CRIES OF PROTEST FROM DISENFRANCHISED PEOPLE

One of the fallouts of the verdict of the Election Petition Tribunal that sat over issues thrown up by the April 14, 2007 gubernatorial election in Ondo State was the question of whether it was right to have disallowed a large segment of the electorate from exercising their right to vote.

            In a representative government, to which Nigeria has been subjected since 1999, the right to ballot on Election day is an inalienable right of the citizen because the very essence of democracy is hinged on individual or collective participation.

            The tribunal in a judgment which has been condemned by a cross section of people in the State and across the country annulled the election of the incumbent governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu and declared Dr. Olusegun Mimiko as duly elected.

            In a most bizarre and unexpected manner, the tribunal cancelled the election in virtually all the wards in the six Local Governments that make up the six Southern Senatorial District where the governor hails from, and four other local governments in a State that is made up of eighteen local governments, without any thought to the voters whose votes have been consigned to the dustbin.

            About half of the total votes cast on April 14 for the two governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) were thrown out by the tribunal which acceded to the prayers of the LP that the process were marred by irregularities in those areas.

            When the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the returns after the exercise, Agagu was listed to have scored 349,288 votes to Mimiko’s 226,021 in an election where votes for the two candidates totaled 575,309 while about ten other candidates scored votes in the range of about 60,000.

            In the tribunal verdict however, Agagu was said to have scored 128,669 lawful votes and Mimiko, 198,269 votes giving the LP candidate the winning votes of 69,600 thereby denying a whopping 248,371 citizens their right to vote.

 

Expectedly, the tribunal judgment has been condemned by concerned citizens who believe that in such circumstances of proven cases of irregularities, the best that could be done would have been a repeat of the exercise to correct the observed anomalies.

            At this juncture, it is instructive to refer to the case of the Senate President, David Mark, whose election at the tribunal level was ordered to be rerun so that the array of electorate in two of the Local councils making up the constituency would not be disallowed from exercising their fundamental rights.

            One would have thought that the Ondo tribunal would have taken a cue from that landmark decision of the Benue tribunal to protect the citizens from being prevented from taking part in a process that will produce a governor over his affairs.

            As the last bastion of hope for the people and the ultimate protector of the country’s fledgling democracy which is all about the power of the ballot, the judiciary should have, in the Ondo case, been counted on the side of the people who are merely pawns in the hands of desperate politicians.

            In any case, since neither the voters nor the incumbent governor conducted the elections in their collective or individual capacity, the fact that the two are now being made to pay a price for the alleged irregularities perpetuated by a legally constituted body like INEC begged for an answer.

            For instance, the tribunal hinged the cancellation of the election in Ilaje on the late arrival of election materials and that of Irele on the arrest and detention of some opposition politicians on the eve of the election.

            Can anybody point out the reason to me why because of these “excuses” that could be rectified in a repeat of the exercise the voter should have his effort thrown out just like that?

            The stance of the tribunal in respect of Irele is quite baffling in view of the fact that in an earlier judgment in respect of the House of Assembly, it (the tribunal) held that election took place and that the PDP won the seat. It is pertinent to state here that both the House of Assembly and the gubernatorial elections took place the same day, at the same venues, conducted by the same electoral body, using the same personnel, under the same atmosphere and the same guidelines.

            It is with this background that this writer identifies wholly with the resentment of the people in whose arena elections were cancelled and their agitation against a judgment that refused to recognize them as part of the electoral process.

            Considering the fact that the voter is the most important element in participatory democracy which stands on balloting as its main leg, these disenfranchised voters have every right to protest their disenfranchisement.

Mercifully, the judgment of the Nabaruma tribunal is not the final verdict on this matter as the appellate tribunal is billed to take a dispassionate look at the issue and provide succour for those whose inalienable rights have been trampled upon.

            The Nabrauma verdict has ensured the massive disenfranchisement of the voting population and this, to say the least, is unfair and unjust.

            That judgment will not STAND.

PERFORMANCE OR POLITICAL GIMMICKS?

There are those who believe that the present administration in Ondo state under the leadership of Dr Olusegun Agagu has not done ‘anything’ in terms of developments in spite of the promises he made in 2003 to develop the land and the people better than he met it. The question is: are there significant changes in the state for the past five (5) years? Besides sentiments, political or religion differences, let us take a look at some selected sectors in the state.

In Education Sector, some will subscribe to the opinion that the government has not performed, yet the quality of education in Ondo state has been improved through the Establishment of new Zonal Offices to supervise the 18 Area Education Offices, appointment of 216 Neighbourhood inspectors for primary, and secondary schools, 442 model blocks of 6 classrooms; 37 blocks of 3 classrooms, and 132 blocks of 8 classrooms constructed for Junior Secondary, Primary Schools and early child education centres, respectively, 183 primary school buildings, 80 primary schools teachers trained in use of the computer, Provision of standard science laboratory equipment in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics to all the 300 Secondary schools in the state. Yet, some people believe the government has not done anything. Is this performance or political gimmicks?

Commerce and Industry

Under Dr Olusegun Agagu, the above mentioned industries are transformed and effective.
• Okitipupa Oil Palm reactivated with a sum of N195.2m. 4000 employees now engaged.

• Ipoke Oil Mill reactivated and its capacity increased from 1.5 MT to 4.5MT per hour

• Araromi Aiyesan Oil Palm Plc revamped.

• Oke Ayo Farms revived and renamed Sunshine Food Processing Company with a capacity to produce 10 tonnes of cassava flour per day. Government has injected N4.5m into the company to encourage farmers to grow cassava.

• Nigerian-Italian Ceramic Products Limited repurchased from liquidator at a cost of N72m and renamed Golden Ceramic Products Company Limited, preparatory to privatization and currently employs 204 persons.

• Owena Mass Transportation Company was privatised after its N38.5m debt was paid by
the government.

• Cocoa Products Limited, Ile-Oluji privatized.

• Owena Motels Limited leased to NICON Luxury Limited (NLL) for better management (at N62.5m for 3 years).

Also, the present government under Agagu  ordered Plant and Machinery worth N200m from China for Okitipupa Cassava Starch and Flour Mill, Established Olokola Free Trade Zone, Established Oluwa Industrial Park,  Organic Fertilizer Plant established in Akure, Honey Factory for processing and packaging honey, established in Akure, Alpha 3D Company revamped in Ikare-Akoko.

 

 In ICT, the government established Ondo State mass e-literacy centre with installed capacity of 300 units of computers, Trained over 15,000 civil servants (phase I) of cadre – e-literacy programme, Deployment of state fibre optic metro ring (5.2km) to support the state public service network, Establishment of state web portal www.ondostate.net, Deployment of Electronic Personnel Administration and Salary System (e-PASS), Deployment of Automated Revenue Collection  Administration System  (aRCAS), Computerization of Junior Secondary Schools Exams Records, Establishment of Ondo State Digital park etc. Are these not achievements or what?

 

DESPERATION: MIMIKO’S MORTGAGE OF ONDO STATE

Ondo State has been in the news; News arising from the judgment on the Election Petition Tribunal on the gubernatorial election of April 14th, 2007. The judgment which was delivered on 25th July, 2008 has become one of its types in the record of contemporary Tribunal judgment. No judgment has so far generated as much controversy and so much brickbats as this one.

The judgment assumed the controversial dimension by virtue of the avalanche of contradictions, irrationalities and absurdities which it contains. To annul election results in ten (10) out of eighteen (18) local governments and declare a winner based on the rest could not have been anything less than an absurdity. To declare a winner on the basis of one out of the ten (10) wards in a local government, as in Ese-Odo local government is abnormal, to say the least. The point has also been made that it is unreasonable, and indeed unfair, for the election result of a whole local government; Ilaje Local government, as a result of late voting, which lateness was caused by the party that became the beneficiary of the annulment.

Dispassionate observers and all well meaning and rational people have also wondered how and why the result of the House of Assembly elections would be upheld in the same constituencies, The gubernatorial elections of which were annulled. The confounding issues raised by the judgment are by no means been limited to the fore-going.

Its, of course, natural that the interested parties would look at these issues from the perspectives that conforms to their interest; but no objective observer would fail to see the overwhelming evidence of both moral and legal contradictions, illogicalities and irrationalities evidently inherent in that judgment. In any case public reaction and comment are clearly against the judgment in support of these. Naturally Dr. Mimiko and his Labour Party have become jittery and uncertain over the eventual fate of that judgment, under the scrutiny of the appeal court.

In fighting back the Labour Party, apparently overwhelmed by the criticisms of the judgment has gone negative employing blackmail and fabricated lies to keep itself afloat. Matured response should have suggested to the party the need to counter the criticism, with facts, explanations and rational justifications but in the dazeiness of its passion, the Labour Party has thrown all caution into the winds and chosen the path of artifice and willful propaganda. Of particular interest here is the ridiculous allegation that Governor Agagu has carted away 100 vehicles belonging to the state government.

It is evidently clear now that there is in fact, a case of the thief before being caught by the owner mischievously confronting the owner, accusing him to be the thief. This is because it is already an open secret that Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has gone this far in his political adventures at the expense of the government of Ondo State, Believe it or not ,this man has already mortgaged the resources and hence, the future of this state in exchange for political leverage.

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