By – Nosa Omorodion
I was once involved in an election primary in 2002, which opened my eyes to how an election can be rigged by the books. What I learnt then was that by the electoral guideline of the party, if the outcome of the party’s primary is marred by a violent act, the election process would be taken to a panel constituted by the local government chairman, for a decision. My opponent, who had enormous access to the forces of violence, being apprised of this loophole, prepared his option in this direction, apparently on the advice of influential collaborators. He also had the money to push for a win at the table. Of course I was just a young idealistic gentleman with a simple agenda of winning by the rules of a popular primary. The summary of it is that we went to the field and when my opponent saw my queue doubling his own, he ordered his men to unleash violence. Expectedly, the process was referred to higher quarters where my opponent got the ticket to run for the councillorship election.
The above reference averts my mind to the script the APC and Godwin Obaseki their litigant governor have crafted in their bid to influence the judgment of the Governorship Petition Tribunal trying the case in which they have been accused of robbing Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and the PDP of the popular vote cast by Edo people on September 28, 2016.
This rigging plan is to force or influence a relocation of the Tribunal sitting from the scene of the alleged crime where the evidences and witnesses can be easily and readily accessed and where the weight of sincere public opinion could be felt. What better card than the excuse of insecurity can the APC play in the present circumstance? And any which way, they are intent on using it. Thus they have positioned their dogs of war to create an enabling spectacle around the court premises as the hearing of the case commences.
The foretaste of what may come played out on the first day of pre-hearing in the case on December 1, 2016. On this day, at the end of court proceedings, armed APC thugs unleashed life threatening beatings on peaceful PDP members who had come to show solidarity with their party. The police just turned their face away like it was their master’s wards exercising their privilege of oppression.
The peculiarity of this attack is that it is not just the usual impulsive demonstration of violent aggressiveness for which the APC members in Edo State are notorious. Credible intelligence has it that the APC is in a conspiracy with some federal powers to instigate the relocation of the Tribunal from Benin to Abuja so as to put the opposition Edo PDP at a disadvantage. Pursuant to the realization, the APC have been “advised” to ensure by all means that a situation of insecurity and threat to lives is perceived in the Benin City venue of the Tribunal.
This calls to mind the contrived security report upon which INEC postponed the Edo Governorship Election from 10th to 28th September. The gross irregularities observed in the conduct of the election made a great number of people to conclude that the postponement was done to perfect the rigging of the election. Both local and international observers reported incidences of wide spread voter intimidation, ballot box snatching, disruption of voting process, threatening and hostage taking of polling and returning officers – the most celebrated of which is the situation in which the APC governorship running mate now deputy governor, Hon. Philip Shaibu is alleged to have moved around with armed thugs who instigated fear and effected the change of election results at gunpoint. Most intriguing was the barring of independent election observers from the collation center at the state INEC headquarters and the suspension of the final collation exercise which was being transmitted live on television. It is on the above premise that the election is, in the court of public opinion, considered to have been rigged to favour the ruling party.
Without doubt, the idea behind the APC’s desire to get the Tribunal to Abuja is to weaken the PDP’s capacity to prosecute its case which has been widely acclaimed to have merit. The APC have in their vision the enormous logistics the PDP could be made to grapple with in having to get over three hundred witnesses to leave Edo State to Abuja to testify in its favour. Definitely, for a party which has no access to huge government funds, unlike the APC, this would be a herculean task for the PDP. The other motive behind the relocation plot is to locate the Tribunal at the doorsteps of the powers that be in Abuja from whom all kinds of moves can be expected to influence the decision of the Tribunal.
How well this plan to relocate the Tribunal is executed is left to be seen. However, without prejudice to the credibility of the honourable members of the Tribunal, the conclusion is that such a relocation would be indicative of a predetermination to rig Justice. In spite of President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade, the APC and the presidency have carried on like election rigging and compromising the judicial process and the judiciary in favour of the President’s party and his supporters is no corruption. However it is reasoned, relocating the Tribunal from Benin City to Abuja or anywhere else, on the excuse of “insecurity” would be an act of corruption and a disposition to the perversion of justice
