We’re back to the
starting block for the 2016 Edo State governorship election. Two weeks have passed since the original date was blown away and a new date of Wednesday, September 28, 2016 decreed. No one may have computed how much was lost to the decision to cancel the September 10, 2016 date but it does not require mathematical wizardry to understand that the Independent National Electoral Commission, the political parties, the candidates, the civil society and other observer groups, the Edo people and the country at large must have lost huge scarce resources to that decision. Of course, this has not helped our unenviable reputation for wastage of resources in Nigeria, even in lean times, as we are currently in.
All that is behind us now and the mobilisation of needed resources for the conduct of the election has started all over again in earnest.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Edo State, Mr. Sam Olumekun has already told a stakeholders’ meeting that the commission would on Monday, September 26, begin the distribution of sensitive materials for the conduct of the election. To this end, Mr. Olumekun has invited political party agents, collation officers and security agencies to be at the Central Bank, Benin City to observe the distribution.
While this is a strong suggestion that INEC is fully prepared on its part, the Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has declared Tuesday, September 27 and Wednesday, September 28, 2016 as work free days.
Announcing the public holidays during an event organised in his honour by the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress in Edo State, on Saturday in Benin City, the governor said the action was to enable all eligible voters to have ample time and freedom to move to their respective registration areas where they will be expected to cast their votes.
Force Public Relations Officers, Donald Awunah, told newsmen in Abuja last Friday that advance units of the police force had already moved into Edo while others had been scheduled to move in stages.
According to the police image maker, t he force is deploying 25,000 personnel consisting of the Police Mobile Force, the Counter Terrorism Unit, the Anti-Bomb Squad, the Marine Police, Conventional Policemen, the Armament Units, personnel from Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Force Intelligence Bureau and the Sniffer Dog Section.
“In addition, helicopters and gun boats, 10 additional Armored Personnel Carriers and 550 patrol vehicles would be deployed to cover all the polling units, RAC centres, collation centres, riverine areas and difficult terrains,” he said, adding that a Deputy Inspector-General of Police, an Assistant Inspector-General of Police and three Commissioners of Police will head the operations.
Awunah promised neutrality of the police and warned of severe consequences for anyone or group caught in any act that will be inimical to the smooth and peaceful conduct of the election.
Speaking with The Tide on the issue in Port Harcourt, the spokesman of the Civil Society Platform in Rivers State, Comrade Christian Lekia, urged the political parties, especially the major ones, and their candidates in Edo State to put the overall interest and wellbeing of the State ahead of their personal and party ambitions.
The civil society activist cautioned the major political actors in Edo State to exercise restraint in their utterances and also rein in their supporters to focus on issues and the conduct of the polls in an atmosphere that is devoid of violence, thuggery and other forms of electoral fraud.
Comrade Lekia who is also the President, Niger Delta Coalition Against Violence charged the people of Edo State to cooperate with the security agencies not only to achieve a hitch-free election but also to ensure their overall security and safety of lives and property.
He advised INEC to assert its authority over the process and to jealously guard its independence and impartiality in order to give credibility to the exercise and win back the confidence of the people.
Comrade Lekia said INEC must rise up to the challenge of effectively coordinating all other agencies and personnel and materials to minimize sabotage and discredit the eventual outcome of the poll.
“Edo State people should understand that it’s all about Edo State,” he stressed, adding that it will not serve the interest of the state and the people if anything is done to undermine a smooth and orderly conduct of the election again.
Exchanging views on the same issue with The Tide, the State Director, National Orientation Agency, NOA, in Rivers State, Mr. Oliver Wolugbom, urged INEC not to leave anything to chance in tis preparation and prosecution of the Edo governorship election on Wednesday this week.
“I think that INEC should be very mindful of what they’re going to do in Edo,” he said. He reiterated that “they should be more careful and more cautious so as to get it right this time around and redeem itself from the unsavoury reputation of conducting inconclusive polls.
“They must come clean this time around and in coming clean, they must ensure that they drive the process that will be transparent,” he emphasised.
To achieve the overriding goal of a free, fair, peaceful and credible electoral contest, the NOA boss urged the electoral commission to take firm control of the process and effectively coordinate all other supporting agencies as well as its personnel.
“I want to encourage Nigerians to help them. But I also want to say that if there are some characters among them that have not come to terms with how elections should be conducted, I think such people should be given orientation,” he said, pointing out that “the unity of this country is at stake if they make mistakes.”
The NOA State Director encouraged the people of Edo State to cooperate with INEC in order to achieve a result that will truly reflect their wishes and aspirations by strictly adhering to the guidelines of the commission.
“If they cooperate with INEC, the result will be good for all of us,” he noted and advised that those that are eligible to vote should restrict themselves to their polling units on election day while those who are not qualified to participate in the process should not get involved.
“To me, what should preoccupy Edo people is for their votes to count,” he said, reminding them that the validation of the expression of their will is a direct function of their comportment as they go about exercising their civic responsibility on the election day.
Yes, INEC, the security agencies, the political parties, their candidates and supporters and the generality of Edo people may collectively hold the key to the eventual outcome of the gubernatorial poll on Wednesday, September 28, 2016, but that outcome will have far reaching implications for the electoral process in Nigeria.

Opaka Dokubo