How Edo 2016 guber poll was rigged- henchman

The young man seemed as someone who had run Beserk. He temporarily lost his mind, ran like a deranged animal and lay right underneath the armoured vehicle, his whole body in front of the large tyres. He would have been crushed to death had the tank moved. He knew this but he did not care.

This was a rare moment in time and the image was captured by the lens of a camera to be archived forever in the anals of Nigeria's political history.

Who this young man was, we may never know. Lets call him, Citizen 'Jones'.

Citizen Jones was among the hundreds of youths who were outside the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the faithful morning after the electoral body had finished collating the 2016 gubernatorial election results for Edo State, in Benin City.

It must be noted that earlier but unofficial reports from some polling centers had put one of the candidates, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the lead with a wide margin against Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives Congress (APC). PDP supporters outside the INEC office were therefore waiting for an announcement that will usher in celebrations but what they got was a shock, a result so unexpected as to send Citizen Jones running under the police armoured truck packed in front of the complex, in protest.

Godwin Obaseki was declared winner of the election by INEC. Edo was said to have spoken.

It will be recalled that the collation officer for Etsako West Local Government Area had alleged that Obaseki's running mate, Phillip Shuaibu pulled a gun at him to force his imprint on the result.

Shuaibu however denied the allegations at the time, telling the Vanguard Newspapers:

“The same collation officer that went on air lying that I was harassing him with a gun is the same man who promised that the matter will be sorted out in Benin. So, we left the collation center with that mindset that we were leaving for Benin to take decision on the matter because the duty of the collation officer in that ward was to collate what is given to him and not to cancel and there was no element of violence in my unit that will result in the issue of cancellation of any result,”

Besides Ize-Iyamu who outrightly rejected the election results, other parties who participated in the elections also cried foul.

Pastor Ize-Iyamu went to appeal and lost. The rest is history as Obaseki and the APC took over the seat of government in Edo State.

However, some dirts are beginning to be dug out, alleging that the elections were not as fair as the APC and the electoral umpire claimed.

While Obaski fell out with his erstwhile godfather, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the National Chairman of the ruling APC, who was largely responsible for his victory, Pastor Ize-Iyamu ironically crossed over to the APC having left the PDP and in a twist of fate, is allegedly the favoured candidate of Oshiomhole, the APC strongman.

Obaseki wouldn't go down without a fight and has used executive powers to stop Oshiomhole's perceived excesses and made many other moves to deminish his power-grip on Edo grassroots.

One of such moves may however come back to haunt the governor. Political analysts are of the opinion that Obaseki went too far when he demolished part of the home of one of Oshiomhole's supporters, Tony Kabaka, because Kabaka is said to control the streets.

Anyone with a knowledge of Edo politics knows that the streets is where much of the election is won. Just like in Lagos where the likes of MC Oluomo can allegedly determine the course of voting in elections, Edo is not different and Tony Kabaka is the MC Oluomo version of Edo.

Africans have a saying that what was cooked in private can be brought in the open when one party is aggrieved.

Revelations coming out of Edo State indicate that one person is willing to spill the foul milk on the floor and that person is Tony Kabaka.

Kabaka is singing and alleging all sorts of things, which include allegations that the APC manipulated election figures in an election he alleged was won by Pastor Ize-Iyamu.

Kabaka, a top member of the APC in a published interview is quoted as saying:

"APC members have suffered enough. We robbed Ize-Iyamu of the mandate and gave it to Godwin Obaseki."

Kabaka, who was advising the APC not to get it wrong again, also said: "Ize-Iyamu has come to the APC to recover his mandate stolen in 2016.”

Nigerians are left wondering whether the justices who handled the Edo election petitions were not presented the whole facts of the case, if indeed Kabaka's claim is correct or was Ize-Iyamu, a successful lawyer himself not properly represented?

Revelations like these have led to pitiable voters apathy in Nigeria where the electorates are left asking if their votes count at all.

Though the petition filed by Ize-Iyamu may have been decided and the likelihood a fresh one coming nil, since it's already statute barred and Obaseki is on the verge of serving out his tenure, if Kabaka's allegations are true, the confession has no doubt put a dent on the many chest beatings of INEC, as it had always claimed elections conducted by it, especially under the current management, have been free and fair.

Whatever happens, the electorate in Edo may just be the wiser for it, as they get set for another election and hoping that their votes will truly count this time around.

Our security services and INEC must however brace up for a tighter and even more violence prone electoral process, since the incumbent Governor, Obaseki and the other contending forces, both within and out of the APC, will be out to outdo one another.

Citizen Jones lived, he was pulled out from underneath the armoured car but as Edo moves towards 2020 elections, how many more Citizen Jones will have their hopes crushed by a system which is largely fraudulent and corrupt?