The results of the last rerun elections in Kogi State gave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) an edge over the All Progressives Congress (APC). YINKA OLADOYINBO writes on the election and its implications for the two parties.
Kogi State has, in the past six months, been constantly featuring in headlines, particularly for political reasons, whether positively or negatively, with the gladiators trying to outwit themselves.
One of the issues that have made the state hit head line was the outcome of the last general election and the consequences of the results as so declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The results showed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) won all the three senatorial seats and six of the nine federal constituency seats, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the remaining three at the election held on March 28, 2015. But at the state house of assembly election held two weeks after, the PDP won 14 seats and the APC secured 11 seats.
However, many of the results were subjected to integrity test at the tribunals and at the end of the day, two of the senators from Kogi East and Kogi Central were removed, while the APC also lost the Okene/Ogori/Magongo Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives. Four of its members of the House of Assembly were sent packing, while the PDP lost one seat in the assembly. The courts thereafter ordered that fresh elections should be held in the areas where elections results were cancelled.
In the case of the APC, the occupants of the seat were removed because they failed to go through the process of primary before they emerged as the candidates of the party. When the cases were to be decided at the Court of Appeal, the party was prevented from presenting candidates for the rerun elections. However, the PDP candidate for the Idah House of Assembly seat was removed because the difference in the margin with which he defeated his close opponent was less than the cancelled vote during the election.
This necessitated the electoral body to fix the rerun election in the confluence state for February 20, with the stakeholders expected to fully participate. At the end of the exercise, Hammed Ogembe of the PDP was declared winner of the Kogi Central Senatorial district, while Senator Attai Aidoko, was comfortably leading with 46, 310 votes and his closest rival, Ibrahim Itodo of the Labour Party (LP) scored 11, 802. But INEC went ahead to declare the election inconclusive without any explanation on the reasons for its action.
Also, the PDP candidate for the Okene/Ogori/Magongo Federal Constituency, Yusuf Damisa, was returned unopposed thereby increasing the number of the PDP members in the House of Representatives to four. However, the House of Assembly elections went the way of the Kogi East senatorial rerun as only three out of the five results were released, while three were declared inconclusive. Ahmed Mohammed of the PDP won the Ankpa I State Constituency, while the APC candidates won the two seats in Dekina. However, election into Ofu and Idah State Constituencies, where PDP was leading, was declared inconclusive.
On a general note, the rerun election showed that PDP had an edge over the APC and pundits are of the opinion that the opposition party might use the election as a springboard to launch itself back into reckoning in the state. To them, with a majority in the state assembly, two members in the upper chamber of National Assembly and four members in the lower chamber, the party could conveniently regain power in the nearest future.
Speaking after he was declared the winner of the Kogi Central election, Ogembe said he was not surprised that the electoral body reversed itself and announced him the winner. Ogembe, who is the incumbent chairman of Okene Local Government Area, said it was wrong for INEC to have declared the election inconclusive based on the submission of the presiding officer that cancelled votes during the election.
He, however, said his victory had shown that the PDP still remained relevant and the party to beat in the state. Ogembe said the results showed that the PDP was still a party to reckon with in the state. He said the development was a pointer that the party had put the loss of the last election to the APC behind it.
But the APC believed the results of the rerun election could not be used as a yardstick to measure the performance of the party and ability to manage its success in recent elections. The state secretary of the party, Salam Adejo, said the seeming victory of the PDP would have no effect on the APC, arguing that there was no election in the rerun with the prevention of the APC from presenting candidates for the election.
He said, “there was no election at all in Kogi State. APC is in the majority across the state. So, the result of the election will have little or no effect. PDP can only bounce back in a dream and not in reality. The PDP is in disarray from the national level to the ward levels. The people of Kogi are tired of them. They gave them 12 years and they failed. So, how can they bounce back so early?”
However, one thing is the outcome of the elections, but another thing was the manner it was managed by the INEC. Many people are of the view that the electoral umpire was part of the institutions giving Kogi a bad name in the comity of states in the country. They argued that it was wrong for the commission to have declared the election inconclusive and thereafter changed its decision on that of Kogi Central senatorial district.
Speaking on the development, the chairman of the state chapter of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Ibrahim Itodo, while faulting the commission, held that rerun election in global reckoning is usually won by simple majority especially as people cannot be coerced to come out to vote.
The chairman said he was at a lost as to the inconsistencies of the electoral umpire in its management of election, especially as it concerns Kogi. He cited the recent rerun election in Benue South senatorial district where Senator David Mark won by simple majority and in Bayelsa Governorship election where Seriake Dickson was declared winner by simple majority. He said in the two instances, the number of cancelled votes in those states was more than the difference between the winners and runner up and that yet, those elections were not declared inconclusive.
“INEC should put their house in order and take a cue from the Bayelsa governorship rerun election and the just concluded Benue South Senatorial district rerun election and declare the winners in Kogi East, Idah and Ofu state Assembly rerun election”, he said.
Credit: Tribune
