With Ayobrown Adetunji
The detailed meaning of APC’s 4+4 slogan is getting clearer by the day… Funny indeed, a thorough and careful analysis has proved and tagged ‘4+4 = Evil’. Without mincing words, many Nigerians now see that everything associated with it from creation are nothing but pure and undiluted malevolence.
It is getting worse day by day, something no one could ever imagined, ‘vote buying was done openly not minding the presence of helpless and hapless security operatives’… and so it calls for serious concerns.
When I wrote this piece, ‘Osun guber: A rape of Democracy’, reactions were many and one of such was a message from a disenfranchised aspirant, who was manoeuvred and sidelined during the party’s primaries and was seriously affected by nothing but intra-party rigging.
‘This one sweet me die!’ was the first tweet I saw; what happens is what you can’t imagine, an APC member rejoicing on hearing the news of tribunal sacking Osun APC governor, Adegboyega Oyetola. As updated in the news, tribunal sacks Osun Governor, and declared PDP Senator Demola Adeleke the winner because ‘supplementary election is illegal’. Until he gave his detailed reasons, many called for his head, and you may have no other choice if you are in his shoes.
I said in the piece that APC is better at stealing what they cannot grow to build itself, however, it will soon crumble, and it is just a matter of time. Truly, today the reality is beckoning on us, what happened at the elections and rerun was pure stealing, rigging and also nothing but winning by force in collaboration with the APC-led Federal Government.
Or how else would you describe the last presidential election? It was obvious even to the blind that the Osun election, as was the case with Ekiti, was a contest between the PDP and the security agencies supervised by compromised INEC officials. The supplementary election was short of what can be called election.
Another history is made again, this came about following the way and manner the former Governor Rauf Aregbesola came into governance. Although he contested his first gubernatorial election in 2007, it was not until nearly four years later that he got on the seat following a court pronouncement which removed former governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, from office.
Prophesy is truly a delicate and strong thing if you ask me, what happened has been foretold by Adeleke himself. He said “I have been tagged dancing Senator, but have you seen someone who doesn’t dance? I am winning this election and I will dance to the Government House after that”, and today, to be is about to become.
Use your two hands to grab ‘someone’s vote’ or all fingers instead of thumb print, or how else could you describe this, “high level of under-aged voters? The Centre for Democracy and Development’s (CDD) Election Analysis Centre (EAC) said despite repeated assurances from the authorities, the last supplementary elections in many parts of the country were marred by attacks against journalists, observers and voters apart from widespread vote buying and selling’… something we never thought could happen under Baba Buhari APC.
4+4 is evil – Olusegun Obasanjo, a source quoted former president Obasanjo as saying publicly that ‘those discouraging Atiku from challenging Buhari in court are evil, Baba Iyabo said without a reasonable cause, Buhari went to the court to challenge his loss in three elections, wondering why some people were trying to “stop Atiku from going to court”.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said those opposed to the decision of Atiku Abubakar to seek legal redress over the outcome of the presidential election have evil minds.
The same rains that sweeten sugarcane did otherwise to bitter leaf, what a funny world. Whatever is done in secret will be announced in the open no matter how long it takes. Substantially for non-compliance with Electoral Act, the tribunal voids results in 17 polling units, many also agreed with former Ekiti governor, Ayodele Fayose when he called APC the ‘master riggers’. Democracy as now defined in our polity as the government of the people by some people and not for the people, or how else would you describe the pronouncement of the tribunal?
The election tribunal sacked Osun governor less than six months into the administration, election which the international community classified as rigged. A three-man panel tribunal declared Senator Ademola Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the election. So truly the Osun supplementary election was illegal –who are the perpetrators of this illegality? None of them must go unpunished.
If Buhari did not know whatsup or much about what the laws says, but what about his professor of law deputy which many think had no excusable excuse…
Many wondered and asked if our president was not aware of the ugly incidence that brought in Oyetola or he chose to look the other way. If things like these continue to happen, then disaster we all prayed against will not only rear its ugly head but also show us all its full body length and breadth.
Justice Peter Obiora, while reading the lead judgement voided the supplementary election held on September 27, 2018 on the ground that the ‘state returning officer has no power to have cancelled election in seven polling units in four local governments and ordered a rerun, which is nothing but a joke taken too far. The tribunal in a majority judgment cancelled results from 17 polling units on grounds of substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act as conducted by INEC and APC.
For the royals don’t lie, ‘Osun state is sick’…the Oluwo of Iwo land, Oba Rasheed Akanbi said, ‘the State of Osun is sick’…but the most unfortunate thing is, ‘Governor Oyetola will not be able to say this truth because he is a politician’ who belongs and was forcefully selected by the last government against the people’s will.
‘But I am a royal father. I should be good to tell the truth always. It will be tough for the state to pay the new minimum wage, unless there is a complete overhaul of the civil service’…many now see that continuity with such party will be nothing short of calamity and disaster.
The flamboyant monarch said the state can’t afford to pay the new minimum wage and also might be unable to sustain its current wage bill unless it overhauls the civil service as left by another APC administration under Rauf Aregbesola. I think O to ge is indeed a must in the state of living spring.
Even the then elections that were conducted by the military were never militarised nor civilians as disenfranchised as seen in Ekiti, Osun and the last general elections. Many Nigerians want to know all that transpired during not only the Osun guber but the last general elections that was tagged Nigeria militarised elections.
When PDP leniency emboldens the opposition in Ekiti it was not funny, but that of Osun and now the 2019 general elections, were all nothing but a subversion of democracy in its highest degree. However, maybe the judiciary will come up to stand with the people and retrieve these stolen mandates.
The former Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose, said that Nigeria and its people will be victorious over this tyranny. He said “they took Ekiti and Osun States by ‘all illegal means’. But “now Osun has slipped off their hands, Ekiti too will slip and they will ultimately lose the Presidency.” “Nigeria and its people will defeat this tyranny.”
APC’s talent has lost its lustre, because Nigerians are now too familiar with these tricks. Imagine when Justice Ibrahim Sirajo-led three-man bench began delivering judgment on the case at 10.33am on Friday, March 22, 2019. The election petition tribunal cancelled the results of 17 polling units, deducting 2,227 votes from the APC and 1,246 votes from the PDP. It also ruled against the APC and INEC on non-recording of votes, at the end of proceedings, the tribunal established that the rerun election was unlawful.
The nullification of the election, which was widely described as an illegality has indeed given renewed confidence in the Nigerian judiciary. Sometimes ‘no retreat no surrender’ approach is rather a better option; If Adeleke did not challenge PDP and INEC election atrocities, posterity would not have vindicated him and PDP through the court of law.
Though APC sources have said that the party will challenge the ruling of the tribunal at the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, but the decisions of the higher courts may not be totally different from that of the tribunal except otherwise doctored.
Osun Pyrrhic victory; O to ge! This is a recommended slogan for every Osun man and woman. A state of living spring is too civilised and enlightened to be boxed or cornered by an unpopular party.
*Ayobrown, Senior System Analyst, National Pilot Newspaper, writes via [email protected]
