Grandiose Parlor

Earlier today I had a chance to observe the magic of the Nigerian government in action even though I’m thousands of miles away from the country. Just after finishing the piece on Ondo State, I got a call from Florida - the caller had been monitoring the NTA news (Nigerian national TV) via cable and told me the INEC Director of Publicity, Phillip Emeadi, speaking from Abuja, just declared Dr Agagu the winner of the gubernatorial elections in Ondo State. Impossible!

I made a call to Akure-Nigeria to confirm. My source told me the INEC Resident Commissioner, Mr. Josiah Uwazuruonye, had not declared the results, in fact, the Commissioner was getting ready address a press conference. And when he did, he rebutted the Abuja announcement - he stated the election “is being investigated and results would be announced afterwards.” But less than three hours later, the same Commissioner had another conference and basically confirmed what Abuja INEC office had stated earlier - he proclaimed Agagu the winner.

These implications of these events may be lost to those unfamiliar with the electoral process in Nigeria.

Let me clarify: Results are normally announced at the state level i.e. states where the elections are held, not at the federal level. Yet this is what happened in Ondo State; by releasing the results from Abuja, the feds have imposed Agagu on the people of Ondo state.

Yet, it’s the same Agagu, the same governor whose deputy - Omolade Oluwateru went about Akure on election day hijacking ballot materials! Yet INEC claims he and his boss have the people’s mandate in Ondo State! What mandate?
As I predicted in the precedeing writeup, ongoing events in Ondo State are far from pleasant at the moment. the Tribune reports:

“Following the declaration of the result of the governorship election in Ondo State, violence has erupted in some parts of the state with no fewer than 10 houses burnt in Ondo town. The burnt houses included that of the chairman of the Ondo West Local Government Area, Mr. Fredrick Akinpelumi, the family house of Senator Gbenga Ogunniya, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secretariat in Ondo West was vandalised…Notable PDP leaders in the town were said to have fled their homes for fear of being attacked by the hoodlums. Soldiers and mobile policemen were later drafted to the town and they patrolled the major streets…The situation has led to the declaration of restriction of movement in Ondo East and Ondo West local government areas.”

Similar events are happening in other states as well. And this is happening on day 1!
When the president declared the elections were satisfactory, I’m sure he now wished he wasn’t that quick with his assertions. Check this report from Reuters:

“A short walk from where Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo voted in state elections, frightened residents describe how thugs loyal to his ruling party threatened voters and stuffed ballot boxes… even in Obasanjo’s home town — a powerbase for his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) — locals say gangs wielding guns and cutlasses overran voting stations…In Abeokuta, in southwestern Ogun state, there were no protests but disillusioned locals said they would boycott the presidential polls.”

I wondered what Mr president saw by declaring the elections satisfactory. Did Obasanjo know that his and all other votes casted at his Abeokuta ward (Totoro/Sokori ward number 11) were canceled because of electoral fraud?

The next couple of weeks will be interesting in Ondo State, my area of focus, and all over Nigeria, particularly the few days before and on the presidential elections.

The aggrieved parties in Ondo will be going to court to challenge the INEC verdict for sure. There is also a pending court case against Agagu the Ondo State governor-elect - four of his kinsmen are asking the court that Agagu be disqualified to contest the election “on sundry grounds including that he was indicted sometimes in 2001 by the Justice Obiora Nwazota Judicial Commission over mismanagement of the Nigerian Airways Limited between January 1983 to December 1999.”

Secondly, the recent Supreme Court ruling that permits Vice President Atiku to contest the presidential election next Saturday also has some legal implications on the just concluded state elections:

“The ruling affected not only Abubakar’s candidacy in next Saturday’s presidential poll, but at least six states where governorship candidates were disqualified in the state election.”

A uniquely interesting scenario for legal pundits and INEC to analyze. What the presidency is yet to appreciate however is the effect of violence that is slowly erupting nationwide, if this persists - who would risk going to the polling stations to vote next Saturday?

The events on ground in Nigeria simply bear little or no sense…who knows if what’s happening at the moment are fragments of a grand design to see Mr. Obasanjo continue in office beyond his term? Food for thought for all.