Thursday, April 17, 2008

Another One Bites The Dust....

Its beginning to read like a story being serialized in newspapers. Every week there must be a PDP Governor's election being revoked or another so called election victory being reversed. Like a house of cards, its all falling apart.

Last week it was Aliyu Wammakko of Sokoto State, this week Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa. And there are still a few more states to go, one year after the elections were held.

All these would have been bearable but for Professor Iwu's INEC's posturing. Now they have gone ahead to take up ample airtime on TV justifying their conduct of the April 2007 (s)elections by saying that "It is politicians who rig elections not us".

WTF! How can politicians rig elections without the active connivance of the Umpire INEC? Sebi I said it that if all the INEC officials have been arrested, tried and locked up since the past one year for 'electoral malpractice' (just like any other professional misconduct/malpractice), this story would have been different. After all, even students get 21 years jail for exam malpractice.

As it is, the more elections are reversed, the more money for Iwu and his cohorts as they simply present a fresh invoice.

The case in Bayelsa is even more interesting as some House members came up that they had impeached the Speaker who was to be sworn in as Acting Governor until the rerun elections are held. They nominated and presented their own Speaker for swearing in as Acting Governor!

Many people have always held that elections do not take place in the Niger Delta states particularly Rivers and Bayelsa. The sheer logistics of navigating the creeks alone is daunting. INEC just collects its allocation for those areas and simply allocates figures for them according to the powers that be.

In the 2003 elections, the then Rivers state Governor, Dr. Peter Odili scored a whopping 98.8% of total votes cast in the state gubernatorial elections leaving the remaining 1.2% for the other 13 (yes, THIRTEEN) political parties to share in a field that included veteran politicians like Chief Sargent Awuse of the ANPP.

That election was also remarkable in the fact that voter turnout was 100%. Everybody who was registered for the election came out and voted! No one was ill, no one had died, no one traveled or relocated between the period of registration and elections proper which were more than eighteen months apart! It was a feat only the PDP and INEC could have produced.

And Iwu says it is politicians who rig elections.

I was in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state last year for a burial and it fell in the period when a rerun of the Assembly elections were being held. The burial was on Friday and I wanted to leave town by Friday night in order not to be caught up in the movement restrictions that usually go with elections on Saturday.

My friend Okon told me not to worry myself. He told me that the elections would actually hold on Friday night. Saturday was just a day of rest.

'You think this is Lagos where you people kill yourself because of elections?', he had asked.

On Friday, the anointed candidate would go round the wards distributing food items ranging from a mudu of rice, a bottle of oil and a cup of salt to a bag of rice per household depending on the position.

The people are then told to stay at home and cook their rice on Saturday. The politicians allocate figures to themselves and INEC declares a winner based on figures submitted to it.

I actually stayed to witness elections, AK-style. I was around the Ewett Housing Estate and there was a polling booth right across the road from the house. I sat in front of the house reading a book from morning till evening. Apart from a few people who obviously came around to confirm that there was nobody at the polling station, nobody came around. Not even INEC officials! And yet they announced results.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record ... E no make sense.

32 comments:

SOLOMONSYDELLE said...

In many ways, we Nigerians are a nation of chaos. It's almost as if we thrive on chaos sometimes. Anyway, be careful. I have discovered that when you stare in to the dark abyss that can sometimes be Nigerian politics, the darkness stares back. Don't let all the madness get you down, ok? Greater minds and purer hearts will eventually prevail. We have to.

How's the fam?

guerreiranigeriana said...

lol...and not because it is funny at all...because it is not...i don't know when we will either decide to do this thing correctly or find an alternative...nao faz sentido...

...i'm with ssd...let's be inspired...let's hear about your new light...what is he up to these days?...is he gaining weight?...lifting his head?...and what happened to the pics?...

bumight said...

wow! should I even be wowed again. shebi its naija. hopefully someday, we'll get to a stage where everything STARTS to make sense...there is still hope...or is there?

ablackjamesbond said...

I'm wondering what Prof Iwu is still doing at INEC. The man no dey shame?

anonymous gal(retired blogger) said...

at Jamesbond if Iwu i removed now it would prove wat we all know-the elections were rigged. PDP is stupid but not that stupid.

SOLOMONSYDELLE said...

lol @ anonymous gal, but all i can do is nod in agreement to your point. Removing iwu would appear to confirm suspicions and allegations. The party in power cannot take that chance. But, if only they changed their perspective...

Anyway @ NIMMO, I took it upon myself to enroll you in this summer's Catwalq Academie.

And where are those pics?

Flourishing Florida said...

na 2day??? u nefa hear? we know d results b4 d eletions. it's a shame

i try not 2 attack Yar Adua too much (cos he's fishing out all d wrong pple 4rm Obj's time, but i won't b impressed until d big fish himself is charged 4 corruption), but certain things r just ridiculous. Why d hell is Morris Iwu still in dat position? Hell, y is Yar Adua himself still there? After all, no b d faulty system wey bring all these ones wey dem dey comot put am dia too?

Smaragd said...

e no make sense at all!*shaking my head* lol

Afrobabe said...

I am surprised we are still talking about this...

I had assumed it had become a awy of life for us in Nigeria...but who knows maybe the more we write and talk about it a change will finally be induced....

but naaaaaa even I dont believe that...

darkelcee said...

HMMM

naija has plenty issues

from politics to security, curroption to electricity, name it and we will rank top 5 in defaulters list.

God help us

ok update fast. lolll howdy?

Queen of My Castle said...

Where are you?! I've tagged you

Jinta said...

na nigeria now, look at alao-akala, 2 times more people voted for him in ogbomosho than were registered - and he's still governor of oyo state

ablackjamesbond said...

NIMMO...just tagged u.

darkelcee said...

NIMMO

are you alrite?

Have a great weekend

ablackjamesbond said...

NIMMO...where u dey? Doc Naapali don become 2P miniskirt o...abeg me i no understand wetin dey go on o. Please come lend ur voice to the discourse.

How family?

Regards to Onetoritsebawoete

Zayzee said...

@ On Friday, the anointed candidate would go round the wards distributing food items ranging from a mudu of rice, a bottle of oil and a cup of salt to a bag of rice per household depending on the position.

The people are then told to stay at home and cook their rice on Saturday. The politicians allocate figures to themselves and INEC declares a winner based on figures submitted to it.


really crazy what we call democracy.

i am waiting for Delta state victory to be revoked.

Allied said...

where are u?

badderchic said...

I have repented and updated pls do the same

SOLOMONSYDELLE said...

lol @ badderchic.

Baby keeping you up huh? Kiss the pickin and greet your iyawo. Oh, and let us know when you make the triumphant return to blogville with an update...

badderchic said...

Na wa for you o! you too update now haba!

cally-waffybabe said...

hello stranger. so you still rant and rave about football and politics? lol soem things never change.

just stopping by to say hey to my blog pals that i have missed.

hugs

xxx

ablackjamesbond said...

where is NIMMO?

badderchic said...

Nimmo,

have you gone to London to see the queen? I sure sey dem get internet dere sef

bumight said...

where is NIMMO?

Naapali said...

Dude, I hope you are well. I know it is not easy with the addition of another omo but drop in once in a while to let us know you are all okay.

Naapali said...

If we don't hear from you we will start playing Finding Nimmo everywhere!

guerreiranigeriana said...

e no make sense o!!!!...n.i.m.m.o. has been quiet for too long o!!...come back sharpish...i miss your posts and comments...how is the new light?...even if it is a response here to let us know you are ok...mine own will be worst than naapali's...

SOLOMONSYDELLE said...

oooh, Naapali, that sounds like a fun game - Finding NIMMO. Let's see...here are the rules, find a hilarious picture on the internet or wherever. Put it up on your blog and declare it a picture of NIMMO.

How does that sound? Corny? I know, but I'm playing. My pic will be up tomorrow - Sunday the 25th of May.

happy playing... lol!

guerreiranigeriana said...

lol @ ssd...that's a great game!!...i'm so playing!!!...

ablackjamesbond said...

SSD, let the games begin!

SOLOMONSYDELLE said...

I found N.I.M.M.O.!!!! Apart from the fact that he commented on the 14th & Serenity post, I found a cool vid of him dancing. Check it out here.
It's hilarious!

bumight said...

there was a NIMMO sighting on 14th street, I heard. is it true?

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