By Francis Sadhere, Warri
As the Gubernatorial elections in Delta State has come and gone, with the so-called victory of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, can we honestly say that Okowa won the said Gubernatorial election fair and square? Is the so-called victory worth bringing out the drums and celebrating with the PDP camp and their supporters? In my own blunt and sincere opinion, it is absolutely not!
When a people are ready to turn a blind eye to what is evidently wrong, then it is our society as a whole that suffers the decay over time in morality and upright values. Many stakeholders in Delta State have, sadly, become a set of people who have smeared their conscience with hot iron, especially in the face of what is evidently wrong. Like we have repeatedly said, there was no real proper and fair Gubernatorial election in Delta State on March 9th, 2019. What we had was a situation where elections were seen to be going in favour of the State’s opposition APC, and suddenly the ruling PDP in the State with the hired armed PDP thugs, hijacked the Electoral process and forcefully maneuvered the outcome of the election. At the end of the day, the final election results were simply written and announced with the collaboration of compromised INEC Officials and the Delta State PDP.
Truth is, if there was a free and fairly Gubernatorial election conducted in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru would have won Okowa hands down no matter what. To those who are celebrating this so-called victory, are they saying that the population of the rural Burutu and Bomadi communities for instance, are more than the Warri Urban and Effurun Urban areas? That alone is evident of the fact that the Delta State Gubernatorial election results were simply written and announced. Everybody knows how much a truck lorry can carry, when compared with a small car. So, it is very obvious for anyone to see that the results announced do not tally with the realities on ground. In all the places they knew the APC would win, the PDP thugs were armed to go there and cause confusion, destroy election materials or ensure that there was no election in those areas. This also led to loss of lives of voters. I was in Iwhrekan Community in Ughelli South LGA, Delta State, and I witnessed how PDP thugs came to Iwhrekan and shot Edirin Usitaka Gbemre dead, and set ballot papers on fire that was not in favour of the PDP.
With such cases of election results that were burnt and distorted in APC strong areas, how do we expect any reasonable person with conscience to accept the results that Okowa won the election? Okowa didn’t win any election! Whether they were officially declared or not, well-meaning Deltans should never have accepted such a bloody and fake victory of Okowa. Is that the type of election results that people should celebrate about? Is that the type of election that people should be excited about, and exclaiming that: “na so e be,” – “that is how it has always been.” So, because that is how it has always supposedly been, we should continue to swallow such rubbish of an electioneering process in Delta State. When a society and people start being comfortable with things that are wrong, then that society and people are treading the path of doom.
I would however want to commend and appreciate Ogboru and the Delta State APC for the maturity they exhibited during this dark experience of an election. If they had acted like the PDP did in that Gubernatorial election, the situation would have been very bloody. In fact, Delta State would have been burnt. Ogboru had the opportunity of using thugs like Okowa and PDP leaders did in Delta State, but he refused and said he didn’t want any element of force that may likely cause deaths of innocent people. I respect Ogboru for that. Okowa on the other hand, allegedly gave a blanket order to all his aides to ‘deliver’ their various Wards by all means necessary. And that was exactly what they did. Instead of convincing the Electorates of their manifestoes, they chose the path of using force, which has always been the trade and stock of the PDP in Delta State since the last two decades. I praise the courage of Ogboru and the APC leadership for not using/applying the same force like the PDP did.
You don’t use force to win an election. Okowa didn’t win any election as declared by compromised INEC officials. Ogboru still remains the most loved politician by majority of Deltans even in the Delta North. He was leading during the election even in the Ika and Oshimili areas, including the Ukwuane areas on the day of the said election, until 1pm when the PDP thugs came and disrupted the process across the State and eventually wrote fake results, which were accepted by compromised INEC officials. Can we call that a victory? If others should accept Okowa’s victory, I will not mortgage my conscience for what I know is wrong and fake.
However, these desperate Delta State politicians of the PDP stock, should realize that power is transient. And nobody lives forever. Where are the likes of Okotie-Eboh, M.K.O Abiola and all their connections and enormous wealth? Where is King Solomon and his magnificent palaces, influence, wives and concubines? All that is remembered of him today is his wealth of wisdom and knowledge as scripted in the Holy Bible. And despite all King Solomon had and enjoyed, he noted that: “all is vanity upon vanity.” So, when these desperate politicians would realize that life and its ephemeral things are not permanent, then they would act more cautiously in their quest to remain in power. But that being said, they would all one day pay for all the sins and atrocities they have committed against the people of Delta State. The saddest and most painful part in all of this is that majority of the so called elites/politicians of Delta State have not wised up one bit, to see things differently, and condemn such nonsense exhibited by the PDP camp in Delta State.
Zik Gbemre.
National Coordinator
Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)
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