‘Edo electoral body had no reason to cancel council polls’

By Victor Omoregie
On 24 April, 2013, Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC)
conducted elections into the 18 local government areas (LGAs) in the
state. Results of the elections werereleased for all the local
government council areas except one, Esan North-East. Since the
cancellation of the results of the LGA, there has been grave-yard
silence pervading the area.
However, one of the major actors in the elections, Mr. John Yakubu,
has been shouting himself hoarse over what he has termed injustice to
himself and the denial of the dividends of democracy to the people of
Esan North-East LGA. Yakubu is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
chairmanship candidate in the LGA in the elections. He had been the
chairman of Esan North-East LGA from 2007 to 2010. He left government
specifically on 25 October 2010 after the tenure of the council
chairmen were truncated.Are you a professional politician or
businessman?
I am a businessman into civil construction, and oil and gas. I have
been in business for over 30 years.I have been in the business of
creation of wealth. Creativity is part of my life, adding value to
whatever I place my hands on. Four years ago, my people called me to
come and serve them, that is how I found myself contributingmy quota
to the political developmentof Esan North-East LGA.
It seems that your political career is onhold at the moment. What is
responsible?
Having served my people between 2007 and 2010, I was once again called
upon to contest the chairmanship position in the April 24 local
government elections under the banner of the PDP. The elections were
earlier scheduled for 20 April but was shifted to 24 April. It was a
transparent,credible, free and fair election and, by the grace of God,
I won.
Was this contention that it was free and fair agreeable to both the
voters and contestants?
Yes. If you talk to 19 out every 20 person within the local government
area, you will receive the same positive response regarding the
elections. However, it was very unfortunate that the elections were
cancelled by EDSIEC.
What led to the cancellation?
I cannot really say exactly. Results of the elections were collated
and announced in every polling booth of the 106 polling stations in
the local government area. By the time the Presiding Officers and
Presiding Clerks were looking for the Returning Officers, some of them
had absconded, including that of Esan North-East. I am calling on the
police to look for the Returning Officer in-charge of Esan North-East,
to explain how he collected money for a job he never did.After the
elections, people were going about satisfied that they had
participated in a credible exercise, only to hear different stories
regardingthe conduct of the elections.
Exactly what did they hear?
After the elections, we started hearing that the results of the
elections in EsanNorth-East had been cancelled for no reason.
Where did this information emanate from?
It came from the EDSIEC chairman, Mr. Solomon Ogor. I am still waiting
for theEDSIEC chairman to give reasons the elections were annulled. He
did mention something about thuggery. I agree with him as some thugs
hired bya party came from Benin and invaded our local government in
order to forment trouble. They were all arrested. I expect the Edo
police commissioner to prosecute those arrested.
So the position today is that the election results were cancelled
because of insecurity…
That is what the EDSIEC chairman is claiming to have been the reason.
He said it was because of national insecurity that the election
results were cancelled. The insecurity that he was referring to was
not particular to Edo State or Esan North-East. I want to plead that
the elections be conducted afresh, with at least a thousand Police
personnel in attendance.
In your view, what is the way forward?
Let me say, first of all, that somewhere,somebody is playing God.
Somebody isdepriving the people of Esan North-East of dividends of
democracy. Today the people of Esan North-East have no council just
because of the voice of one man, the EDSIEC chairman and he has not
proffered any reason for his action.
What role is your party playing in the drama unfolding on the
cancellation ofthe election results?
My party (PDP) has come out to say that the elections, to a large
extent, in some local government council areas, were not free. To be
particular, my party has asked the EDSIEC to fix a new date for fresh
elections in Esan North-East. My party is ready to participate in the
rescheduled elections. This is because the PDP is on ground in the
area. We are confident that if the elections are conducted 100 times,
the PDP will emerge the winner.Have you considered going to court?
For now I see no reason to head to the court, because if the EDSIEC
chairman was to testify in court, his response would probably be that
the elections were inclusive. With the case in court, the opportunity
to set up a care-taker committee to run the affairs of the council
would arise. We do not want tobe pulled into such a situation. We are
saying if the EDSIEC chairman says that the elections were
inconclusive, he should make amends to conclude the elections by
organising fresh ones. We are begging the EDSIEC chairman to fix a
date for the rescheduled elections.
We are begging him to come and conclude the elections just as he did
inother local government council areas. Let him relocate his office to
Esan North-East. It has been done before by the chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) when elections came
up for some particular states. He should not delegate anybody to do
this particular duty. He should take total authority and be in charge.
Let the state Commissioner of Police, Director of Department of
Security Services (DSS) and heads of other relevant security agencies
concerned with the electoral process all be involved in the proposed
rescheduled elections in Esan North-East. This action would truly
bring to fore the true meaning of the slogan 'One-Man One-Vote' and
would see the party that would emerge the winner. The people of Esan
North-East are ready, the PDP is ready, the only 'person' thatis not
ready today for reasons best to them is EDSIEC.