Politics
Political Class Not Fair To Rivers
Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak is
the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Rivers State. In this interview with Opaka Dokubo in his office in Port Harcourt, the returnee REC bared his mind on a number of issues including the political atmosphere in the State and the re-run elections that took place last weekend. Excerpts:
Compare the Rivers State you left behind and the one you have come back to meet with regard to your work
There is more involvement of political actors and more division. Before now, it was like a one way movement when I was here.
I left here in 2014 and at that time, the political environment had changed from what it used to be in 2011 which was like a one way traffic but now you have traffic coming from many directions. So, there’s bound to be some level of disagreement, some level of interest here and there. It’s not new except that sometimes people capitalize on that to cause problem in the community. But the political tension is not something that is not supposed to be there, it’s supposed to be there but the situation is that you now have gladiators who in the past had been in one camp and now you have them in different camps. So, there’s bound to be some conflict.
Why Were You Brought Back?
I don’t determine where I go to. The Commission determines where officers are posted to. Incidentally, I have been posted, in my years in the Commission, to many places, sometimes on adhoc basis. I have been in Imo State for three months. I have also had situation where I had been posted along with every other person. I was in Bauchi in 2007. I had served in Edo still on general posting. I have served in Kwara still on general posting. I have been to Rivers on general posting. I have been to Delta on general posting. And my coming here now is on general posting too because I am not the only person who was posted. There are others who were posted. The person who took over from me was in Bayelsa.
So, different people are sent on assignment at different times may be because of your capacity and competence. But not because of, what somebody will say, vested interest. There is no other interest other than that of the Commission and I have gone on assignment at different times, still in the interest of the Commission.
Is The Situation Conducive Enough For Free, Fair And Credible Election In Rivers State?
I think that conducting a free, fair and credible election is not the responsibility of the Commission alone. Every other stakeholder need to contribute their quota to the making of a free, fair and credible election. And that takes me to the issue of security. Free and fair election does not consist of only having the materials, distributing the materials and so on. What happens if the environment does not allow the voters to come out?
Would you call it, a free and fair election here the voters was not even allowed to come out?
So, I think that as we approach the election, we should try as much as possible to douse tension. We in the Commission we are doing our best to douse tension. When I came in here, a lot of people were talking about adhoc staff and I made it clear that adhoc will only be recruited from where INEC has said they should be recruited from. That is why you don’t find anybody at the gate coming to submit a list.
The directive is for us to write to the heads of federal institutions, including universities to give us specified categories of persons and not we going to recruit by ourselves. This is because if any of them is found wanting, we hold the head responsible. The list I have from the University of Port Harcourt is signed by the Vice Chancellor; from the Federal College of Education, it is signed by the Rector; from the Federal University, Otuoke, it is signed by the Vice Chancellor. All the federal institutions from where we have recruited staff, their lists are signed by their heads of the institutions.
Of course, that has, indirectly, brought down some level of tension. So, we expect the political parties to follow suit.
What Number Are We Looking At?
We are looking at over 20,000. We are getting about 7,000 from the NYSC. We are getting another seven to eight thousand from the students. The students are not going to preside; they are going to be assistant presiding officers. In areas where we don’t have corps members like Emohua and some places in Etche, we will deploy INEC staff in those areas.
The Commission has also approved staff from neighbouring States. Staff will come from Delta, Edo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa who will also join in complementing the effort of other staff of federal agencies, universities and our staff.
What Strategy For Conducive Atmosphere?
The strategy is to work with the security agencies. I am not a security personnel. My duty is to conduct election. But I also think that the people of Rivers State should also give peace a chance. I mean the leaders of this State. It is not fair that there are reports of killings and so on in the State everyday in the media.
It’s not fair to the State because the State will need people to come, the State will need investment. A lot of things will come to the State. Port Harcourt is a first class city in Nigeria. It should not be brought down to a point where Port Harcourt is seen as a village.
When somebody comes to Nigeria, he looks at Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt. That is always the picture. We should not bring it to a point where when Port Harcourt is mentioned, they will push it aside and look at others. It should not be. We must realise that the growth of Port Harcourt is also the growth of the South – South region.
What Challenges Ahead?
When we talk about challenges we are talking about areas that we should focus on. You see, conduct of election entails the preparation which we have done, materials distribution. Now that INEC has said we should not distribute materials from our offices and that it should be at the RACs, the RACs are in the villages where we domicile materials and personnel. That is the area to focus on. Because they are in the communities, we need a lot of security to protect the people there; because, without being in the RACs, you cannot move into the polling units to actually conduct the election.
Elections will take eight hours or less because now accreditation and voting have been fused so you simultaneous do accreditation and voting, and election stops by 2.00pm. That means commencement of election should be at exactly 8 am so that we can accommodate every person who will come out to vote. That is why the materials are domiciled in those areas and that is why the Commission has chosen the RACs.
So, it becomes a challenge where somebody will now want to invade those places. But even if you invade the place, you will not benefit from anything because immediately you invade the place and collect materials, we will cancel the election in that area. We will not only cancel it, we will fix another day for the election.
Even at that, I don’t see it as a challenge because the people of Rivers State will rise up to the occasion and put a lie to all the negative reports that have been written about them. At the end of the day everyone will know that there are mature people in Rivers State who can handle issues.
Reasons For Vote Cancelation?
Cancelation of election, if you have followed the trend in recent times it has always been as a result of violence. Violence constitutes more than 80% of the reason for election cancelation. So, we think that if we have a conducive environment, that is devoid of violence, definitely, we will deliver. Violence is a major challenge to elections, people not being allowed to do the proper thing.
Issue Of The Card Reader
People misunderstand the issue of the card reader. The card reader is an instrument that was made to compliment the register in the process of accreditation. Because of the dishonesty that was involved in the accreditation process, we now introduced a device that will ascertain the number of persons at the polling unit.
People take authentication as a failure of the card reader. The card reader does not fail. The card reader is meant to do three major things; the first one is just the authentication which is minor. The major thing is that INEC recognises that there are cloned cards, so the card reader will only authenticate that this card is an INEC card. It will ascertain that the person standing before you is a registered voter in that unit. Thirdly, it will also authenticate that the person standing before you has not brought that card before. The authentication is secondary in that even those who are not authenticated but are established as registered voters will be allowed to vote.
Politics
Alia Denies Calling For Ganduje’s Resignation
Governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, has denied calling for the resignation of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje.
This was contained in a press statement issued on Wednesday in Makurdi by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr Tersoo Kula.
The Tide source reports that the CPS was reacting to some media reports that the governor had called for the resignation of the APC national chairman.
Kula said the governor at no time called for the resignation of the APC national chairman.
He said the governor enjoyed a good relationship with the Ganduje-led leadership of the APC.
“It is imperative to clarify that at no point did Governor Alia assembled, attended and sent a representative or participated in any meeting to discuss the removal or call for resignation of Alhaji. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
“The Benue State governor remains firm in his support and allegiance to the leadership of the National Working Committee of the APC, under the leadership of Alhaji Ganduje.
“Furthermore, at no point, whether publicly or privately, has the governor advocated or expressed any desire for the resignation of the national party chairman”, he said.
He said the governor was focused on positively changing the fortunes of the state.
“He is alive to his responsibilities as the leader of APC in Benue State and is doing everything legitimate to reposition the party for future victories,” Kula said.
Politics
LP Re-Elects Abure As National Chairman
The embattled national chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Julius Abure, has been re-elected for a second term by a unanimous affirmation of delegates despite the protests by the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
The Chairman of the National Convention and Deputy Governor of Abia State, Mr. Ikechukwu Emetu declared him the winner during the party’s national convention that held in Nnewi, Anambra State, on Wednesday.
Other serving officers of the party were also returned unopposed.
Recall that the NLC had called for Abure’s resignation as party chairman and the immediate constitution of a caretaker transition committee to organize an all-inclusive national convention for the party.
Meanwhile, a factional chairman of the Labour Party in Anambra State, Mr Peter Okoye has boasted that the Nnewi national convention will not stand.
Describing the convention as a sham, Okoye said: “This is not a convention. We are on top of the matter. It’s purely illegal.
“There was no ward congress, no local government congress, no state congress, and now who and who are the elected delegates that are electing the National Working Committee, NWC, members?
“The NLC was not there, TUC was not there, the owners of the party and members of the NEC and BOT members were not there too. So, who is holding the convention?”
Politics
Suswam Blames External Forces For Problems In PDP
Former Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is being undermined by external forces which have rendered the party ineffective as a viable opposition.
Senator Suswam stated this during a live television interview on Wednesday.
He lamented that the party had since after the 2023 general elections failed to live up to expectations of Nigerians as a viable opposition.
Senator Suswam, who blamed the current PDP leadership for the ineffective state of the largest opposition party in the country, said unless there is an overhaul of its leadership, the party would “go nowhere” because the current leadership has lost focus.
He said, “I think there are subterranean forces inferring in the party and they are determining what is going on in the party. And the leadership is acquiescing to it.
“Subterranean suggests that people are trying to control the party from the outside. They are controlling the party from the outside and they are keeping the party in a comatose state.”
The Benue senator accused the party of refusing to call a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting to help resolve some of the issues arising in the party.
He regretted the inability of the party to resolve the fallout of the 2022 presidential primary election which saw a group of five governors work against the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election.
He added that the inability of the Iliya Damagum-led leadership to discipline erring party members worsened the situation.
Senator Suswam said it was wrong for the party not to have sanctioned the G-5 governors and their allies who openly declared that they would remain in the party and work against its interest.
“They were not sanctioned which made others become emboldened to act anyway they wanted. PDP has been weakened since then,” he said.
He said no serious organisation does that, stressing that, “A serious organisation would apply sanctions” based on the laid down rules as contained in its constitution.
He further accused the acting national chairman of the party, Ambassador Iliya Damagum, of occupying the position which belongs to the North-Central zone, following the removal of the substantive chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, who hails from the zone.
Amb. Damagum, who was the Deputy National Chairman (North), hails from the North-East zone but was, as permitted by the party’s constitution, made acting chairman after Ayu’s removal by a court order.
The party’s law provides that the deputy chairman from the same region as the chairman takes over in the event of the latter’s removal from office.
Senator Suswam further lamented that “PDP is comatose now, and nothing can happen now,” adding that it was regrettable that politicians are now preferring to hold talks with smaller parties and not the PDP.
Noting that the PDP was at the precipice, Senator Suswam said, “Until we provide that leadership, PDP will not be a viable platform. We need to overhaul the leadership of the party. There is no pretence about it, everybody in PDP knows it. Without discipline and reconciliation, the party goes nowhere.”
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