Apart from the tragic ending and the fumbles that marked the Kogi<\/p>\n
gubernatorial election last week, there are numerous lessons that spewed
\nfrom that election that are compliant with the much-cherished change we
\nhave in Nigeria today. Prince Abubakar Audu, the undisputed winner of the
\nstymied election, dropped dead just after the election was curiously
\ndeclared inconclusive by a fumbling INEC that misinterpreted certain
\nportions of the electoral act to cull a needless supplementary election
\nthat will not affect the certain victory of the APC candidate. By the
\nresults of the election, Alhaji Audu proved that he was a consummate and
\nwell loved politician whose sure grips of the politics of Kogi State was
\nmerely interjected by PDP’s cloak-and-dagger politics that excels in
\nmanipulating elections in favor of its choice candidates.<\/p>\n
Prince Audu Abubakar couldn’t have died at a more critical time n his
\ncheque red but eventful political history. He was standing on the very
\ncusps of momentous history. Here was a man that still holds a record of
\nperformance in Kogi governance no one had equaled. Here was a grassroots
\nman that was callously prevented from a second term by the bizarre
\npredilection of PDP to pull every vile stop to reward itself. Here was a
\nman that spurned all overtures to remain in opposition and fight in every
\nelection, to get back his mandate and take Kogi further from where he left
\nit in 2003. Here was a man who never had an opportunity to prove his real
\nmass followership because PDP prevented free and fair election in Kogi,
\nand elsewhere, as its cosmetic flavor lasted. Here was a man, who,
\npresented, with the first instance of credible election since he was
\nschemed out of power, dusted a sitting incumbent so much so that he won
\n16 out of the 21 local councils in Kogi State and was riding sure-footedly
\non the roller coaster of history when INEC and death struck. The rest, as
\nthey say is history for one of the most colorful politicians that trod the
\nsands of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
But, did we notice something else, something more far-reaching, more
\nfundamental and pointing to the kind of change that has swept over the
\npolity since May 29, in the conduct of the Kogi election? Did we see
\nplatoons of ready-to-kill soldiers, battalions of dubiously masked state
\nsecurity apparatchiks, armed mobile policemen, different cadres of
\nparamilitary forces littered generously in Kogi for the purpose of State
\ngovernorship election? Did we see politicians of the opposing camp
\nhounded and hunted as if they were war criminals by the ruling party? Did
\nwe see fear and dread nakedly launched on the streets as if the country is
\nfighting a civil war? Did we notice all manners of armed goons unleashed
\nto track and hunt down the opposition while the ruling party had a field
\nday, writing results to favour its candidate? Did we notice top decks of
\nthe military and police being choreographed into a plot to rig election
\nfor the party that controls the security forces? Did you notice INEC
\nplaying the enforcer to the sordid plots of the government at the center?
\nDid we see power drunk exuberant ministers and other officials of state,
\nrunning riot all over the place and enforcing their nuances and
\nidiosyncrasies to favour their part’s candidates? Did we see roads and air
\nspaces barricaded against the opposition to prevent them from freely
\ncampaigning in Kogi? So what gave? Did we see the Kogi governor being
\nupbraided by lowly security goons commissioned from Abuja for such hatchet
\nroles? It’s all about change for the better.<\/p>\n
Now, let us juxtapose the above enquiries to what we saw happened in all
\nthe elections conducted so far by the PDP especially those in Ondo,
\nAnambra, Ekiti, Osun and even Edo. Let us dilate through all the deadly
\nGestapo means the immediate past government adopted to muscle states to
\nfavour the PDP in every election it supervised. Is it not possible that in
\nrefusing to molest or hunt the opposition so as to manipulate the system,
\nPresident Buhaei’s government is living the change it propounds and which
\nsaw it ride majestically to power on its crest last March? Can we, as
\ncitizens of a country with long history of farcical elections, quantify
\nwhat it means for citizens to vote for their political choices
\nunencumbered in every election? If this is not a critical component of
\nchange, pray what is? Oh yes, a new Sheriff is town. Old order passeth
\nway; yielding place to a new. Change is here!
\nIf we remember the cacophony of puerile endless noises and allegations the
\nPDP dished out en route that election, there is every need to ask our
\nnewly-hewn opposition what becomes of the array of countless plots it said
\nit discovered about APC, President Buhari, security agencies, INEC, the
\nfederal government and nearly everybody bandying together to rig the Kogi
\nelection for APC. Do we remember the disoriented wolf-crying what remains
\nif PDP made its primary business as the election approached? Is it not
\njust and proper to find out from the party how its doomsday ‘findings’
\nwere met on Election Day? It is not just enough to dismiss the unending
\ntales of woes, inchoate allegations, mischief and lies the PDP has
\nadopted as a style of walking out of a very deep self-dug political
\nquagmire but I think the party must be made to substantiate the large
\nvolume of tendentious vomits it continues to spew out everyday in the name
\nof opposition politics and the Kogi election is a good ground to
\ninterrogate the tactics of Nigeria’s new opposition as it claws vainly on
\nthin air to tackle possible extinction. In raising all the hoaxes it did
\non the Kogi polls, PDP was desperately leveraging on its vile means to
\nanticipate that the APC federal government will visit its damned measures
\non it but thank God for change!
\nLet us remember that on Election Day, the PDP Deputy Governorship
\ncandidate, Prince Awoniyi, was so effusive with praises for INEC’s conduct
\nof the election. Let us equally recall that, apparently sensing electoral
\ndefeat, the incumbent Governor Wada was to launch into a frenzy of
\nuncoordinated salvo reminiscent of the PDP that there were plots to rig
\nthe election just because he failed biometric data test even when he voted
\nafter being captured on the incidence form, like all the others that
\nfailed biometric test. Wada neither spoke further nor named those he
\nalleged planed to manipulate the election. Since after the election, the
\nPDP has neither advanced charge nor proof of election rigging contrary to
\nits heightened self-induced paranoia before the election. The PDP has
\nneither raised nor sustained any allegation that any of its members was
\nharassed, intimidated, arrested or hunted prior to and during the election
\nby security forces, as we had been used to before change came. Is this not
\nenough to cleanse the deadly war field the PDP reduced Nigeria’s politics
\nas it violently prosecuted is nihilistic ambitions for sixteen years?
\nPray, is the free and unhindered conduct of the Kogi election; the first
\nby the Buhari government, not proof that we have departed from the much
\nabuses past, to a promising present, marching to a fulfilling future?<\/p>\n
Irrespective of the INEC mistake and the temporary glitches thrown in by
\nthe unfortunate demise of the lovable Prince Abubakar Audu, the Kogi
\nelection shows the way on what to expect with a change that targets
\nnegative attitudinal conducts for reform. The election marks a radical
\ndeparture from the sordid ways of conducting elections, which has gone to
\nsoil our politics and drive decent people far into cynicism. By refusing
\nto employ government agencies for partisan self help, as had been the case
\nbefore now, the Buhari government has demonstrated a very critical roadmap
\nthat will certainly purify the nation’s politics and extend an expansive
\nmultiplier effect that will positively affect governance and delivery as
\nthose in power learn to trust in their performance in office to earn
\nreelection and not the long hands of the federal government. This remains
\na very critical component of the change we voted for in March. Kogi
\nremains a pointer to more refreshing developments that will follow not
\nonly our electoral conducts but the conduct of businesses in a new Nigeria
\nthat is emerging on the wings of change.<\/p>\n
Peter Claver Oparah<\/p>\n
Ikeja, Lagos.<\/p>\n
E-mail: peterclaver2000@yahoo.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Apart from the tragic ending and the fumbles that marked the Kogi gubernatorial election last week, there are numerous lessons that spewed from that election that are compliant with the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n