Stormy Rivers: How political lords, INEC disrupted peace flow

“HATRED is corrosive of a person’s wisdom and conscience, the mentality of enmity can poison a nation’s spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroys a society’s tolerance and humanity and block a nation’s progress to freedom and democracy.”

These are the words of Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese writer, literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. They can be said to be very true of Rivers State and her people in their recent experience of intractable political turmoil arising from disagreements over elections and electoral processes.

Now, as in the very recent past, 2015 general elections to be precise, Rivers State has been embroiled in serious political crisis arising from unresolved issues. Since the March 9 governorship and House of Assembly elections, the state has been grappling with how to resolve contending issues of the exercise with fear, angst, frustration, anxiety and tension at feverish level.

While the exercise has been concluded in most of the other states where the governorship election held, that of Rivers has remained suspended since March 10, due to reported widespread violence and other irregularities that marred the exercise, especially at the collation stage.

Currently, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other stakeholders are desperately in search of how best to conclude the exercise in a transparent, credible, free and fair manner that will be acceptable to all interests represented in the election, and in this case, they are many.

Prevailing issues

As in the 2015 elections, the same issues of irregularities in the conduct of the elections, widespread violence and massive rigging by contending parties have remained the major bone of contention in the on-going quarrel over the March 9 polls. Besides this, the role of security agencies in this last exercise, mostly captured in what is now termed militarisation of election, is also a dominant issue in this last elections as many argue that the military contributed enormously to the current political quagmire in which the last exercise has thrown the state.

But the above issues are merely very obvious and regarded as the result of some “seen hands” who, according to many people, are well known in the society. And those who immediately come to mind here are leaders of the various political parties interested in the outcome of the elections with the incumbent governor, Nyesom Wike, standing on one side and the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on the other. These are leading their supporters whose interests are represented at one point or another on the political power echelon.

Many watchers of the events in the state have argued that they were not surprised by the turn of political events in the state, as current development has followed what had come to be the common pattern in recent years. They added that the seed of the crisis was sowed a long time ago during the run up to the 2015 general elections.

They observed that before Amaechi, then state governor, led many of his supporters to abandon the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) sometime in 2014, Rivers State had been predominantly a one-party state, then being in the hands of the PDP.

They added that, however, as Wike, then Minister of State, Education, with the support of then President Goodluck Jonathan and others, took over the party structure from Amaechi, forced him out of PDP and roundly beat him in the 2015 governorship election, the seed of the current political war was effectively sown.

They added that a glimpse of what is playing out with the on-going political crisis was displayed during some of the re-run elections arising from the 2015 general elections and the bye-election for the State House of Assembly constituency III during which the desperation of the APC and PDP for victory reduced the exercises to almost a war. That bye-election remained inconclusive till date.

They also said that the role of the minister of transportation in all of this, beyond the desperation for victory and to maintain relevance at the APC national hierarchy, is also an opportunity of pay back Wike for what he did to him (Amaechi) in the run up to the 2015 general elections.

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However, many have expressed anger against the two gladiators, saying that they should find a way of ending their ego war in that state as it was already hurting the state politically, socially and economically. They pointed out the security and social tension the inconclusive elections had caused in the state, saying it was seriously retarding the socio-political and economic progress of the state.

Speaking to our correspondent via the telephone, a security expert and ex-military officer, Colonel Chinedu Owhonda, blamed the political crisis on what he called “man made problem,” saying that the people were aware of the individuals behind the problem.

He said: “The election of March 9 was conducted without much problem until at the point of collation when trouble started. And I blame it on some unpatriotic people who started fomenting trouble using the military.

“At the unit and ward levels somewhere at Obio/Akpor Local Government Area where I witnessed the exercise, the security agencies performed well even resisting hoodlums that had at a point come to hijack electoral materials.

“But at the local government collation centre, some soldiers on illegal duty came and started shooting sporadically in an attempt to hijack results. The police stood their grounds and resisted them for over two hours, deep into early hours of the following day.

“But generally, the problem in Rivers State is caused by a group; some disgruntled politicians who believe that if they can’t have it, no one else should have it. Rivers State is bigger than one man. Look at the dislocation of the social and economic equilibrium and progress in the state with the closure of major roads and the tension the situation has generated.

“Rivers problems are man-made and we know those causing the problem.”

For Ogbonna Nwuke, spokesman of the Tonye Cole Campaign Organisation, the INEC should be blamed solely for the current political crisis arising from the March 9 governorship and House of Assembly elections.

He said: “I condemn the hasty decision by the INEC to suspend the election process. And how can you, after suspending the process, come back to say you have results of 17 local government areas? How did you come by the results?

“Rivers people are saying that INEC’s action is not in the interest of Rivers people. INEC’s action was predetermined and contaminated. INEC should look at the mood of the people.

“I’m sure that you heard about the certificate of returns discovered at the Rivers INEC already written and awaiting the INEC chairman’s signature. INEC has not been credible and in the face of all that has happened, there is need for INEC to release a result that is credible.

“However, that will be very difficult for anyone to believe; that the results with INEC have not been tampered with since March 10 when it suspended the exercise.”

Chairman, Rivers Civil Society Organisations, Comrade Enefaa Georgewill, also blamed INEC, saying that the election umpire turned itself into an election tribunal in suspending the process and causing undue tension in the state.

“INEC should have gone ahead before now to announce the results of the 17 local government areas it claimed it had. Instead, it was just moving forward and backward,” he stated.

Georgewill added: “It (INEC) claimed about widespread violence only to come back to say it has 17 local governments’ results and considering the number of days that have passed since the suspension of the election processes, the genuineness of the results it said it has is heavily in doubts.”

Way forward

People across the various strata of the society have argued variously with most suggesting that the easiest and quickest way to end the seeming deadlock is for INEC to go ahead to complete the collation of the results and announce the winner.

Georgewill said he ordinarily would have called for cancelation of the results and conduct of a fresh election.

“As a way forward, I would have suggested outright cancellation and conduct of fresh election, but that would also make us a tribunal. So, it is for INEC to announce the results that it has and let anyone who is aggrieved approach the tribunal or the courts for redress,” he said.

He also advised that “INEC should declare the original results; not distorted ones. The results are in its possession; the party agents also have them. Let anyone that is aggrieved under the circumstance approach the court to seek redress. The court should also open its hands to all and sundry and allow justice to be done. That, I think, is the closest possible solution.”

Colonel Owhonda also shared this position, saying: “I just pray and wish that INEC should come up with the collated results. Political parties’ agents had the results at the ward level, and so, INEC should just conclude the collation and announce the results so as to allow the winner to concentrate on the challenges of governance.”

But Nwuke called for outright cancellation of the elections and conduct of fresh exercise where all the contending parties would be given level playing field to participate.

The former member of the House of Representatives for Etche/Omuma Federal Constituency said: “I believe that the best way to resolve the current problem is for the INEC to cancel the whole process and conduct a fresh election that would be acceptable to all stakeholders in the process.”

As INEC continues its implementation of the timeline for the conclusion of the process with a stakeholders meeting, it is expected that all aggrieved stakeholders, including those calling for the cancellation of the process, would cooperate with the umpire and allow for a credible and acceptable conclusion of the process so as to douse tension and allow for peace and progress in Rivers State.