Adolphus Wabara was a Senate president. Under normal circumstances he should be a voice of respect, a voice for the oppressed. But something has given way and his voice isn’t quite his people’s. Many watched him talk eloquently on how the PDP won the polls in Abia State. He wondered why the INEC has refused to declare his candidate and party winners when, according to him, ‘We won clearly.’ Because it’s a one-way communication, nobody hears the other side and still in that dark streak, he and his PDP malign the INEC, present the body as partisan and call for the removal of its officers. A listener would be tempted to ask, ‘Why is INEC doing this?’ Well, INEC can decipher.
It’s unfortunate that people who apparently have attained some height in life have torn collars with the truth. According to the results so far, APGA polled 155,584 against PDP’s 104,299 in 14 local government areas. Abia State comprises 17 LGAs; the remaining three LGAs are the ones contested amongst others. They are Osisioma, Obingwa, and Isiala Ngwa North. Why? No elections took place there. The voters waited a whole day without seeing INEC officials. The international observers said no election took place in them. Agents of other political parties said there were no elections there. Only the PDP came thumbs-up to shout, ‘Announce! Announce! We have won.’ Why the shout?
It’s common knowledge that many of their supporters/sympathizers have been caught with thousands of finger-printed voting cards. How they got them, where they did the finger-printing is their secret. But the problem was, I guess, after finger-printing, what next? Where do you put them? This is where the no-election LGAs found use. From them, PDP alone polled 144,160 votes, which is much higher than what they polled in 14 LGAs put together. APGA, according to them, polled 9,822 votes there, in addition to the 155,584 to get 165,406. In PDP’s understanding, the three LGAs are APGA’s hate-LGAs. Tomorrow, INEC will give them the opportunity to confirm that indeed they are APGA’s hate-LGAs and PDP’s lotto-lucky-numbers.
It is this staggering 144,160 votes that they added to their polled 104,299 to obtain 248,459 and went knocking on media houses shouting, ‘Declare, declare us winners!’ Not just the pressure to declare them winners but also threatening crisis in the state if not done, which quasi translates to public incitement. Yet, laying the truth bare would have served better.
Simple logic questions how a party which could not poll winning figures in 14 LGAs suddenly gathered much more from three LGAs where election did not take place. What did they do? What was the magic? The INEC is saying, ‘This magic is too wonderful, come and do it again in our presence tomorrow and let us learn from you.’ Rather than guide us to this wonder voting, they’re threatening to go to court or have already gone. That would have offered democracy advanced courses in electioneering. Maybe in the courts, the lessons will come clear. Again, rather than clear this mystery, they’re busy finding faults with INEC top officials to the state.
Let’s talk straight. What’s at stake is outright cancellation of the results from those three mystery LGAs, not about being inconclusive, because you can’t be inconclusive in what didn’t even start. Since evidences abound that no elections took place in them, would there be any basis to ascribe inconclusiveness to them? Definitely not.
It’s surprising too that the same people who’re now accusing the INEC officials of partisanship are the same people whose Governor T. A. Orji, in the company of other party stalwarts, walked into INEC’s office a day after the gubernatorial elections and in the full glare of the watching public, called the chief INEC officer to an indoor meeting at the collation centre and after the short meeting, the official came down to retract the cancellation he earlier made. When asked the reason, he replied, ‘Order from above.’ What transpired in that meeting? Is the governor supposed to be at the collation centre? Is he a party agent or governor? Why now hound the official(s) who rescinded their cancellation after a meeting with the governor and crew?
What’s happening in Abia is beyond party politics. There’s a point infamy gets to and people of worth come together to draw the red line. That point is where the people are on edge. That’s where Abians are now. That’s the very point they need people like Adolphus Wabara to say, ‘My people first.’ He hasn’t. He should have been bold enough to tell the people that his victory figure is a mystery figure gathered from no-vote areas or, at best, be quiet. That’s the way of honour and it’s beyond politics.
ONYEBUCHI ONYEGBULE
