Re-run of Delta governorship election likely

The overwhelming evidence emanating from the Delta
Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Asaba, the Delta State
capital, seems to indicate that a possible re-run may be the
last option for the choice of who takes over the soul of
Delta, one of the most politically volatile states in the
country. The election which was conducted on April 11,
2015 and produced former Senator Ifeanyi Okowa of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner is being
challenged by the candidates of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Olorogun O’tega Emerhor and Labour
Party, Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru.
Ordinarily, Emerhor, whose party now rules at the
Presidency, cannot lay claim to victory at the polls, even
Great Ogboru who won in four local government areas going
by the results released by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), and has been a champion in the
tribunal war since the days of the immediate past Governor,
Emmanuel Uduaghan. Their contention, as it seems, is that
Okowa, supported by Uduaghan, rigged his way into victory,
hence he cannot be declared winner of an allegedly rigged
election. Evidences being released at the tribunal are
suggestive that Okowa manipulated the votes, settled a lot
of grounds, increased the figures of voters more than
accredited persons, consequently, he won with outrageous
votes.
The contention of Emerhor and Ogboru therefore is that the
tribunal should invalidate the election and then call for a re-
run. In the election which was conducted throughout the
nation on April 11, Okowa was said to have polled 724, 680
votes, Ogboru of Labour Party polled 130,028 votes while
O’tega of APC scored 67,825 votes. Ogboru won in four
local government areas while Okowa won in 21 local
governments leaving APC with none. But contrary to figures
which gave Okowa victory, facts emanating from INEC
headquarters in Abuja indicate that prior to shutting down
the central server as at April 29, only 709,000 persons were
reported accredited and at the expiration of the shutting
down of data upload, the final tally stood at 715,393
accredited voters in the state.
But reports say Delta INEC office put the figure of
accredited voters above 900,000, exceeding the actual
accredited number as revealed by the report obtained from
the central server at INEC Abuja headquarters. Emerhor and
Ogboru are therefore contending that there was a
compromise at the collation centres in connivance with
INEC officials at the Delta office. They are now arguing that
if total accredited voters from the INEC is 715,393 and
Okowa alone scored 724,680, exceeding number of voters
accredited by INEC, where then comes the 130,082 and
67,825 persons that voted for the Labour Party and the APC
candidates?
At the tribunal which now sits on daily basis in Asaba, with
Justice Nasiru Gunmi as Chairman, there are always
fireworks as the Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) hired
by Okowa, Ogboru and Otega and heavily paid to prosecute
their cases argue both in favour and against issues raised
by the three parties. But evidences pouring in from those
invited by the tribunal to testify are hair raising as they all
point to the fact that the election was maliciously rigged to
favour the PDP candidate.
Two INEC officials, an Assistant Director in the ICT
Department from Abuja headquarters and Chief Planning
Officer, Delta State office, were directed to give testimony
on the conduct of the April 11 election, following the request
by Emerhor. Apart from the accreditation report which is
one undeniable evidence, other documents tendered by the
INEC officials at the commencement of hearing, included
manual for election officials 2015; INEC’s April 2, 2015
press statement making accreditation through use of card
readers only mandatory for the governorship elections; and
guidelines and regulations for the conduct of 2015 general
elections.
They told the tribunal that “the card readers recorded no
sustained failure during the governorship election in Delta
State and that as the accreditation was in progress, the
central server was recording the number of persons from
the various states. This appears to be unknown or ignored
by the parties in contention as the election progressed in the
state. In Nigeria’s technology driven 2015 elections, INEC
central server generated real time data from card readers
across polling units. This was to detect malpractices,
especially inflation of figures. Although Okowa’s legal team
objected to the admissibility of the documents presented by
the INEC officials, their objection was overruled by the
tribunal.
The objection caused a mild drama at the tribunal as the
witness’ testimony was strongly in favour of the opposing
candidates. The Abuja official was subpoenaed by the court
to confirm the credibility of the Card Readers as used Unit
by Unit during the governorship elections in the state. This
was to show, verify and authenticate the record of how the
election was conducted and the result generated from the
polling units.
But lead counsel to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Mr. Alex Iziyon
(SAN), the counsel to PDP, Timothy Kehinde, as well as
counsel to INEC, had argued that the witness, who happens
to be an Assistant Director of INEC, Mrs. Abimbola
Oludunjoye, cannot tender any document because it was
neither certified nor contained in the petitioner’s grouse.
However, their objections were overruled as their plea fell on
deaf ears.
The INEC staff who claimed to have put up 16 years in the
commission and stood by her testimony on oath, told the
tribunal that the server for the uploading of information from
the Card Readers was shut down after six weeks of the
conduct of the election. According to her, the commission’s
headquarters communicated to all the Heads of
Departments across the country before it was shut down.
When she was confronted with the question that the Card
Readers may contain incorrect information or tampered with
by the field workers before it was uploaded, Mrs. Oladunjoye
said: “The information in the Card Reader cannot be
tampered with.” Besides the INEC staff who testified at the
tribunal, all arguments so far raised at the tribunal have
never been in favour of the sitting governor, Ifeanyi Okowa.
The sitting, which rotates between Ogboru and Emerhor
taking their turns to present their cases, runs from 9.am
through to 6pm on daily basis with adjournments in
between days on few occasions.
The struggle is getting tense on daily basis as the PDP
battles to retain its power hold on the state. A source close
to the State PDP Chairman, Edwin Uzor, confirmed that PDP
structures across the state have been put on red alert in
early preparations for possible re-run election. The fear
gripping the PDP is not unconnected with the confirmation
of INEC staff that 709,000 voters were accredited for the
April 11 governorship election in the state.
What this means is that if only Okowa’s votes exceed the
709,000 voters captured, it appears that Deltans did not
vote for the other candidates that participated in the
election. The PDP source further hinted that this
development has crashed the hope of the PDP legal team
who are currently battling to strangulate the trial process
through crafted legal technicalities that appear not working
as planned. PDP is parading three high flyer Senior
Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) with a view to intimidating the
opposing candidates to pull out of the tribunal.
Unlike previous tribunals where justices were biased and
ruled under the influence of Abuja powers, the Justice
Nasiru Gunmi-led tribunal has been fair in his dealing with
all the parties involved in the tribunal. One thing that may
turn the table against Okowa is that he has no one at the
Abuja power house who could press any button for him,
unlike the days of Uduaghan and Ogboru where PDP was
controlling the presidency and the state. Then, it was wide
knowledge that the influence of former President Goodluck
Jonathan had overpowering effect on the outcome of the
tribunal that tried the case between Ogboru and Uduaghan.
But the ongoing tribunal has Okowa and his friends in Delta
alone as the presidency and the judiciary are now under the
control of APC.
As it is now, Deltans are in high spirit waiting for the
outcome of the tribunal in the coming weeks. On daily basis,
the crowd that gather at the tribunal in support of their
prefer candidates is always intimidating. Some leave the
venue with broad smiles with anticipation of victory, others
leave with bowed head as fear grips some hearts over the
possible outcome of the tribunal. Going round Asaba, the
state capital, many are already anticipating an outcome that
will lead to a re-run, while a few are of the opinion that it
might favour the sitting governor, Okowa, as it has always
been. Some have also said even if the election is conducted
many times in Delta, Okowa will emerge governor as he has
all the strongmen in the state.
But others are of the view that going by some programmes
already put in place by the governor and some pains he has
caused some persons, especially the civil servants he has
sacked which he refused to call back and other government
officials he has relieved of their appointments, the free
health scheme which he is converting to compulsory
contributory health insurance scheme, the alleged
introduction of school fees to public schools beginning from
next academic session, Deltans may turn their hearts away
from him. While a few are of the opinion that with the
appointments he has made so far and the ongoing youth
empowerment programme, he has touched many lives
which could work in his favour if the tribunal eventually
calls for a re-run. While the argument continues among
Deltans and the legal fireworks reign in the tribunal, time
and event will tell who rules Delta as the wind of change
blows across the nation
•Photo shows Governor Okowa.
Source News Express