Observations by former President Goodluck Jonathan that governors, party bigwigs and political leaders are undermining Nigeria’s democracy by massing up in states where off-cycle elections are held are weighty. Therefore, the political class should stop abusing the privileges of their positions to undermine the country’s democracy.
In a strong rebuke, the former president castigated the political leaders who converged on Osun State during the August 15 off-season governorship poll for their conduct. Jonathan is right.
In a show of force, 17 All Progressives Congress governors from different states invaded the state. The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, also led a contingent of the National Assembly, while other political office holders at the federal level followed in tow. In short, they weaponised the election.
Are these governors jobless? Some matters need attending to in their states. Yet, they abandoned these issues to embark on a jamboree to Osogbo for an election.
Their presence cannot be divorced from the viral allegations that they stormed Osun with billions of naira to compromise the polls. With the vote-buying that marked the election, this allegation is not unreasonable. This breaches the intent and spirit of the Electoral Act.
Jonathan noted that similar invasions happened during the off-season governorship polls in Ekiti and Ondo states.
At one point, the governors of Imo and Edo states, Hope Uzodimma and Monday Okpebholo, respectively, engaged in verbal wars with Osun officials and the governor’s nephew, David Adeleke (Davido). This belittles these governors.
Davido refused to apologise to Okpebholo after the musician uploaded the governor’s alleged School Certificate result on social media in response to insults directed at his uncle.
Every democracy, including Nigeria, holds by-elections. In the United States, midterms are a part of its elections. The UK holds snap elections to fill vacant seats in parliament. But nowhere does this invasion-like presence of governors occur.
Off-cycle governorship elections were introduced into the country’s election ecosystem in the Fourth Republic because of rigged elections that were overturned by the courts to ensure credible polls. This consequently altered the governorship election timetable in the affected states.
Off-cycle elections are also held in states like Kogi and Imo.
It is unacceptable that governors who collect massive monthly allocations meant for development, education, workers’ salaries, health and roads would waste them on elections that have no bearing on their states.
At the end of the day, the governors fled in the middle of the night when their candidate lost the Osun election as people jeered and openly called them thieves. This is shameful.
That in a country where fake agencies are padded into the budget, the budgets of three years are implemented in part, pervasive insecurity ravages the land, and the state police bill has yet to be perfected, Akpabio and other federal legislators would have time to gallivant and attend off-cycle elections speaks volumes about the flippant approach to their primary jobs, sadly at taxpayers’ expense.
In contrast, when Peoples Democratic Party governors attempted mass convergence on Anambra for the state’s governorship election under his watch as President, Jonathan recalled them. This is leadership. President Bola Tinubu should follow the Jonathan example. The APC leadership should learn from this. Nigeria’s myriad problems deserve better attention.
The top contenders were the sitting governor, Ademola Adeleke, who contested under the Accord Party; Bola Oyebamiji of the APC, who flew the flag of the ruling APC; and Najeem Salam of the African Democratic Congress.
Political tension reigned in the weeks leading to the election.
The EFCC froze the state government’s account two weeks before the election. Tinubu later reversed this, following public uproar.
Thirty people were killed in the political violence in the build-up to the election.
The senator representing Osun East, Francis Fadahunsi, called for the killing of the rival Accord Party people, the party under which Adeleke contested. He later denied this, but nobody believes him.
The local government elections in the state have set the Accord Party-controlled Osun government against the opposition APC. Their funding has been contested in court. The whole brouhaha was about the soul of the LGAs as the structure for winning elections.
Amid the political tension and allegations of federal might, democracy won in the August 15 poll. The will of the people prevailed. The Osun people won. This is democracy in action.
The large turnout of the Osun people, who refused to be intimidated by federal might, made it impossible for rigging or manipulation by whatever means to take place.
On a positive note, 43.2 per cent of the 2,339,544 registered voters trooped out to vote. The sitting governor, Adeleke of the Accord Party, won with 511,067 votes, defeating his closest rival, Oyebamiji of the APC, who scored 444,815 votes. Najeem Salam of the African Democratic Congress polled a distant 17,180 votes in third.
INEC put the turnout at over 51 per cent.
Therefore, the Osun governorship election offers hope for a people-driven election in 2027. The people must continue to be encouraged by the judgement of Peter Kekemeke. This has given the people the power to secure their votes and make them count.
Elections are difficult to rig when people turn out in large numbers to vote and protect their votes, but are easier to manipulate when people remain aloof to decisions that will shape their future.
So, Nigerians should turn out to vote, shun vote-buying tactics of dubious, undesirable politicians, and elect leaders of their choice. No political structure, electoral strategy, or gimmick can be stronger than the will of the people.
Voters have the power to retain or vote out leaders. Nigerians should learn a lesson from the huge turnout of the Osun people in the face of intimidation, come out to vote en masse in the forthcoming 2027 general elections and ensure their votes count.
The failure of INEC and the government to stop vote-buying earlier in the Fourth Republic is responsible for its malignancy in the country’s elections. Therefore, the Federal Government should ban the mass assemblage of governors and other political officeholders at off-cycle elections.
