Professor Joyce Akaninwor hasn’t been a consumate newsmaker. Tucked away in the classroom where she teaches, she is however believed to nurse strong political interests.
The story is that the woman used by INEC to return results in the last gubernatorial election in Rivers State is a card carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Now, she is in the eye of the storm. Those who know the tutor have pictures which show her in full blown PDP colours. Results entered into the score sheet by the teacher, opposition parties in Rivers State allege, have been seriously manipulated. INEC, we hear, has accepted the outcome of the process that the woman supervised inspite of widespread public outcry.
Dr Mpigi from Tai Local Government is believed to be a member of the PDP. He is a blood relation of Senator Barry Mpigi who ran and won an election on the platform of the PDP. He was recruited by INEC and used as a returning officer. The results that he returned in an election that is becoming controversial by the day is in the basket.
INEC seems to think there is nothing wrong with what his bias in an election season might be, given his blood ties with Senator Barry Mpigi of the PDP. His result has been similarly admitted despite protests.
Dr Medee heads Kagote, a pan Ogoni group that holds strong political views. There should be nothing unsavoury about this. The problem is that Kagote reportedly has verifiable links with the PDP.
These men are not the only ones with established contacts with the PDP. There are many more that INEC purportedly used in collating results in Rivers State.
On election day, Rivers people left their homes to vote. Under the protection of the military which has been completely demonised, the people put their mouth where their money is.
They voted.
If the results that were pouring in from the field met the expectations of Rivers people who seem to think they have been in bondage over these years, INEC didn’t think so.
It pulled sharply on the strings as the exercise entered its final stage. That action was sufficient to bring the moving train to an abrupt halt. Rivers people, on board a train of change that was conveying their mandate, reeled even as they tried to steady their nerves.
For most of them, except for those who belong to the PDP, there was no need for INEC to pull the stop. But somehow, INEC’s carefully woven con game, supported by one of the candidates in the election, had begun.
INEC blamed its decision on what it described as attempts to disrupt the electoral process. A day after that sudden decision, it despatched a visitation panel from Abuja and gave it 48 hours to turn in a report of its findings.
Ever since, Rivers people have been seemingly in limbo. Recall that sometime last year, the APC was on the road to victory in a bye election that was conducted in PHALGA III. INEC pulled the rung. Nothing has been heard of that election which was suspended to date. Now again, another election in which the PDP was poised to lose has been truncated.
What is INEC’s interest in Rivers State? Why has INEC become both umpire and judge in its own case? Our laws say anyone who is not satisfied with the outcome of an election should approach the election tribunal. Why has it become INEC’s responsibility to interfere with the process each time that the tide appears to turn against the Rivers PDP?
Why does the commission act each time that Governor Nyesom Wike appears to be in electoral trouble?
This is the question that Nigerians should ask as dark and ominous clouds circle over the Rivers horizon and huge, black birds, get ready for a feast.
Looking at the way things are panning, there is no doubt that there appears to be something so sinister when it comes to the commission’s ties with Governor Wike. Could it be why Wike bragged before the elections that no one born of a woman can stop him from being governor?
It is disgusting that known PDP members were used as ad hoc staff of INEC. Worse that INEC as judge descended into the temple of justice. And amazing that the commission pretends to be unaware of the tension that is building in Rivers because of its ill-advised action.
It is perhaps, obvious that the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu who worked closely with Nyesom Wike whilst he was a Minister of State is yet to purge himself of the ties both shared at the Federal Ministry of Education during the Jonathan era.
The major challenge that has arisen from the entire episode is the issue of public perception. Can INEC’s result when it comes be seen as credible? Who will believe its outcome?
Public apathy towards national elections is growing. The number of people who believe they have a duty to vote is thinning out. Where shall we be as a nation when on account of INEC’s growing meddlesomeness, Nigerians no longer have the appetite to vote?
Professor Attahiru Jega did a great job of the INEC assignment. Professor Mahmood Yakubu was expected to build upon the props that Jega left. Somehow, not many Nigerians trust Yakubu’s judgment any more; not to talk of Yakubu doing a better job than Professor Jega did.
Yakubu at the end of the day would have himself to blame when he stands before the mirror of history. It is doubtful, given what has happened in this election year, that history would remember him kindly, especially in view of what is currently going on in the Rivers State.
As a country, we cannot afford to allow partisans as umpires in an electoral process. Such an act endangers our growth as a democratic nation, projects us as a country of cheats, and belittles us in the eyes of the international community.
My worry is not about the narrative which suggests that politics is more important than life. It is the excruciating pain felt by the Rivers people that worries me.
Before their very eyes, candidates that would have given Wike a run for his money were dutifully excluded from the race by the judiciary.
Now, their resolve that anything is better than Wike is gradually being hacked down by persons who would long be gone with sacks of money while the State falls off a dangerous cliff.
Nobody knows where INEC’s con game would end, or what would happen to the resolve of the people to kick out Governor Wike.
I was born in Port Harcourt. I saw the birth of Rivers State in 1967. I have since grown into an adult. I have been witness to the highs and lows; seen the people struggle to hold unto the autonomy that they earned during the reign of Yakubu Gowon.
I have not seen anything like the Wike era. Gangsterism has become part of a government that has ruled the State. What looks like a government run by the mafia is on the ascendency.
People have been freely killed and beheaded in order to send messages to opponents of the government in power. Will Nigerians claim ignorance of this fact?
Under Governor Wike, the people have recorded an all time low. Businesses are leaving. Life is short and brutish. Unemployment is at its worst while monies that are needed to change the developmental landscape are funnelled into bribes.
So, people are made to earn Rivers money for favours done to sustain a monstrous system while the true owners of that wealth wallow in abject poverty.
For those who argue that the Rivers State is a PDP State, this is where they have failed woefully to connect with reality.
The reality is that the people are turning away from a reactionary government that apparently has no answers to their development aspirations.
Truth is what exists in Rivers State is not like a marriage in which partners attempt to stay on for better, for worse. When a political party or government fails to deliver, the people deserve the right to look elsewhere.
We have seen blue states turn to red in the United States. We have seen Macron in France come from nowhere to clinch the presidency. We are witnesses to the usual swings in the UK where the Tories and Labour hold sway. The Liberals are in the picture in that country as a result.
To say that power cannot change hands simply because the PDP has dominated Rivers State is to speak to falsehood. Power can swing in any direction it chooses.
In Rivers State where INEC staff are gradually turning to magicians and vote influencers, the genuine reaction of Rivers people through the ballot is being swept under as a narrative, absurd in every sense, assaults their sensibilities.
The people have done their will in voting against a party that hasn’t shown sufficient promise, but will INEC allow that will to triumph?
This week, INEC would be raising another team to review areas where results have already been collated. Those areas were won by the African Action Congress, AAC.
It would appear that INEC is on a rescue mission. Will the commission stand by the will of the people? Or will they simply tow the line that the Rivers State is a PDP State? Who can tell what will happen in these times?
Given what has transpired, whatever is left of the credibility of the Rivers gubernatorial elections has been trampled underfoot by an umpire that either acted in too much haste or was biased right from the onset in favour of a given candidate.
