THE EDO OFF-SEASON GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION
On Saturday 21 September,2024, Edo State voters will go to the polls to elect a brand new governor who will succeed Governor Godwin Obaseki whose tenure of eight years will elapse by November.
The forthcoming Edo State election would be the very first off-season election under the watch of President Bola Tinubu as president.
Before he became the president, Tinubu was widely acclaimed rightly or wrongly as a democrat whose credentials dated back to the Third Republic as a senator even before he became a governor of Lagos State in the current democratic dispensation.
Therefore, the Edo State election will present the ample opportunity to assess or re-asses Tinubu’s democratic credentials. Will he prove critics right or wrong? The choice is left for him.
However, Tinubu should be reminded of how off-season elections in different states of the federation had panned out under the watch of his predecessors starting from President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Nigeria used to have all elections, particularly presidential and governorship elections the same day until 2006 when Peter Obi changed the narrative by removing a usurper sitting governor through the election tribunal. That was the very first time the calendar of governorship election began to change in some states. Of course, some other states like Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun followed suit. New states like Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa were added much later owing to political disequilibrium.
Now, when Peter Obi was seeking for a reelection as governor under the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in early 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan was in power as acting president. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in power at the federal level. The PDP had a very competent governorship candidate in the person of Professor Charles Soludo who just left office at the time as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. However, Jonathan as then acting president didn’t muscle out Peter Obi in the election because he belonged to a minority party like APGA.
Still under Jonathan as president, off-season elections were conducted in this same Edo, Ondo, Osun, states, which his party (PDP) candidates lost. He didn’t muscle or rig out the candidates of other political parties just to favour his own party candidates. He allowed the will of the people to prevail. Even in Ekiti State where PDP candidate, Ayo Fayose won, it was obvious to everyone that he clearly defeated the then incumbent governor. The Labour Party won in Ondo.
Under president Muhammad Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the APGA won election in Anambra. The PDP won elections in Osun and Edo States.
Therefore, President Tinubu is morally bound to allow a free and fair elections to take place under his watch. He should demonstrate that in the forthcoming Edo election. If someone like Buhari who toppled democracy in the second republic could demonstrate a reasonable attribute of civil and democratic credentials during his era by allowing the will of the people to prevail in some elections under his watch, it will be a shame if a civilian like Tinubu has the predilection to muzzle out democratic rights of the people of Nigeria.
Finally, on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the commission can start redeeming its image through these off-season elections beginning with the Edo State election. Most importantly, the INEC chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu, whose non renewable tenure will expire next year has nothing to lose if he insists on doing the right thing even if for the first time. He has started his usual rhetoric of assurance of free and fair elections, but a handful of Nigerians believe whatever he says now. INEC and its officials should atone for their sins and make peace with their creator unless they do not believe in eternity.
Ifeanyi Maduako, Owerri viaifeanyimaduako2017@gmail.com
