to go ahead with the elections after meeting with stakeholders and security personnel, and however, urged all the electorate to go out and vote with no fear of molestation.

He had also given the assurance that the election would not be postponed by INEC, the state chapter of PDP in its stakeholders’ meeting in Benin-City commended the commission for its determination to conduct the election in spite of the security threats report by DSS and the police, as well as being truly independent and not being an appendage of any government agencies.

The party also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his commitment to the rule of law and sustaining the nation’s democracy.

The state chairman of the party, Orbih, who addressed party faithful and members,   alleged that the planned postponement of the election was orchestrated by the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole and the leadership of APC in the state.

He alleged that as the stakeholders’ forum meeting participated by the 19 political parties was ongoing, Oshiomhole was working round the clock by sending text messages that the election should be postponed by one week.

He also accused the APC in the state of plan to change the lists of electoral officers that would conduct the election in the state, noting that nobody should change the lists as the party already has the entire list.

“’The postponement was well-planned to undermine the will of Edo people, we are now convinced that the phantom security advice by the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Security (DSS) was orchestrated by Governor Adams Oshiomhole and some cabal within the APC in the face of imminent defeat in the election.

“For instance, we all know that many members of the NYSC were trained by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as ad-hoc staff for the election. And going by NYSC Action Plan September, 2016, the trained NYSC members are to finish their clearance, as part of their final disengagement process that will end on September 26.

“And we have just been told by insiders within the APC that Governor Oshiomhole and his party had compiled list of their party’s members that they will secretly be used to replace the out-going trained NYSC members.

“The reasons APC also asked INEC to fix the rescheduled election for Wednesday, September 28 an official working day, is to deny many electorate outside the state, who planned to come to Edo State for the election, from doing so.

“Hundreds of the electorate outside the state had arrived Edo State before the election was postponed with many of them feeling disappointed about the action of the APC in connivance with INEC/security agencies.

‘’It is now certain that the Edo State governorship election earlier scheduled for September 10 was put off by Adams Oshiomhole and a group of cabal within the APC to enable them have more time to manipulate the election,” he stated.

PDP therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari who had benefited from the process of a free and fair election, to caution Governor Oshiomhole and other federal institutions involved in the election “not to plunge Edo State into avoidable security crisis just to satisfy the bragging ambitions of the APC, and its candidate, Godwin Obaseki.”

The electoral umpire succumbing to the pressure of postponement was officially made public few minutes after 8pm at a press briefing in Benin by Solomon Soyebi, the Commission’s National Commissioner in charge of voter Education.

Soyebi opined that the postponement was due to the security implication from the security agencies reports and noted that the commission succumbed to postpone the election as a result of safety of eligible voters, electoral officers and other stakeholders.

According to him, the commission affirmed its preparedness to conduct the election as it has successfully implemented 12 of the 14 activities on the election timeline. Towards the end of the meeting news filtered in that the police and DSS are advising the INEC to postpone the election on security ground but with the assurances received from the stakeholders meeting and the absence of any official communication, it resolved to proceed with the election.

“At about 6pm (Thursday, September 8) today, the commission received official communication from the police drawing its attention to the need to postpone the election. Such postponement, the commission indicates is necessary in view of the threat of terrorist activities in Edo State and other states of the federation during the election and Sallah period,” he said.

This again elicited another round of bashing from PDP who described the decision to shift the election toSeptember 28, 2016 by INEC as shocking and unacceptable.

“We are taken aback by the rash security advice a day after the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, was present at the final campaign rally of the APC in Benin City, which was concluded without any security hitch,” PDP said.

The party added that it is on record that INEC recently conducted a hitch-free senatorial bye-election in Borno State, a state which had remained a hotbed of terrorism and insurgency, yet the security agencies saw no reason to advise against the conduct of the election.

Describing the INEC’s action as “lamentable, inexcusable and shameful’’, PDP said it is sad to hear from these same security agencies that the Edo governorship election cannot be held in a state without a history of security threat and where in less than 24 hours, the President and all the APC leaders across the country had converged to hold their rally without security concerns.
Orbih further alleged that Oshiomohole colluded with the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai and a female staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the election.

He said that the postponement was to enable the governor and the All Progressives Congress (APC) perfect “their evil plans of buying Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) across the 18 Local Government Area of the state” as well as perfect plans to arrest leaders of the party with police.

He however, called on the security agencies in the state to up their game ahead of the Sept. 28gubernatorial election, as well as appealed to INEC, “as an independent body, not to be used by some desperate politicians to rig the election”.

The PDP chairman also alleged that APC had planned to influence the Independent National Electoral Commission to dump the card readers for manual accreditation as part of its grand plot to manipulate the process and skew the outcome in its favour.

He vowed that the party would insist on the use of the card readers for accreditation of voters in the election, stating that APC was using the eighteen days by which the election was postponed to, among other vote-catching gimmicks, perfect its rigging plot.

Apart from party and inter-party accusation and counter-accusation, Edo electorates also voiced their opinion about the postponement.

Those spoken to BDSUNFAY expressed divergent views on the truths and half-truths of postponement.

In his reaction, Peter Ehiozee Aigbohan averred that the postponement of the election was received with ill-feelings because there wasn’t any basis or reasons for the postponement of the election.

“The postponement of the election was received with ill-feelings because there wasn’t any basis or reasons for the election to be postponed. The election has been planned for a long period of time that on September 10 that the Edo State governorship election will take place and why are they now shifting the goal post,” Aigbohan queried.

He contended that the election was shifted probably because a particular party discovered that the outcome of the election would not be favourable to them.

He likened the development to postponing the evil day, noting that people are ready to vote for a change, adding also that the postponement was an indication that INEC was not truly independent.

“The postponement was an indication that INEC is not truly independent. It is subject to manipulation. INEC is a federal agency of Federal Government and for a state government to influence INEC to postpone the date of election is really surprising, alarming and most unacceptable,” he stated.

Don Ebatama-Ehi noted that the election was postponed out of fear of defeat by a particular party.

Ehi further posited that the alleged importation of militants from the neigbouring states of the South-South was proved to be untrue by the commissioner of the Edo State police command.

The cleric, who berated the present leadership of INEC, accusing it of incompetence, noted that the new INEC boss, had since assumption of office not being able to conduct conclusive elections.

“There is no independence in INEC. As at present the INEC officials are not competent to conduct the election because the elections so far conducted by the present chairman of INEC were characterised with a lot of loopholes. In Rivers State, Anambra, among others, elections postponed in those states till now have not been conducted and also there have been several inconclusive elections across the country. I think the present INEC performance is nothing to write home about and I have no confidence in the commission,” he said.

Obaretin Alex noted that the postponement was clouded with a lot of insinuations, adding that a critical look indicated that the election needed to be postponed because of security reports.

“The postponed election has been clouded with a lot of insinuations but if you look at it critically a situation where impartial electoral body (INEC) was prepared to go ahead with the election and the security agents declared that it was not safe for the election to go on because of security reports at their disposal there is little or nothing anybody can do,” Alex said.

He however, prayed that rescheduled date for the election becomes a reality and the commission would not have any cause to postpone it again.

 “Our prayers is that September 28 will be realistic so that there will not be another security reports that will make them to shift the election again,” he said.