ILAJE/ESE-ODO FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY BYE-ELECTION: THE IMPERATIVE OF POLITICAL SOLUTION. THE CASE AT HAND. Its now over five months since the election took place. Yet, our right of being represented has been denied with hope becoming deem and hopeless. The masses of the Federal Constituency have become worried and anxious but nothing seems being done to allay the fears and apprehension in the land. It is consequent upon this that the majority of the masses have come to believe in the need to approach the case politically since the Court process has continually drags on sluggishly and embarrassingly even to all the stakeholders involved in the electoral process. THE GENESIS OF THE INTERREGNUM: In the beginning, the election was held in 21 out of the 22 Wards in the Federal Constituency. Results of the total valid votes cast were collated and declared at the various polling units in accordance with the electoral rules. The declared results were taken to the various Wards Collation Centres and collated and the valid results were subsequently declared in the 21 out of the 22 Wards leaving out only one Ward- Ukparama II, where election didnt hold owing to the usual activities of militants who have been preventing every election in the Ward since 2011 because of their noninclusion in the Amnesty Programme of the Federal Government. The various results taken to the Federal Collation Centre at Igbokoda were collated and the candidate of the LP, Hon. Kolade Akinjo, was leading with about 1,300 valid votes followed by Basorun Adewale Kukute, the PDP candidate. While the declaration of the winner of the election was being anxiously awaited, the PDP leaders brought in a petition to protest the election that did not hold in Ukparama II. Although, the INEC ought to have ignored the petition, it went ahead to collect and acted on it against the prescription of the 2010 Electoral Acts that expected such petition to be handled by the Tribunal or a Court of competent jurisdiction. Its noteworthy that prior the time, the collation centre had been militarised by the Soldiers illegally brought in by the duo of Sen. Musliu Obanikoro and Hon. Kingsley Kuku. The security arrangement of INEC had been thoroughly devastated so that its very cheap to intimidate and compromise the INEC officials who quickly got the alibi of the petition from the PDP to declare the election inconclusive since it was difficult for them to declare the PDP candidate the winner as being initially touted by the desperate PDP leaders. The action of INEC was seen by the LP as an intention to pervert the course of justice hence the decision to approach the Court for clarification. The LP decision to go to court became encouraged in the face of looming intention of the people to result to self help bearing in mind that even the INEC had refused to announce new date for the supplementary election if at all, it , the INEC, was acting legally. THE PDP AND LP COLLABORATION IN ONDO STATE: In the bye election, the PDP and the LP were the major bidders and now the two parties are in a holy alliance in Ondo State. This means and guarantee an opportunity for the major political actors in our Federal Constituency to reappraise our initial position with the view to moving the Constituency out of its current state of comatose. My candid advice is that our leaders must necessarily close ranks so that we can consider the implications of our not being represented at the National Assembly. The need for renewed patriotic zeal in us now, more than ever before, has become a clarion call to all of us who claim and profess to be capable of leading the people. I therefore, recommend that a team from LP to include Hon. Kolade Akinjo to be led by Atayese (Barr) Sola Ebiseni should meet with the PDP team to include Chief Adewale Kukute and to be led by Chief (Barr) Sola Oke to fashion out a common cordial front on which to assure our people of our patriotism CONCLUSION: I wish to, in all earnestness, remind our leaders that the masses of our Federal Constituency have no taste for politics of bitterness. Our people are tired of any political scheming that retard their desire to progress and develop. Our people are eager to be represented because they know that it is wrong and unhelpful not to be represented at the National Assembly. Our people know that as the only oil producing constituency in the state, they should be represented in the House Committee on NDDC and that if they are not represented at such level, a lot of their rights and portions will be diverted by undeserving individuals. Our people understand that very soon, Budget preparation will begin and that its only their Representative that can protect their interest. They know what they are deprived of by the absence of their Representative in the National Assembly. They are therefore, watching curiously and keenly too, if our leaders are prepared to quickly find amicable settlement to the lingering court case. They are concerned and they want to see if our leaders can sacrifice the ego and self interest in them in favour of the collective interest of the Federal Constituency. The masses are eagerly waiting to see if their leaders can be patriotic enough to close ranks, irrespective of political differences, to jointly broker peace in the no Victor, no vanquished approach in the current case at hand
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 07:36:12 +0000
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