Fear, anxiety as Edo people elect governor
There
is palpable apprehension in the land as 1.6 million eligible citizens
of Edo State go to the polls today to elect the governor of the state.
The apprehension has been heightened by
strong allegations from several parties that there is a plot to
manipulate the election and undermine the wish of the people, which
could result in violent reactions.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the Action
Congress of Nigeria and Maj.-Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (retd.) of the
Peoples Democratic Party are leading the seven candidates in the
election, which has been a long battle of hype, wits, schism and deaths.
The high profile and recriminatory
campaigns of the PDP and ACN had heightened tension in the state as the
archrivals tried to pull down one another in order to make gains.
ACN took over the governorship from the
PDP in 2008 after a long drawn legal battle that followed the April 2007
election, in which the PDP candidate, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, was
declared winner.
The loss of the governorship had further
fractionalised the PDP, which the
ACN benefited from over the years as
many PDP leaders and their supporters crossed over to the ACN, with the
ACN losing a few of its disgruntled leaders to the PDP.
The other candidates are Mr. Solomon
Edebiri of the All Nigeria Peoples Party; Mr. Andrew Igwemoh of the
Labour Party; Mr. Frank Okonga of the Social Democratic Mega Party; Mr.
Roland Izevbuwa of the Congress for Democratic Change, who stepped down
on Thursday for Oshiomhole; and Mr. Paul Orumwense of the National
Conscience Party.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr.
Mohammed Abubakar, promised during the week that every measure had been
taken to ensure that the election would be free, fair and safe. Also the
new Edo State Police Commissioner, Mr. Olufemi Adenaike, said the
command would not leave anything to chance.
More than 15,000 policemen and other
security personnel have been mobilised to enforce order and peace during
the poll. According to Abubakar, each polling unit will be manned by at
least five security men.
The police commissioner said his men had
been deployed in border points to check the entry of hired voters from
neighbouring states as was alleged by some of the contestants.
Adenaike said the marine police had been
put on the alert to patrol the creeks and rivers of Ovia North East,
Ovia South West and Oredo following allegations by the PDP candidate
that Niger Delta militants had threatened to come in through the waters
to cause confusion on Election Day.
The Chairman of the Independent National
Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said the presence of the IG
in the state underscored the seriousness that had been attached to
security.
The deployment of the military in
critical locations in the state started on Friday night in spite of
criticisms from several civil society groups, who said such massive
deployment of troops in peacetime was anti-democracy and could scare
away genuine voters from performing their civic duties.
Mr. Tony Erha, the Coordinator of the
Edo Coalition for Democracy and Good Governance, said rather than
guarantee safety, the deployment of troops would heighten tension and
would not allow the people to vote freely.
He blamed Oshiomhole for the deployment
of troops in the state, which is a departure from the situation in 2007
when Oshiomhole himself led the people to defend their votes
successfully.
But Oshiomhole defended the troops’ deployment, saying it was the most effective way of guaranteeing a free and fair election.
“Don’t allow anybody to fool you that
the Army is going to harass you, to prevent you from voting. No! The
Army is here to assist you so that your vote will count,” he said.
He argued that it was only those that wanted to foment trouble that were opposed to the deployment of soldiers for the election.
Apart from the heavy presence of security personnel, INEC is fully mobilised for the day.
The INEC chairman said that eight
National Electoral Commissioners and 10 resident electoral commissioners
were drafted to the state “such that each of the 18 local government
areas will be supervised by a NEC or a REC.”
