The Bayelsa State gubernatorial election does not give Nigerians much cause to cheer. Whether in terms of its process, or in its outcome, mayhem and controversy have been the hallmark, and that is regrettable. At the December 5, 2015 main election, several lives were lost before and during the election, leading to the cancellation of results in Southern Ijaw Local Government and some other wards. Again, at the supplementary election on January 9, violence once again led to the cancellation of several ward results, despite the concentration of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials and security agencies in the restricted area where the supplementary elections were held.
The result announced by INEC is also somewhat controversial. With over 53,000 registered votes in the wards cancelled, more than the over 48,000 vote difference between the declared winner and his main rival, INEC this time took a different position from the Kogi State election, as it went ahead to announce a winner instead of ordering another supplementary election. While INEC has issued a certificate of return to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the incumbent Governor Seriake Dickson as the winner, the candidate who came second in the election, Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has already decried the double standard by the commission, and has vowed to challenge it in court.
This dissimilar positions taken by INEC for similar electoral outcome needs an explanation from the body, so as not to erode its integrity. Surely, with the proximity in the two elections, INEC officials cannot claim ignorance of the position taken by its officials in Kogi, when similar circumstance led to an order for a supplementary election, despite the protests by active participants in the process. While not justifying either of the different positions taken by INEC, as the courts are better positioned to do that, it is a matter for regret if the new INEC leadership is setting a benchmark for inconsistency for relatively smaller elections. How would it then handle even bigger elections?
We are also appalled at the level of violence that took place in Bayelsa, and we urge the security agencies to fish out the perpetrators and bring them to justice, regardless of their positions in the state. It is shocking that despite the concentration of security agencies in the single election, first throughout the state, and later, mainly in one local council, armed thugs and miscreants were able to wreak as much havoc as was reported. With election materials violently seized and diverted, voters scared away from the voting centres, and many officials allegedly compromised, we appreciate why the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a local election observer team, questioned the validity of the election result.
According to its chairman, Ibrahim Zikrullahi, “a total of 135 critical incident reports were received from a combined 55 mobile and stationary observers deployed by TMG quick count in Bayelsa State”. In the opinion of the election monitoring group, “all of these grave infractions clearly show that the Bayelsa governorship election grossly falls below the global standards for elections as enunciated in international instruments on human rights and credible elections”. The group also called on INEC “not to relent on its mandate of bringing to book all the electoral offenders in the Bayelsa gubernatorial election”.
Going forward, the new leadership of INEC, led by Professor Mahmood Yakubu, must show its capacity to improve on the above average performance of Professor Attahiru Jega, if democracy is to endure in the country. The controversies arising from the conduct of election in Bayelsa, and not long ago, in Kogi, should be avoided in future elections.
