Ekiti poll: From ballot box-snatching to vote-buying

-New rigging formula dawning?
10 docked for vote-buying
…We’re not naïve – Indigenes
…What observers said
The July 14 governorship election in Ekiti state has been won and lost, but a week after its conduct, the drama, intrigues and permutations that characterised it still dominate political discourse.
Most pronounced among these was the issue of vote-buying, which seems to be another way of rigging elections; TOPE SUNDAY writes.
The last Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti state was literally a supremacy battle between the former Minister of Solid Minerals and Steel Development, Dr.
Kayode John Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who won the contest; and the incumbent Governor of the state, Mr.
Peter Ayodele Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who fielded his deputy, Professor Kola Olusola Eleka, as the party’s flag-bearer, But a number of factors culminated in the emergence of Fayemi, who was roundly defeated four years ago in all the 16 local government areas of the state by the same Fayose, who was the arrowhead of Eleka’s election crusade.
Consequently, the election was allegedly marred by voting- buying.
In the poll, which produced Fayemi, all leading parties were said to have involved in the act.
Similarly, while members of both APC and PDP have been trading words over the new trend in the country’s electoral system, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) apparently confirmed what appears to a new form of election rigging in the country.
The electoral umpire, in a communiqué issued after its meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners from all the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), condemned the open buying of votes in the Ekiti governorship election.
The communiqué, which was signed by the National Commissioner and Member, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, read: “The meeting also noted with deep concern, the rising phenomenon of vote-buying during elections and restated its commitment and determination to continue to work with all stakeholders, especially the security agencies, to stem the ugly trend.” The gladiators The prominent players in the election were the out-going governor, Mr.
Peter Ayodele Fayose, his deputy, Prof.
Kolapo Olushola Eleka, who was the PDP flagbearer; the governor-elect, Dr.
John Kayode Fayemi, who ran on the platform of the APC and the immediate past National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Dayo Adeyeye, who is now a chieftain of the APC.
The election could be likened to a supremacy battle between Fayose, who whose name did not appear on the ballot, but wanted to install his deputy as his successor; and Fayemi, who he defeated in all the 16 local government areas of the state in 2014.
For Chief Adeyeye, it was an avenue for him to take his own pound of flesh from Fayose, who frustrated his ambition to govern the state and his outright ouster from the party after the primary election, which produced Prof.
Eleka as PDP’s governorship candidate.
And in the end, Chief Adeyeye succeeded in showing his popularity by delivering his polling unit, ward and local government for the APC to the detriment of his former party, the PDP.
How they fought Unlike in the 2014 election, where Fayemi lost in all the 16 local government areas that made up the state, this time, he stepped up his game and covered the lost ground.
According to the election results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Fayemi polled197, 459 votes to defeat his closest rival, Prof. Kolapo Olusola of the (PDP) scored 178, 459 votes.
A breakdown of the results indicates that the governor-elect won in 12 of the 16 local government areas, while Eleka claimed four.
Fayemi’s second coming seems to have enjoyed the overwhelming support of the Ekiti people as he crushed Fayose in his own local government area.
At Irepodun local government area, where Fayose hails from, the governor-elect polled a total of 13, 869 while the PDP candidate scored 11,456 votes.
Going by the result, Fayemi led Fayose with a total of 2,413 votes in that area.
The electoral loss suffered by Fayose did not spread to his anointed candidate, Professor Eleka as he delivered his Ikere local government with a total of 17,183 votes, while Fayemi garnered 11,515votes.
He led the governor-elect with 5,668 votes.
However, Professor Eleka failed to corner the large chunk of votes from the neighbouring Ise/ Orun local government, which is the home of the former PDP National Publicity Secretary Dayo Adeyeye, who defected to the APC after the PDP primary.
In this area, Fayemi had 11, 908 votes and led Eleka, who polled 6,297 with a margin of 5,611 votes.
Also, despite the technical support given to Eleka by the Senator representing Ekiti South, Senate Deputy Minority Leader, Mrs.
Biodun Olujimi, he lost Ekiti East local government to the governor-elect, who garnered 12, 778 votes.
In the area despite the fact that PDP produces two members of the State House of Assembly, Messr Ojo Ade Fajana (Ekiti East 1) and Mr.
Dare Pelemo (Ekiti East 2), managed to get 11,564 votes, losing with a margin of 1,214 votes to Fayemi of APC.
In Ekiti South, APC polled 11,015 to defeat PDP which had 8,423 votes.
Fayemi won with a margin of 2, 592 votes.
Similarly, in Gbonyin, APC clinched 11,498 votes, while PDP corned 8,027, with losing margin of 3,471 votes to Fayemi.
Like Senator Olujimi, another serving PDP Senator, Duro Faseyi (Ekiti North) lost his Ilejemeje local government to APC with a margin of 219 votes.
APC had 4,156, while his party coasted home with paltry 3,937 votes.
PDP also suffered a great blow despite having a serving member of the House of Representatives, Thaddeus Aina, in Ido Osi.
His party lost to APC candidate with 1,197 votes.
In the election, Eleka garnered 11,145, and Fayemi went home with 12,342 votes.
Also, the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Modupe Alade, hails from the council area.
Another member of the House of Representatives from Ikole council, Kehinde Agboola, also lost to the APC with a margin of 561 votes.
His party polled 13, 961, while the governor-elect polled 14, 522 votes.
The ‘tsunami’ also swept away the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Kola Oluwawole’s council as he lost his Moba local government area to the APC, alongside the lawmaker for Moba 2, Mr. Badejo Anifowose.
The PDP candidate polled 8,520 and Fayemi netted 11, 837 votes.
Eleka lost to the governor-elect with 3,317 votes.
Like his principal, the Deputy Speaker, Sina Anifowose, also lost his Ekiti West local government to the APC, the same fate that befell former House of Representatives member and Commissioner for Agriculture Mr.
Kehinde Odebunmi.
They lost to the APC with a margin of 2,511 votes to Fayemi who had a total of 12, 648 votes to defeat the PDP’s candidate in area, who polled 10,137 votes.
The man of the moment, Fayemi, won his own Oye local government with a margin of 3,924 votes, when he polled 14,995 while his closest rival, Eleka, garnered 11,071 votes.
Also, in Ijero, it was a landslide victory for Fayemi, who coasted home with 14,192 votes to defeat the PDP’s candidate in the area, who had 11,077 votes.
He lost to the governor-elect with 3,115 votes.
However, the PDP candidate and the outgoing governor also put up a good fight in the remaining local government areas of Emure, Efon Alaye and Ado.
Fayose’s street credibility and acclaimed popularity, however, paid off in Ado council area, which is the seat of power.
In the state capital, Oshokomole, as the outgoing governor is called, defeated Fayemi with a wide margin of 9,699 votes, the highest in all the 16 local government areas.
However, in both Emure and Efon Alaye, Fayose’s candidate defeated the APC’s candidate with very small margins of 73 and 164 votes, respectively.
In the two local governments, PDP had 7,121 and 5,192 votes, respectively, while the governor-elect polled 7,048 and 5,028 votes, respectively.
The hidden factors One week after the election, which produced the sixth democratically elected governor of the state, the controversy still rages over its credibility.
The members of the PDP rejected the election’s result alleging that its outcome was manipulated in Fayemi’s favour, and that it was characterised by vote-buying.
All these have been denied by the APC and its candidate, Fayemi.
Despite the alleged irregularities, some factors that determined the outcome of the election ranged from the state’s voting pattern, failure of the governor to pay workers’ salaries and ‘payback’ time for Fayose, as well as the ripples effect of the crisis in the PDP.
Since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democratic rule, Ekiti has been demonstrating a unique voting pattern every four years.
In 1999, the state voted for the Alliance for Democracy (AD) candidate, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, who was unable to return for second term in office.
According to one of the indigenes of the state, Comrade Olu Adegoke, Adebayo was elected because of the June 12 agitations, but lost to President Olusegun Obasanjo’s federal might and persuasion to win the South West in 2003 to boost his chances and popularity as the then sitting president from the zone.
This hurricane swept Adebayo away and brought in Fayose in his first time as a governor.
He said: “The voting pattern of Ekiti people has always been based on the issue of the time not money.
In 1999, it was all about June 12 and Afenifere issue, the Action Alliance (AD) as a party then was so lucky to have served towards the burning issues in the minds of the people and won the state.
“In 2003, the people wanted a change; they wanted to hook themselves to the National grid.
They thought if they could cross to the national party, the problem of ‘zero allocation’ would be solved.
Despite all the presence of political bigwigs and their money in AD, because the people were so resolute of the Change, PDP won the election.” In 2007, Adegoke explained that Fayemi’s first shot at the state government house, though was initially occupied by Engineer Segun Oni of the PDP for about three years and resolved after months of legal battle, was a product of the Ekiti indigenes to go back to the progressives fold.
“In 2007, the agitation of Ekiti people was to go back to the progressives, having tested and tasted the evasive National Grid, the people effected the change by voting for the progressives, but former President Olusegun Obasanjo with the federal might arm-twisted the election in favour of the PDP.
However, the court later ruled in Fayemi’s favour and he ruled from 2010 to 2014.
Prior to 2014, the people of the state had accused Fayemi of running “an elitist government” and that he had alienated himself from the people.
This development led to the agitation for a ‘home-grown’ as the next governor.
“In 2014 election, a greater consideration was given to a ‘homegrown’ person because Fayemi, as a sitting governor, was perceived as running an elitist government and the people saw him as being too far from them.
That was how Fayose came to power.
Asides this factor, every other thing was secondary to Fayose’s second shot at the Ekiti state Government House.” On the latest election in the state, he claimed that Fayose and his candidate lost out because he was scheming to become the political godfather of the state.
This development, he claimed, did not augur well with the people of the state, who viewed his action as going contrary to the political ideology of the people of the state.
“All these allegations that the governorship election was rigged are off point, but I cannot say that its conduct was 100 percent free and fair.
However, Fayose lost the election because of his attempt to become the political godfather of the state.” Like Fayemi suffered major defeat in 2014 over his failure to pay workers’ salaries, Fayose and his candidate suffered same because he did not pay civil servants for at least six months.
Another factor that resulted in Fayose’s loss was the campaign of calumny he launched against some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Southwest like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that they wanted Fayemi in order to milk the resources of the state dry.
Another indigene, Ebenezer Adejumo, said his accusation four years ago worked against him because he was seen to be resilient and determined to force his protégé on the state for financial gains.
What observers said There seems to be controversy over the credibility of the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti as the election observers did not agree on its conduct.
While some of them said if fell short of the global best practices, other lauded INEC.
Some of the organisations were the Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness (Nigeria), Justice and Equity Organisation (Nigeria), International Republican Institute (USA), Patriotic Women Foundation, (Abuja) as well as the other bodies from the African Union.
At a press conference earlier in Ado Ekiti, Comrade Gabriel Nwambu of the Centre for Credible Leadership and Awareness, Abuja, on behalf of the domestic observers, also said there was massive vote-buying during the election, a situation, he said, could spell doom for the country ahead of 2019 general elections.
“Reports of observers remain a potential tool for election tribunals and other monitoring and relevant bodies for post election activities.
51 reputable domestic observer groups were on ground in all the 177 wards, 16 local government areas and all the polling units in the state to monitor the poll.
Ekiti has a record of being a serial politically volatile state in Nigeria and this became manifest before during and after the poll.
“On July 14, domestic observers witnessed large turnout of the electorate from 6:30 am, earlier than the stipulated time of 8am.
“The exercise witnessed a high level of unprecedented electoral related challenges and such abuse will remain contentious until justice prevails, especially in the areas of cash inducement, arrests of political stalwarts by security agents and snatching of electoral materials by political thugs among other abuses.” But the local election observer group, Democracy Vanguard, described the election as “an improvement over previous ones” conducted in the state.
It congratulated the governor-elect, Dr.
Kayode Fayemi, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the people of Ekiti state for eschewing violence while exercising their franchise.
In a statement issued by its state coordinator, Yetunde Adeoluwa, the organisation commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for “conducting a free, fair, credible and conclusive election with an improvement over previous ones.” He said: “The peaceful conduct of the INEC and security agencies during the July 14, 2018, governorship election shows that our democratic process is improving.
There was no record of ballot snatching, rigging, violence or electoral malpractices, as it was experienced in 2007, while there was no security clampdown compared to 2014.
This is highly commendable.
“Despite the fact that the political situation was charged for violence during the campaign, the security agencies were highly coordinated and prevented attempts by some hoodlums to truncate the electoral process.
“The deployment of the 30,000 joint operatives of the Nigeria Police, DSS, Civil Defence, Military and other paramilitary was very effective.” Adeoluwa advised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Prof.
Kolapo Olusola, to accept defeat in good faith, pointing out that “there is nothing to challenge in court.” “We, at Democracy Vanguard, encourage the PDP candidate, Prof.
Kolapo Olusola, to accept the result in the spirit of sportsmanship.
There is nothing to challenge in court because the election was free, fair, credible, and conclusive.
“Similarly, we congratulate the Governorelect, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, on his victory at the polls and also call on him to use his profound pro-democracy background in offering the good people of Ekiti state good governance, devoid of pauperized stomach infrastructure and restore the values of the state.” Ekiti indigenes react Some Ekiti indigenes, who spoke with Blueprint Weekend, declared that they are politically conscious and neither subservient or naive.
An indigene of Oye community, Mrs. Yetunde Fanira, who claimed that the state is most politically conscious in the country, disclosed that they had vowed not to give room for godfatherism in the state, adding that such idea is meant to further improvise her people.
“Truth be told, Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose is very popular and this is manifested in the number of votes his preferred choice, Professor Eleka scored in the election despite the various factors against him at the poll.
But, we Ekiti indigenes are not politically naive.
We knew that he (Fasoye) was grooming himself to be the political leader of the state if he had succeeded; but in Ekiti, no to godfatherism,”she said.
Also, a civil servant, who gave his name as Joshua, said the Greek gift of N3, 000 ‘bonus’ the governor gave the state workforce a day to the election was meant to assuage them to vote for his preferred candidate.
He said: “But how would any civil servant who has a backlog of about six months’ salary arrears would be happy with such governor, and proceed to vote for his party, no! “No doubt, the governor is worker friendly, but that does not translate to salary payment, and how do you expect us to aid his party’s success in the election.
We are not naive, and thank God, his party did not win.”