Though the famed Anambra State governorship election may have come and gone but the ripples generated by it will be a delightful cuisine on the table of analysts and election observers for a pretty long while. Why?
The reason is obvious. Besides being one of the safest and most peaceful elections in our country, at least in recent years, it is considered as the most credible, untainted, if you like authentic electoral process in the land despite the threat of violence that prefaced the election.
Again, you will recall, that the dreaded Indegenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) a non state actor noted for their violence and inglorious transactions in the south east had enacted a week-long sit-at-home decree adjacent to the election. Although, the decree was repealed at the nick of the election, even so, it had without doubt some consequential effect on the turnout of voters at various locations.
In a state with a voter population of over two million, only a paltry 230, 000 voters had the courage and tenacity to venture out of their doors in answer to a call of duty with regards to the exercise of their civic responsibility. No thanks to the activities of the IPOB who had in times past instilled the fear of violence in the people.
The good news however was that the state actors who are the real custodians of instruments of violence and coercion rose to the occasion to forestall any forms of effervescence. The security agencies deployed to the state came in their numbers. Indeed, they were alive to their responsibilities—not only did they steal a march upon the merchants of disunity, they kept their fingers unsullied by interjecting in the electoral process, as they are wont to do where the stakes are stacked against a favoured interest.
The sky that veiled the sealed heavens refused to yield its position yakata to the wishes and caprices of political astrologers as well as bookmakers in the temple nostradamus. Of course, their prediction was not without good reason especially measured by the spate of mindless carnage and destruction of properties visited upon the innocent citizens in last one year. Anambra State and indeed the whole south east had acquired a new image as the theatre of war, one sided arms struggle. The hapless people of the East despite their braggadocious temperament were cowed by the ragtag militia prowling the streets.
You probably may have forgotten that the governor-elect Prof. Charles Chukwumah Soludo escaped death by hair’s breadth, a few months shy of the election. If you remember some madcaps stormed the venue of a political meeting where Soludo was a guest and herded his police guards into abyss albeit untimely. Do i need to to tell you that he was at his wits end all through that period? Thankfully, Prof. Soludo is alive today to recount his tales of victory over the agents of darkness.
Last Saturday’s Anabrambra governorship election was not without hiccups despite the success of the process. Users of electronic items will always bear witness to the fact that electronic equipments have a mind of their own. They could mess up a user when you least expected to malfunction. That precisely was what happened with the newly acquired Biometrics Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) deployed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the Anambra governorship election. Though there were glitches here and there, INEC officials were on ground to fix the loose ends. And whats is more, the body was able to transmit the results electronically to the various collation centres. The process was to large extent transparent and truthful. At least the acctedited observers both foreign and local attested to this view. Howbeit, even before the final collation of the results, social media users had unfettered access to the figures scored by each contestant at the polling unit.
Be that as it may, it was also freely reported that there filters of under hand practices by invented the various political parties to outwit their opponents. Vote buying is gradually becoming a second nature in our electoral process. This is rather unfortunate. The electoral umpire must take decisive measures to curb vote buying to give credibility to the process.
Some aggrieved persons especially, Senator Andy USA of the All Progressives Congress, a serial governorship contestant has vowed to seek redress in the law court’s for perceived wrong done to him. Uba came a distant third with 43, 000 votes in the keenly contested race. The constitution no doubt grants him the right to so do as long as he believes there was an infraction on the electoral process. Will the courts upturn the victory of Prof. Soludo? The days ahead will tell what will happens next.
The question on the lips of analysts is whether Pro Soludo is factory fitted with the right and cognate experience to pull the rabbits out of the hat? Yes, i think so. Don’t forget he has been gunning for the office for the past 12 years or so, until fortune finally smiled on him this time around. He has over the years prepared a blueprints of his governance structure. Prof is coming to government house, Awka with a bag full of experiences garnered over the years in public service including being the governor of the central bank of Nigeria. Prof. Soludo touts an unmatched profile as a first class Economist. He has brought or he will bring a new supply of intellectual vitality to the governance of Anambra State. I have no doubt in my mind that Prof will upscale the process of public administration in the state for for the common good of the people. It is his duty to build bridges of peace and understanding across the major divides. He must be magnanimous in victory, by opening the political space to accommodate all and sundry, not even the opposition should be left unsheltered through his programmes and policies.
Ndi Anambra have spoken their minds. They have voted with their feet, so let it be. Let me leave you with a word from one of the epistles of Alexander Pope which says
It is fro high life that high characters are dawn;
A saint in crape is twice a saint in lawn.
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