Pyrrhic victories

Hardball

After the governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states on November 16 have been lost and won, it’s time for a win/loss review. Yes, All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates, David Lyon in Bayelsa, and Yahaya Bello in Kogi, were elected and reelected.  But the polls were not just about Lyon’s election and Bello’s reelection. Things happened that shouldn’t have happened, which ultimately diminished the polls and the results.

On Kogi, The Nation report headlined “Violence, ballot box snatching mar polls” said:  “Ballot boxes were snatched at the Lokoja Club, St. Mary by Paparanda Square and Fehintolu (Adankolo New Layout) polling points. Two persons, namely Umoru Shuaib and Faruk Suleiman, were feared killed in Abocho community in Dekina local government area.”

The report also said: “In Aikpele-Ajaka polling unit 002, Igalamela-Odolu local government, masked armed men shot sporadically into the air, disrupting the exercise as voters and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials scampered for safety.”

On Bayelsa, PREMIUM TIMES report headlined “#BayelsaDecides: Ballot box violence, corruption, other irregularities mar exercise in Yenegoa” said: “Thugs invaded Opolo Ward 5, Polling Units 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 via a nearby river with an attempt to snatch ballot papers. The thugs who were fully armed also beat up some voters while some observers and journalists sustained injuries.”

The online medium also said its reporter “reported how thugs invaded the PU 020, Ward 05, Etegwe Primary School, Yenagoa, at about 4:21 p.m.”  The medium said its reporter “who witnessed the violence reported that about 20 thugs came with dangerous weapons and chased away some Youth Corps members working as ad-hoc staff of INEC. The thugs carted away thumb printed ballot papers and boxes and escaped through the rear of the unfenced Etegwe Primary School. Many of the voters also fled the poling unit for fear of being harmed by the rampaging thugs. Electoral observers and INEC officials also fled the venue.”

These eye-witness accounts show that the polls were a mockery of democracy. It has become normal to expect extreme irregularities in elections conducted in Nigeria. After such travesties, life continues as if nothing terribly bad had happened.  Then such terribly bad things happen again and again.

In the end, the so-called victories are not victories properly so called. They are pyrrhic victories because the negatives outstrip the positives. The next elections will further show that the abnormal has become normal in Nigeria. It is tragic that nothing has changed in the way elections are lost and won.