Tag: Edo Elections

Nigeria’s brand of democracy is a very unique but complex one. Even though the politicians are often very proud to associate themselves with the American presidential system, very few structural similarities exist. While the American brand of democracy has two major ideologically different political parties in the Democratic and Republican parties, Nigeria has multiple political parties with no identifiable political ideologies. While political party leaderships operate behind the scenes, Nigerian political party leaderships wield too many powers and influence which often distort democratic precepts.

Political parties in Nigeria had been described by the former political scientist and late Senate President,  Chuba Okadigbo as mere gatherings of groups of people. Even though the description on the surface might appears  a bit extreme, it is somewhat an apt description of the political parties in Nigeria. There are no ideological differences.  Most politicians merely see political parties as vehicles that drive them to opportunities of influence and power.

Many politicians in Nigeria at different times move from one political party to the other depending on the opportunities they envisage such political platforms can guarantee them. Since 1999 return to civilian democracy, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Nigeria’s Peoples Party (ANPP) were the two dominant political parties until politicians started moving from one to the other and started creating alliances.

Read Also; Crisis is in DNA of PDP, APC tells Bauchi gov

A party like the Action Alliance (AD) was dominant in the South West while the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) was seen as the South Eastern Party as they had accessed power in Anambra state consistently and once in Imo state during the Rochas Okorocha first term as governor. He later completed his second term under the All Progressives Congress (APC). He took a break-away group of APGA to form an alliance with some other parties to form the APC in 2015. The ANPP somewhat coalesced with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) before forming alliance with the Action Congress to form the APC in 2015.

While it is not illegal to change political parties, in most other stable democracies, changing political parties is often based on issues of ideological disagreements. On the other hand, Nigerian politicians do not see anything wrong with moving from one political party to the other sometimes more than once  in one electoral circle. That says something about most of them. Again in a developing country like Nigeria, most politicians are rarely held accountable. Most of them operate as emperors and as such, respecting the voters is not very common.

As Edo people go to the polls tomorrow to elect a governor that would succeed governor Godwin Obaseki of the PDP, the hope is that all partes will paly by the rules. Edo elections has always been, like most others very competitive. Edo state under former governor, now Senator Adams Oshiomole was always in the news sometimes for the wrong reasons, there was their Edo House of Assembly that was re-christened Edo house of commotion as it had changed speakers several times during his tenure.

While many states have had turbulent houses of assembly, Edo state seems to take the cake. Again some past governors and their deputies have shown that the constitution of Nigeria is flawed when it comes to the duties and privileges of the deputy governors. Adams Oshiomole ‘s deputy, Philip Shaibu moved from APC to PDP with the now governor Obaseki. They’ve had a cat and mouse relationship

There was a triangular movement of both governor Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shuaibu that was deputy to Adams Oshiomole under APC. They both moved from APC to PDP and the deputy allegedly later moved back to APC in principle even if staying as deputy to a PDP governor. There have been legal actions taken by the deputy against the governor that has resulted in the Supreme Court reinstating him as the deputy governor of Edo state.

The chaos in the political firmament in Edo state has given the citizens reasons to fear that tomorrow’s election might be marred by violence. The rhetoric in the campaign trail amongst the political parties seems scary. There are allegations and counter allegations between the chieftains of the two major political parties, the PDP and the APC. The idea that in Nigerian most politicians have no fidelity to their political parties and no allegiance to the voters who ought to be the mandate givers is one of the destabilizing forces of Nigerian democracy.

Nigeria runs a faulty political system where individuals wield more powers than state institutions including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The electoral body often seems overwhelmed as politicians often do not practice intra-party democracy. More often than not, candidates are handpicked by strong politicians in terms of financial muscle and influence.  The discontent by citizens over the lack of transparency and fairness during party congresses and primaries often spill over the electioneering period as those feeling shortchanged ferment all sorts of trouble.

The three top contenders in the governorship elections coming up today are, Senator Monday Okpebholo of the APC, Asue Ighodalo of the PDP and  Olumide Akpata of the Labour party. The three contenders are all well-known individuals. Monday Okpebholo is a senator representing Edo central in the 10th Assembly. Asue Ighodalo is a lawyer and the former Chairman of Sterling bank and former economic adviser to Senator Adams Oshiomole when he was governor. Olumide Akpata is the former Chairman of Nigerian bar Association.

Ordinarily people would assume that given the admirable professional and political history of the three, elections in the state would be a pick of the best in the fairest and freest political environment. But sadly, in Nigeria, certain things don’t have logical conclusions and electios is one of them. In most cases, candidates are not the ones threatening fire and brimstone, there are always the party apparatchik, the surrogates and the so called party chieftains displaying their power .

Governor  Obaseki has been in the media focus since his quarrel with his deputy, Philip Shuaibu. There has been no love lost between the two and their different supporters. The deputy is alleged to be working for the APC from where he moved to from the PDP. The governor seems ready to show him where the power lies. On the other hand, Senator Oshiomole having crossed paths with the present governor is out to support his party’s candidate, Monday Okpebholo.

In the process of campaigning for the APC candidate, Senator Oshiomolo had crossed the civility line by publicly mocking the governor’s wife, Betsy for not having a child and failing to adopt one. Many Nigerians felt he had crossed the line of decency in making such remarks about the first lady of his state who by the way did not speak directly to him to have warranted such vile tirade. Many women in the state felt it was a personal attack on every woman battling with infertility.  That singular incident puts him on possibly the same pedestal as the present Republican Party candidate, J.D Vance and his ‘Childless  Cat Lady’ rhetoric.

The governor of Edo state and his PDP party feel that the appointment of a relative of the federal capital territory (FCT) minister Nyesom Wike as an INEC official might imply there might be no transparency as he might try to influence the election to favour the APC. On the other hand, the Labour Party candidate allegedly feels that both the APC and the PDP might use the incumbency factor  at both federal and  state levels to their advantages. Governor Obaseki has been reiterating that the election is a do-or-die affair which even though he insists that it must not be taken to imply any violence but that his party will do every legal to win.

Election everywhere in the world is not a tea party. We are confronted by the political rhetoric of the Democrats and the Republican in the coming US elections . However, the functional electoral system in viable democracies is the difference between developed and underdeveloped democracies. Nigeria has one of the most litigious elections because of flawed electoral and party systems that disrupt electoral processes. Nigeria since the return of democracy in 1999 possibly has more judicial interventions in post-election petitions than anywhere else in the world.

What post-election litigations do to the socio-political perception by the people and the international community is that the system is seen as unreliable and unproductive. Sometimes post-election cases go on for years distracting both the seemingly elected and the litigants. As the saying goes, when this happens it is the people that suffer. The assumed winner often spends tax payers’ money for legal fees and the people do not get the needed governance value as the candidates concentrate more on winning their cases than working for the people. Sometimes cases go on for as much as three years of four-year tenure.

The Roundtable Conversation recommends that the political elite think more about development and the people rather than personal egos and gains. There is a very huge trust deficit between governments and the people. Even though such situations exist in other climes, we know that the  bane of nigeria’s democracy is the lack of a functional political structure.

As the Edo people go the polls today, the hope is that the people’s voice will prevail. There must be no influence-peddling by anyone or group of people. Again the people must be peaceful and cast their ballots for their choices because governorship election is truly local and the decisions the people make would impact their lives for the next four years. The candidates have sold their programmes and policy directions and the people must focus on capacity and the integrity of the candidates having known each of them for some years now as public figures. May the best candidate win.

• The dialogue continues…