By Chooks Oko
The much talked about 2019 presidential election has come and gone, throwing up a decisive winner in President Muhammadu Buhari. But what are its implications for the different zones that make up the country?
Before the elections, two major contenders emerged in the persons of the incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. For the South East zone, the choice and dangled carrots were clear. Vote APC and have a shot at the Presidency in 2023 or vote PDP and have power devolved to the federating units.
For most, it was more attractive to move with the tide that APC represented while some felt it might be better to try out the PDP experiment. With the introduction of a vice presidential candidate from the zone, the choices became stiffer.
Buoyed by the euphoria of the possibility of having the number two citizens, as a precursor to taking the presidency, Nnia Nwodo Jnr., President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, the umbrella organisation of Ndigbo socio-cultural bodies, endorsed Atiku Abubakar, as the preferred candidate. No sooner had he made the pronouncement than he got several bashings from even unexpected quarters. Prominent among the critics was Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano. All these are now history, as the elections have been won and lost.
The great question now is what is the import of the current realities for the Southeast zone? Did they vote for APC or for the PDP? Or was the voting figures foisted on the zone.
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“The votes ascribed to the APC in the Southeastern zone in the just concluded elections for president is not reflective of our true mandate. The figures should be much more than that. We got reports of massive rigging and connivance with ad hoc workers across the states that led to stuffing of ballot boxes with pre-thumb printed ballot papers in favour of the over bloated figures of the PDP.
“In any case, my happiness is that the overall showing of the party in the zone improved tremendously even with the rigging. Most of the states gave beyond twenty five per cent,” Okelo Madukaife, an architect and publicity secretary of the APC in Anambra State, said.
Madukaife is not alone in this assertion. Nwachukwu Eze Nwachukwu, Ebonyi State APC chairman, said the party was robbed of the votes they gave to the president.
“They brazenly chased our agents away from collation centres and appropriated figures to themselves, using the might of the state government. In most cases, vote buying and violence were wantonly displayed. It was a charade,” he said.
Addressing a press conference in Enugu Tuesday, a group of APC National Assembly candidates from Ebonyi State alleged massive irregularities and breach of the electoral act.
“Suppression, abduction and intimidation of our agents and members at polling units were the order of the day. The governor’s aides, thugs of the PDP and soldiers chased away and battered our people. Some were even abducted to unknown places. This gave them the opportunity to carry out massive electoral irregularities across the state,” Nwaeze Onu, who is the spokesman of the group, said.
Dr. Donatus Nwankpa, chairman of APC in Abia State, said: “The problem is that the electoral body still believes in the impunity of old where things were done without recourse to law and order. The electoral officers, presiding officers and others in the field were busy changing figures at will without allowing the will of the people to prevail.”
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Thompson Orji, Enugu State coordinator of Buhari/Osinbajo Solidarity Front, tells a similar story. “We were chased away from the polling booths and some who could not run fast enough were brutalised. My House of Assembly candidate was a victim,” he noted.
In Imo State, stories of abduction and coercion were rife. Despite the setbacks, however, Ikenna Adikibe, an engineer and seasoned politician in Owerri, Imo State, said: “It was war, but we thank God it was far better than 2015. We were able to deliver more than the required 25 per cent to Mr. President.”
For the opposition PDP, however, the elections were rather manipulated. Linus Okorie, one of the key promoters of friends of Atiku and chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Agricultural Colleges and Institutions, said: “INEC lost a golden opportunity to deliver a credible presidential election in 2019 when it entangled itself with the cancelling of results already declared from polling units in certain parts of the country without justification, especially as the opposition PDP seemed to be the sole target and victim.
“In this regard, INEC failed Nigerians by re-writing the results of the presidential elections in a despicable partisan manner. The result as declared, accordingly, does not represent the true will of the Nigerian voters and should be revisited.”
Expectedly, that is the song of the PDP high command. So, who rigged and who didn’t? Do the results show a keeping of faith of the Southeast with the APC? Or a preference for the PDP promises that are now stillborn?
Former minister of health and professor of orthopedic medicine, Onyebuchi Chukwu, sums it up. “I am particularly impressed by the markedly improved performance by the APC in the Southeast zone, as compared to the 2015 election. This demonstrates a liberalisation of political alignment and a better appreciation of the dynamics of the Nigerian political terrain by the people of the Southeast. It heralds a new and progressive phase in the politics of the zone and signposts the readiness of the zone to resume their rightful position, among other zones, in the governance of the country.”