The clamour for free, fair and peaceful election resonated at a sensitisation workshop for party executives, stakeholders and candidates ahead of the October 20 governorship election in Ondo State. Assistant Editor AUGUSTINE AVWODE reports.
It is just three weeks and three days before the electorate in Ondo State will elect the man to pilot the affairs of the state for the next four years. The October 20 governorship election has remained a major talking point within the country’s political space. And, many people have expressed concern about the possibility of an outbreak of violence before, during and after the election.
The concern is germane, given the trend of things in the state in the past few months. There has been an increasing rise in the wave of political violence, inter party fracas and other sundry forms of intimidation. The question has always been what would happen on election day and after the results would have been announced? Besides, reference has always been made to the orgy of violence that swept through the state in the not too distant past when a governorship election was manipulated in favour of a candidate which the electorate in the state clearly did not want.
It was in a bid to forestall a possible repeat of such unwholesome and ugly development that the Special Adviser to the President on Inter Party Affairs Senator Ben Ndi Obi, last Friday, put together a sensitization workshop for party executives, stakeholders and candidates ahead of the election. The workshop which held in Akure, the state capital, saw stakeholders calling for free, fair and transparent election which should be held in very peaceful and conducive atmosphere.
Senator Obi must have been inspired by a similar workshop conducted in June in neighbouring Edo State. In the run up to the July 14, governorship election in that state, anxiety was high, that violence coulddisrupt activities in the state. There were accusations and counter accusations by the major stakeholders, particularly, between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
The workshop turned out to be the needed tonic almost everybody had been waiting for to call attention to the need for peace, law and order. The election held and, apart from being generally peaceful, it was acknowledged as the freest and fairest since 1999.
President Goodluck Jonathan wasted no time in congratulating Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the ACN who was declared winner. The PDP as a party did same, displaying great sportsmanship. It is on record that the party refused to contest the result of the election.
That was in Edo State. But then, the Anambra State born presidential aide must have considered it a sacred duty to try and replicate the same in Ondo State.
In his welcome address, Obi came up with far-reaching recommendations. He was quick to remind all present that the fact that they were all at the workshop represented a “collective desire to change the nature and character of elections in Ondo State and by extension, our nation”. Obi recalled with a deep sense of satisfactions the results which the Edo experiment of the workshop yielded.
“It all started in Edo State in June 2012 following the need to arrest the dangerous political atmosphere preceding the Edo July 2012 Governorship Election that generated serious anxiety in the nation owing to the escalation of political insecurity, acrimony and rancour in that state. It was a paradigm shift. We are all living witnesses to the great success recorded by our sensitisation workshop in Edo State”.
He added that “This workshop is, therefore, an occasion for party associates and stakeholders to rub mind on how to ensure a crises-free election in Ondo state. It is the time for all stakeholders to evolve the machinery to sensitise our various supporters on the need to adhere to electoral rules.
“We must ensure that our supporters are thoroughly informed that in any election, there must be a winner and ensure that each vote counts. There is no doubt that the political environment in Ondo State is presently passionate and emotional but building on the lessons of the past, there is need for a positive decision to make it safe and friendly once again”.
Outlining the place of periodic elections in a democracy, he spelt out what must be done by all stakeholders to achieve the dreamed free, fair and peaceful election. “Periodic election remains paramount in a democratic dispensation because it is the moment of truth for both the leader and the led. While election is a nightmare to nonperforming politicians, a great expectation it is to the people as it affords them the opportunity to choose their leaders as well as drop nonperforming ones. But elections cannot perform this function if the right attitude is not developed and right atmosphere enthroned.
“Free and fair election calls for unrestrained right to vote and be voted for, a level playing ground for all in spite of party affiliations; common access to common facilities; one that is devoid of intimidations, misuse of state resources for electoral purposes, violence, riggings and the manipulation of the judicial process in situation of electoral litigations, etc”, he said.
In his address, the chairman of the workshop Gen. Alani Akinrinade (rtd), while commending the initiative, warned that nothing short of a free and fair election is acceptable. He reminded the audience of what happened in the state once when electoral cheats tried to rob the people of their right to freely choose who to rule them.
“People of my generation cannot forget the stiff, uncompromising attitude, backed by physical demonstration of limitless violence with which the people of this state stood against cheating, demonstrated by electioneering heist in the recent past”.
Harping on the negative consequences of rigging elections, Akinrinade warned in no uncertain terms that: “When an election is not free and fair, people’s faith and confidence in the system are eroded, bad and unwanted leaders are sanctimoniously and ignominiously selected, democracy dividend are denied, crisis of unimaginable proportions with its concomitant violence are enthroned, development is distorted and lives lost”.
Akinrinade warned those who are planning to ferment trouble to desist saying the election must be a true reflection of the wishes of Ondo people. “Political killings are not only antithetical to democracy; they are also satanic and contrary to the principle of the ‘General Good’. This time around, Ondo State and her people cannot afford to play into the waiting hands of the anarchy that result from manipulated elections. Election must be a true reflection of the people’s collective wish”.
The ACN governorship candidate, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who was represented by the Vice Chairman, Southwest of the party, Senator James Kolawole, noted that the consequences of not conducting a free and fair election are grievous. He maintained that Ondo State has sophisticated citizenry which makes it mandatory to ensure free and fair election in the state. Kolawole said the ACN, being a peaceful party, will not tolerate and promote any forms of violence.
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), represented by his running mate, Mr. Saka Lawal, not only condemned the denial of air time to opposition parties by public electronic media in the state, he also lamented the series of attacks against members of the PDP.
He said: “We in the PDP, we are not violent, but the sitting government ever since has not learnt anything from us. Over the last one month, we have been to 203 wards, we have visited about 350 communities. We were at Idanre, we got police permit, but the SA to the sitting governor led thugs to attack our members. If not for the timely intervention of the Commissioner of Police, that rally would have been aborted”
In his remarks, chairman of the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Attahiru Jega, who was represented by a national commissioner, Hajiya Aminat Zakari, recalled the positive outcome and subsequent confidence building mechanism that resulted from the Edo State workshop. Jega noted that the Commission is always concerned whenever the electoral environment is over-heated by aggressive language, threats, and other forms of intimidation before during and after elections.
“These do not augur well for all contestants, the voters as well as the political and electoral systems at large. Such an atmosphere also generates, and inevitably creates situations that not only lead to threats to life and property, but could also impact negatively on the credibility of the election”.
Jega stressed that only personal commitment can help the system.
“It is the personal commitment of political parties and candidates that can create the kind of peaceful atmosphere for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections that we all desire as a nation. As you deliberate on some of the most pertinent concerns on peaceful elections, I hope that you will generate concrete suggestions that will assist all Stakeholders in ensuring that the forthcoming Ondo State Governorship Election is conducted in a peaceful and conducive atmosphere”, Jega said.
Delivering the keynote address, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a Political Scientist at the Usumanu Danfodio University, Sokoto, which he titled: “Trust: That rare value in politics,” said the essence of the exercise was to capture what he called an “illusive and rare value” in politics which he identified as trust.
According to him, people are searching for: “Trust that politicians can rely on INEC to conduct the forthcoming elections in a manner that they can accept the results as genuinely reflecting the will of the people of Ondo State. Trust that political parties and contestants will play by the same rules, and will respect the electorate by giving them enough room to exercise free choice.
“Trust of the people of this state that both INEC and politicians will allow their will to prevail; to remove fear from the entire exercise; and respect outcomes as the voices of the people. Trust that this election will serve as a benchmark for a nation eager to establish the possibility that we can elect leaders freely and openly, and, the heavens do not need to fall in the process”.
The guest lecturer challenged all present to make sure that what would happen in Ondo represents an improvement on the election in Edo State. wish you a very useful workshop”.
The communique signed by all stakeholders. As the d-day draws nearer, all eyes would be on these critical stakeholders to do the needful for Ondo, the state which prides itself as the “Sunshine State” and Nigeria.
hip election in Ondo State. Assistant Editor AUGUSTINE AVWODE reports.
