As 18 Parties Get Set for Saturday’s Guber Poll in Ondo…

Fidelis David reports that the stage appears set for Saturday’s governorship poll in Ondo state following the signing of the Peace Accord by 18 political parties with an intent to birth a credible and peaceful electoral process.

The fierce battle for the soul of Ondo State is becoming more intense, campaigns are in full swing, political activities have been tumultuous, full of riotousness and uncertainty.

Albert Einstein, a German-born theoretical physicist who is widely held as one of the most influential scientists believes that peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.

Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States (1981 to 1989) also asserted that peace is not the absence of conflict; it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.

The positions of the two icons above highlighted the importance of mutual respect, tolerance, and empathy in building peaceful societies and these validates the  Ondo peace accord.

Succinctly put, it justifies last Friday’s signing of a Peace Accord by 18 political parties and its candidates to ensure a credible and peaceful electoral process ahead of the November 16, 2024 Governorship election in the sunshine state.

Parties and their candidates including the All Progressives Congress’ Lucky Aiyedatiwa; Peoples Democratic Party’s Agboola Ajayi;  Labour Party’s Sola Ebiseni; Social Democratic Party’s  Bamidele Akingboye; and New Nigeria Peoples Party’s Gbenga Edema, among others, signed the Peace Accord.

PDP’s Agboola who attended the ceremony briefly was later represented by his Deputy, Hon. Festus Akingbaso during the signing ceremony.

It is essential to state that the National Peace Committee was founded in 2014 as a non-governmental organisation comprised of elder statesmen in the country to promote free, fair, credible and peaceful elections.

Basically, the peace accord aims to ensure that a credible and peaceful electoral process while the candidates pledge to accept the outcome of the poll and if feel aggrieved they will seek redress through constitutional process.

The first Peace Accord outside Abuja was signed in Edo State prior to the Governorship election held in September 2020. Since then, similar Peace Accords were signed in seven more States, namely Ondo in 2020, Anambra in 2021, Ekiti and Osun in 2022, followed by Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi in 2023.

Therefore, for Ondo State,  it was the second Peace Accord to be signed by the political parties and their candidates. The latest peace accord signing process in Ondo was initiated and led by the National Peace Committee chaired by former Head of State, Geneeal Abdulsalam Abubakar and convened by his Lordship, Catholic Bishop Matthew Kukah.

The symbolic event held at the International Culture and Event Centre (The Dome) in Akure, the state capital saw all the candidates and chairmen of the political parties participating in the forthcoming governorship poll  in attendance.

Chairman of the National Peace Committee and former Head of State, General Abubakar urged the party leaders and candidates to accept the outcome of the elections as long as it is adjudged to be free, fair, and credible, and to seek legitimate and peaceful means of addressing any concern that may arise thereafter.

His words: “I want to call on all stakeholders to work assiduously in their capacities to ensure that peace reigns supreme during this election and that the Ondo state off-cycle election sets a precedent for other off-cycle elections to emulate.

“While I commend the INEC, for the work done so far, I call on them to continuously live up to their responsibilities in ensuring that eligible voters exercise their franchise peacefully and that the remaining electoral processes are credible free, and fair.

“I must also extol the Nigeria Police Force and members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) for maintaining peace and security in Ondo state. It has indeed remained one of the relatively peaceful states in the country. I therefore urge them to remain resilient in averting any threats of violence and maintaining the peace in the state as we are only a few days away from the elections.”

Abubakar called on the people of Ondo state to exercise their civic duty by coming out en masse to vote for the candidates of their choice and desist from selling their votes, as it contradicts the very essence of democracy.

On his part, Convener of the National Peace Committee, Bishop Kukah, charged the candidates to see peace as a foundation for a credible election, accept the outcome of the election as long as it is adjudged to be free, fair, and credible, and to appropriately seek legitimate and peaceful means of addressing any concern that may arise thereafter.

INEC And PVC Collection

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu revealed that collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) from the recent voter registration, ended two days before the event, adding that a total of 64,273 PVCs were collected by voters out of the 89,777 cards delivered to the state. This, he said, represents an impressive collection rate of 71.6 per cent.

Notably, he said the commission has perfected arrangements for the movement of over 17,000 ad hoc and regular officials as well as large quantities of materials to 4,154 voting and collation locations (3,933 polling units, 203 Ward and 18 LGA collation centres).

According to him: “In the case of Ondo State, this task is to be accomplished by boat in the two riverine Local Government Areas of Ese Odo and Ilaje, and by a combination of trucks, four wheel vehicles and motorcycles in respect of the mainland areas of the State. You should therefore expect to see a remarkable improvement in election day logistics. Voters in Ondo State should also expect to see similar improvement in result management.

“I will not be tired of appealing to political parties and candidates to note that your signatures on the Peace Accord document alone will not guarantee a peaceful election. The Peace Accord is not an automated, self-activating document. Your commitment to its implementation is critical.

“Therefore, as you sign the Peace Accord, you should commit yourselves to its implementation and pass the message to your supporters at all levels for compliance.

As I said repeatedly, this is the best way to honour the effort and sacrifice of the Chairman and members of the NPC to peaceful elections in Nigeria.”

Deployment of 43,157 security personnel for  Poll

In his address, the Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun said the Police will timeously provide enough Armoured Personnel Carrier (APCs), trucks, patrol vehicles, buses for covert operations, ambulances, helicopters, drones, K9 and anti-riot equipment to complement the strength of Ondo State Command.

The IGP, represented by DIG Abiodun Alabi, said the Police will deploy a total of 34,657 personnel to the polling units, wards/LGA collation centers as well as other strategic locations.

“It is expected that Four (4) Police personnel will be deployed at each polling unit, which then implies that 15,732 conventional police personnel will be required for the 3,933 polling units and voting points in the State.

“This will be complemented by the Armed Forces, the Intelligence Security Agencies and other sister Security Agencies. A total of 8,500 personnel from the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Correctional Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency will be deployed to augment the Police strength. This will bring the total number of security personnel deployed for the election to 43,157”, Egbetokun added.

Speaking behalf of other candidates, Ondo State Governor and All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate,  Lucky Aiyedatiwa, pledged to uphold the peace accord and provide a peaceful environment for the success of the poll.

Full swing Campaigns

The last 30 days has been tumultuous in Ondo. Basically, the ruling All Progressives Congress began its campaign on October 12, followed by the Peoples Democratic Party  on October 15, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party on October 17.

The Labour Party launched its campaign on October 26, while other parties have yet to initiate any official campaign activities five days to the election.

APC, PDP, LP, NNPP, YPP, SDP and other parties’ politicians have been tranversing the entire nook and cranny of the coastal State, asking the electorate for their votes and wooing some with rice, beans, and other food items to win their heart.

Typical of elections in Nigeria, the electioneering for the Ondo gubernatorial poll has been characterized by carpet-crossing, realignments and horse-trading.

Despite being  tumultuous and full of riotousness, it is heartening to note that there has been no incidence resulting in the loss of lives throughout the campaigns of the candidates and their political parties.

It is worthy to also note that the factors that are likely to determine who will emerge victorious at the end of the exercise are, to a greater extent, dimensionally three.

The factor of ethnicity has been settled with the zoning of the election to the southern senatorial district and thanks to goodness, all the candidates in the race are from the district, majorly from Ilaje, Okitipupa, Okitipupa and Ese Odo.

However,  the first factor is the personalities of the candidates. The second is the financial strength of the candidates and parties. The last is the roles of godfathers/ third-part advocacies.

Whatever factor decides the poll, residents of the sunshine state, basically do not want a repeat of 1983 incident in the old Ondo state because of unguarded utterances and actions of reckless political actors who wanted to grab powers by force with the effort of the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) to impose Akin Omoboriowo as governor.