{"id":53140,"date":"2016-09-14T14:39:15","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T13:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=53140"},"modified":"2016-09-14T14:39:15","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T13:39:15","slug":"shifting-times-edo-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/shifting-times-edo-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Shifting Times In Edo State"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days before President Buhari showed up in Edo state to campaign for his party\u2019s governorship candidate in the election that was originally slated for Saturday 10th<\/sup> September 2016, I was in a telephone conversation with a new buddy of mine in Benin.\u00a0 She informed me that in her neighbourhood, they have had electricity supply for four straight days.\u00a0 She was excited.<\/p>\n

I immediately linked the steady supply of electricity in that area to the upcoming governorship election.\u00a0 I explained to my friend that it is not beyond the capacity of the Nigerian politician to cynically divert all the electricity generated in neighbouring states to Edo to present a false picture of things just to win an election.\u00a0 My friend wasn\u2019t convinced, so I let the matter drop.<\/p>\n

However, I could only chuckle when she rang me first thing in the morning a few days ago to express her shock that the election has been officially postponed.\u00a0 The news came the usually way news emanate from the government when they want to do something unsavoury.\u00a0 About a couple of weeks before, there were urgings from some quarters of our security agencies that the election be postponed because it coincided with the Sallah holidays.\u00a0 Sallah is Monday 12 and Tuesday 13.\u00a0 The governorship election was planned for Saturday 10th<\/sup>.\u00a0 Then another reason was floated for a needed delay: students will be sitting for the West African Examination Council\u2019s (WAEC) exams the same day.<\/p>\n

So when by the beginning of last week, we read that the DSS and the Police (of all agencies!) were directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the election, it became only a matter of time.\u00a0 Initially, INEC demurred, said the election would go ahead as scheduled.\u00a0 Then the Police did what it does best: blackmail.\u00a0 They refused to escort electoral materials and personnel, so INEC buckled.<\/p>\n

That, is how things get done in Nigeria!<\/p>\n

The official line was that there were security threat to holding the election on Saturday the 10th<\/sup>; Boko Haram might attack and what not.\u00a0 But Edo state is one of the most peaceful and one of the safest states in Nigeria.\u00a0 When was the last time you heard of Boko Haram in Edo?\u00a0 IPOB protesters?\u00a0 Niger Delta Avengers?\u00a0 Marauding armed Herdsmen?\u00a0 No you haven\u2019t.\u00a0 The only things mildly threatening in Edo state are protesting retired civil servants asking for their pension and Patrick Obahiagbon\u2019s verbal bullets.<\/p>\n

If there was indeed security threat to the election and our security agencies truly had information about it, why didn\u2019t they deal with it?\u00a0 Or is that not their jobs?\u00a0 In the heydays of Boko Haram, elections held in the entire Northeast of Nigeria and in fact that zone recorded higher turnouts than some zones considered more safe.<\/p>\n

So nobody is buying this smoke screen because we have seen this script before.\u00a0 No one is fooled by this inelegant move by the ruling party to buy time in the hope that it can do \u2018something,\u2019 in the intervening period.\u00a0 This is nothing but borrowing a desperate page from the Peoples Democratic Party\u2019s (PDP) book of election manoeuvring when the polls are not too favourable.\u00a0 It is a complete red-herring that merely unleashed talking heads on TV chasing their tails.<\/p>\n

Now, the governorship election got postponed ostensibly for safety reasons; however, thousands of young people went out and wrote their WAEC exams on the same 10th<\/sup> of September.\u00a0 I guess the government and the Police are not too bothered about those people\u2019s safety and security.<\/p>\n

Everything in Nigeria appears to revolve around politicians and their wishes.\u00a0 The people and institutions of state are distant afterthoughts.\u00a0 The current government has been in office for about 15 months, what exactly has it done about electoral reforms as we roll from one \u2018inconclusive\u2019 election to another?\u00a0 The Uwais Report is already there as a guiding framework.\u00a0 INEC itself is not even fully constituted yet in terms of Commissioners and management.\u00a0 All of our organs of state are still wholly dependent on directives from politicians.<\/p>\n

Many studies, globally, have shown that delays in elections reduce voters\u2019 participation.\u00a0 When safety or threat of violence is given as reason for the delay, then even more voters stay away.\u00a0 So it would appear that the All Progressives Congress knows what it is doing.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t even know why we are here again.\u00a0 I suppose, for the ruling party, it is desirable to maintain some presence in the South-south and Edo state is as good as any.\u00a0 However, whilst brother Oshiomhole did reasonably well (by Nigerian standards) in his first coming, his second term seemed to have been largely taken up by politicking, amassing wealth, the spectre of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and, a beautiful young bride.\u00a0 All of that will sap any man and so the shine has been taken off.\u00a0 You could perhaps see why a bit of nervousness has crept-in in Benin.<\/p>\n

The opposition party in the state, the PDP has been crying foul, but I have no sympathy them at all.\u00a0 In fact, the PDP would be better off not saying pim.\u00a0 They introduced this perfidious template of shifting an election when it looks like the ruling party is going to lose.\u00a0 So they are being served a dose of their own concoction.<\/p>\n

By the way, who sef is the current boss of INEC?\u00a0 Does anyone know?<\/p>\n

\n

demdem@hotmail.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter: demdemdem1<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days before President Buhari showed up in Edo state to campaign for his party\u2019s governorship candidate in the election that was originally slated for Saturday 10th September 2016,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\nShifting Times In Edo State - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/shifting-times-edo-state\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shifting Times In Edo State - 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