ANAMBRA ELECTION: PLEASE, STEER CLEAR OF EKITI!

By 'Dimeji Daniels

Watching APGA Chairman Victor Umeh, with all his disgusting habitual ethnic biases, on Channels TV Sunrise Daily on Wednesday 20th November, 2013, my stomach turned and churned, the next thing was to dash to the toilet to quickly puke. If there were any hopes left for Nigeria, bellicose ethnic jingoists like Umeh sure continue to snuff out such hopes. I wept for Nigeria as I watched Umeh justify the insane contraption of an election in Anambra on Saturday. From Umeh's standpoint, it was APC that tried to sabotage the election in Idemili North. He went further to say that the NYSC members who were engaged as polling officers, as is the practice, were mainly Yoruba who could have been enticed by APC to sabotage the election. These are same NYSC members posted to Anambra. Umeh must be saying that NYSC was working months before the election (even before ACN, CPC and ANPP merged into APC) in tandem with APC, or maybe I didn't hear him right.

What happened in Anambra during the November 16 gubernatorial election is a shame and a sham from which the Jonathan presidency, which like the hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob is fast showing signs of desperation and schizophrenic reasoning, cannot wriggle out of, and neither can Jega's INEC, Jega himself, who is now becoming an examplary scholastic archetype of Maurice Iwu, and APGA, ably led by its sonorous woman-like voiced governor, Peter Obi, absolve themselves of the charade that seems like nothing else other than the devilishly elastic 2015 battle-ready claw of the Jonathan presidency.

INEC boss Attahiru Jega must have known that the more than shameless outing of INEC in Anambra could not be excused when he said: "The Electoral Officer in charge of Idemili North for some inexplicable reason messed up the distribution of electoral materials. We believe strongly that there was connivance between the EO and unknown agents to subvert the electoral process." One shouldn't wonder for too long who the unknown agents are as they quickly showed their hands, most probably as part of their pre-written script, as successfully acted in Ondo State and transported to Anambra, but now probably unexpectedly generating furore.

The first of these unknown agents is the Abuja PDP, which allegedly through Mr. President and just as in Ondo State, worked in connivance with the ruling party in the state on an ego trip against APC. Speaking through its discordant PRO, Olisa Metuh, it said “In Ondo state, we had an election, APC came third, in Delta re-run, it came fourth. Now, in Anambra, the result released so far, APC is coming third, but they want to discredit the entire process...The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hereby commends President Goodluck Jonathan for providing adequate security and the enabling environment for the conduct of credible, free and fair governorship election in Anambra state last Saturday in spite of any perceived hitch(es)."

I will overlook the fact that Metuh made these statements while some results were still being collated and a winner yet to be declared and focus more on the import of the statements. Metuh referred to Ondo by saying APC came third in the election, fourth in Delta, and third in Anambra. He was subtly saying that elections for PDP, his party, has become more of an ego war than what it should ordinarily be - the most acceptable candidate to the masses winning. Metuh's statements only confirmed the fears already being expressed about the Jonathan presidency that it is battle-ready to ensure that APC does not win any election prior to the 2015 presidential election to create the impression that the party is not accepted by Nigerians and to mask whatever rigging to be perpetrated by the PDP in 2015 as Nigerians' votes. This is why APC has been teleguided by Abuja forces to be coming '3rd' or '4th', even behind PDP, a rejected evil that has done nothing but plunder Nigeria and Nigerians since 1999.

In the case of Ondo State, the presidency allegedly backed Mimiko rather than their party man, Olusola Oke, so as to use him as a divisive factor in the Southwest preparatory to 2015, and with governorship aspirants like Opeyemi Bamidele in Ekiti and Akinlade in Ogun State, the script may have taken a life of its own, germinating in its wake more and more disunity in the progressive camp. Anambra's case may not be different, given the rejection of PDP by the people, the obvious reasonable choice was to support APGA, rather than APC which for obvious reasons the presidency cannot trust. And so what played out on Saturday 16th November was not unexpected. Come 2015, Willie Obiano must be ready to rub certain backs, even if it means at the expense of Anambrarians.

The most unsettling part for PDP in this game must be its not-well-coached candidate Tony Nwoye, because if he was well tutored about the whole charade, the ICT and Communications Unit of his campaign team shouldn't have come out to verbally attack Olisa Metuh, his party's oracle. 

Hear him: "In spite of these flaws and more witnessed during the exercise, Mr Olisa Metuh, the National Publicity Secretary of PDP and a latter day APGA apologist went on air to announce that the election went free and fair. In a show of shame and in a disgraceful crescendo of delusional act and to please his contractors (APGA and Mr Peter Obi), Olisa Metuh made his statement giving credibility to an election in which his Candidate and all his family members including some of his cousins were disenfranchised and prevented from voting. An Election in which two leaders of the party Chief Arthur Eze and Chief Mrs Josephine Anenieh could not find their names in the ballot paper, an election in which INEC organised a voting process on a Sunday morning when people were already in the church and could not vote. This is the same election that Mr Metuh ascribed to be free and fair…WHAT A SHAME

"Mr Olisa, Metuh, we put it to you that you don’t know your Job as a National Publicity Secretary. You don’t also know your boundaries and limitations. Who asked you to speak on behalf of Tony Nwoye Campaign Organisation? The last time we checked, Hon Chike Anyaonu was the Director of Media and Publicity of Tony Nwoye campaign organisation. What prevented you from contacting him before going on air? What prevented you from contacting your Governorship Candidate Comrade Tony Nwoye before making your shameful statements?

"Mr Olisa Metuh,we put it to you that you were not in Anambra and did not vote on the 16th of November and hence has no moral justification to comment on the outcome of an election you did not participate.
"Mr Olisa Metuh, we put it to you that you sabotaged PDP on the 16th of November, 2013 during the election, directing your family members to vote for APGA. That explains why PDP could not win in your ward at Otolo Nnewi. Instead of burying your head in shame that a National Publicity Secretary of the Party lost in his ward, you were busy in the media talking nonsense."

What more do we need to confirm the marriage of ignominy between PDP and APGA, ably supported by Jega's INEC. How could the Abuja PDP commend an election in which its candidate and the candidate's father were not able to cast their votes because their names were missing from the voters' register? 

While some were fixated on the Police as instruments of rigging, they had their strategy mapped out through INEC, and that was to ensure that APC strongholds did not get voting materials. The electoral officer for Idemili North had his phone line switched off and could not be reached while the whole shame and sham lasted. Security was also relaxed in some areas. There were polling units with no policemen; others had only NSCDC (Civil Defence) officers. No doubt, this would have given a field day to the rigging machinery.

While Ondo State people and Anambrarians may let the whole sanity-bereft sham slide, Jega, his INEC, the Jonathan presidency, PDP and all their co-conspirators should steer clear of Ekiti in 2014. Another Ayoka episode would not be accepted here. Whatever President Jonathan may allegedly be doing to remain in office beyond 2015 that is detrimental to the good and wellbeing of Nigerians should never be transported to Ekiti as we will resist it with all our might and intellect.