BY HALLIBUTON ALMONA
ON the 13th of July, 2024, the 25 local government areas in Delta State will be agog as all males and females of voting age, will file out in their numbers to vote for candidates of their choice.
Be that as it may, it seems a lot of persons are entertaining fears as regards the credibility and authenticity of the on-going elections. For example, there is a school of thought that points that the authorities of Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) has a lot of responsibilities on their shoulders, alleging that the PDP government in power had always appointed and reappointed the same Chairman and the same Secretary as well as staff, year in year out. That is making DSIEC a judge in their own case.
There is a second school of thought that believes that certain privileged individuals in the corridors of powers in the ruling party in the state are Godfathers to some of the Chairmanship and Councillorship aspirants because it does not express a true democratic practice in our political sphere.
The arbitrary usage of government instrument to win an election is equal to allowing mediocrity and people of unproven character to rule and take over the affairs of the people at the grassroot and third of governance . Such person could be dangerous and inimical to the political and social development of the society.
Let us recall that in 1983 onwards, three sets of election were conducted under the civilian regimes. These were the general elections of 1983 under the defunct NPN government, the general elections of 2003 and the local government elections of 2004 under the former President, General Obasanjo. In the 1983 elections, the ruling NPN government allegedly perpetrated all sorts of electoral misdemeanor. The voting process, voter registration, and actual vote casts were all grossly distorted. In order to produce the so called ‘landslide’ and ‘bandwagon effect’, the order of election was reversed and voters register inflated.
The massive electoral frauds that characterized the then local government elections in 2004 so much demoralized the members of the public that they vowed not to stand and queue up under the rain or sun to cast their votes for any candidate.
A general survey of elections and electoral practices in Nigeria over the years appear to share a number of common characteristics.
First, they have been particularly tinctured by massive fraud, intimidation and in some extreme cases assassination of political opponent as well as brazen subversion of the vote and controversies.
The painful aspect of these elections at whatever level whether presidency, senatorial, or House of Representative level is that the government in power or political party in power and politicians have alwys had their own clandestine method and have generally perpetrated, maintained and upheld a culture of electoral violence and welfare. Willy Nilly, no election has been conducted in Nigeria Nation, State or Local Government without a great deal of controversy before, during or after elections.
This is the urgent reason why members of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Department of State Services (DSS) and other sister security agencies should join hands and map out effective strategy to ensure peace and security during the fort-coming Delta Local Government elections in Delta State.
In fact the forth-coming elections in Delta State is a litmus test on the new Commissioner for Police, CP Olufemi Abani wonder to perform his wonder in the state during the elections in Delta State.
What the various aspirants should know is that politics is not a do or die affair. Politics should be played without bitterness and rancor because if they don’t win today, they could win tomorrow.
There is a wise saying that the darkest part of the night is towards the morning. Many people quit when success is just a step away. Patience is an enduring quality and nothing worth its value is received for nothing.
It therefore behooves all chairmanship and councillorship aspirants in the election to give account of themselves by calling on, and admonishing all their supporters, to avoid violence, thuggery, intimidation and any act that will undermine the peace, security and the MORE Agenda of the state government of Governor Francis Sheriff Oborevwori as that is the only way credible candidates will emerge.
