The chicken has come home to roost. The Local Government Council Elections in Cross River State was totally and completely marred by gross irregularities and lawlessness masterminded and perpetrated by agents of the Peoples Democratic Party so much so that it became disorderly and chaos ensued. The election was a sham a charade and a mockery and travesty of democracy. I can say with all amount of boldness that the scene witnessed today in Ugep, Yakurr Local Government Area is not different from the chaotic election we saw in 2007. One Youth Oka Ujong Ukpentu, who wanted to stop the vehicle which electoral materials meant for Ijiman Ward from taking these materials to an unlawful destination was knocked down by the vehicle and he is now lying critical ill in the a Private Hospital in Ugep.
It is sad that nothing has changed. Just like in 2007 electoral materials were handed over to PDP agents by unscrupulous officials of the Electoral Commission and later voting was staged in some booths to give a veneer of legitimacy to the election. I had numerous phone calls from distraught and distressed voters from almost all the 13 Council Wards of the Yakurr Area Council. Thanks to the GSM technology I was able to text correspondents of the Punch newspaper, Daily Independent, Leadership Newspaper, the Sun newspaper and Radio Nigeria, Enugu etc to alert them of the charade going on.
I called the Chairman of the so-called Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission, Sir Patrick Otu (who is a Knight of the Catholic Church) to warn him not to declare any purported result from Yakurr Area Council because there was no election if he truly he is a man of integrity and conscience. Sir Otu was flummoxed at my audacity and was only able babbled something like if you are saying there was no election you have to provide evidence I retorted that which other evidence was more credible that what I saw firsthand in Ugep?
What happened shows that no lesson has been learnt by the dramatis persona? We told Liyel Imoke that election should wait until the Voters Register is updated or revised. He refused to listen because he had his agenda. Imoke does want the election of credible to run the local government system. The local government councils is the source of slush funds which the government wants to use to fight the 2011 election so having credible people run the councils would dry the source of these slush funds. The clamour for electoral reform does not impress the hawks in the government of Cross River State including Liyel Imoke, who was indicted by a judgment of the Court of Appeal of being the beneficiary of a dubious mandate in 2007 which the Court annulled in July, 2008. The hawks in the Government of Cross River State know very well that if a free election is conducted Ubi Itam Ettah whom they intend to impose on the people of Yakurr would surely lose the election.
However the Government did not listen. The Government was hell bent not doing the proper because it is used to such undemocratic ways of doing things. We challenged the Government and the so-called Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission in the High Court but that did not deter it from going ahead with the election. The Government has no regard for the Law and the Courts. The Government operates with impunity.
It is a shame that we cannot organise a process has simply as a Local Government Council Election despite the posturing and pretension of Liyel Imoke who had organised a Political summit where he pontificated on the need for a free, credible and fair election. It is curious that a Political Party as the PDP which has been in total control of the machinery and the apparatuses of Political Power in the Cross River State for almost twelve Years is afraid of the electorate so much so that it would it subvert the political process by truncating the holding of election. I cannot just understand the mindset of these people. It is really bizarre.
In Baise Local Government Area, soldiers were deployed to aid the PDP in intimidating the opposition .Supporters of the APGA Chairmanship candidate for Biase Local Government Area, Bishop Frank Owali were rounded up by these soldiers and taken to Calabar where they have been under detention since 28th August, 2010. The question is who ordered the deployment of these soldiers? By Section 217 (1) (B) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, only the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have the authority to order the deployment of any unit of the Armed Forces with the prior consent of the National Assembly. It is dangerous to deploy troops without the knowledge of the President because it could compromise national security especially the country had had a chequered history with military coup de tat.
The Electoral Commission is not independent. It is run as an appendage of the Governor’s Office. The Electoral Commission is composed of pliant and Lilly livered officials who are the beck and call of the Governor. The entire Electoral Commission is made up of members of the Peoples Democratic Party. How this electoral Commission can guaranteed a free, credible and fair election. It is a well settled principle of Law that that you cannot be a judge in your own cause. How do we expect members of the PDP who are in the Electoral Commission to give us a fair and free election? It is impossible. The PDP is a benighted Party. Its Members are uncouth and uncivilised. They do not believe in democracy. PDP does not believe in election. The PDP is a fascist Party.Oh yes because I see the tactics usually employed by the PDP during election similar to those used by the Nazis Party during Hitler’s Germany. What do you expect from a Party that cannot organise its own primary election? PDP has never organised an election. It always selects its candidates through consensus means because it is afraid of election.
The purported election that was staged in Cross River State in on the 28th August, 2010 in the name of an election is a clear indication that the 2011 election is already doomed because the PDP does not believe in democracy and will never allow a free, credible and fair election to hold in Nigeria unless something drastic is done. PDP will not allow Nigerians to exercise their franchise. We have a big problem at hand. PDP must remember that those who make constitutional change impossible are advocates for a bloody revolution.
OKOI OFEM OBONO-OBLA
· Obono-Obla is a Barrister, Human Rights Activist and Essayist. He lives in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria.
No comments:
Post a Comment