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Edo State voted on Wednesday, September 28, 2016, to elect a new governor but the noisy earthquake came rather from Rivers State. This may not only be because of the noisy departure of troops from uniformed armed forces that left Port Harcourt to support Edo forces.
It is rather due to the several forces, armed and unarmed, that were said to have left many parts of the Niger Delta to Edo to help their preferred sides capture power and enlarge the support base. Yes, President Muhammadu Buhari attended at a point and his vice did, but the PDP in the region did not sit idle either.
First, the APC in Edo State cried out, saying militants from Rivers State were being moved over to Edo to use violence to enforce the so-called Rivers formula. Panic gripped Edo residents over this as they recalled the horrors of Rivers elections that led to inclusive reruns and massive bloodshed. It is not clear if the rebuttal by the PDP that they did not import militants assuaged any panic. Observers in Edo rather said the rumour, true of false, may have given hope to some sections of the state that strong help had come.
Few days later, the security agencies seemed to lend credibility to the rumour by asking for postponement of the election on grounds of infiltration of terrorists. This added fears. INEC said it did not believe, but soon caved in and ‘believed’. All this while, all eyes turned to Rivers State where they said the private army came from. This seemed to re-echo the slogan of two armies during the Rivers rerun elections.
Soon, governors of Delta and Rivers were accused of pushing to defeat APC in Edo State. This was promptly denied by the mentioned governors, and the elections drew nearer every day. Fears were so rife that residents began massive shopping to load foodstuffs in order to avert hunger during expected troubled days.
Outcome
The voting came and went. Soon, each party in Rivers State began to jubilate, saying it was winning. The streets of Port Harcourt looked like holiday was in the state instead of Benin. Apprehension was huge in the air in Port Harcourt rather than in Edo. Maybe, the stakes were very high in Rivers State. APC wanted their party to win in a south-south state to reassure the masses that the party was still able to win a big election. The PDP wanted to win to prove a point that the aura in Rivers State had caught on with the entire region. The APC had already accused Wike as the new force of the PDP. Victory in Edo would be ascribed to him and to Ifeanyi Okowa.
When the result came out, the Edo PDP went out to protest while the Rivers APC jubilated with a statement, saying the people of Edo State have been commended for their wisdom in voting convincingly for Godwin Obaseki.
The APC said: “There is no doubt that Edo people have made the right choice because Godwin Obaseki is the best man for the job. He is tested and trusted and will continue the good work which the APC Government in Edo under the watch of His Excellency, Comrade Governor Adams Oshiomhole, has done in the past almost eight years. We urge the incoming Obaseki administration to toe the developmental vision of the Comrade Governor and provide the good people of Edo State the type of governance they deserve to continue to enjoy,” Rivers APC said in the statement issued in Port Harcourt by the State Chairman, Davies Ibiamu Ikanya.
The party congratulated all those who they said made the Edo election peaceful, noting that by so doing, they have put to shame some forces in Rivers State who allegedly sponsored political thugs with a view to rigging the election.
Saying the Edo example could make Africa proud, the Rivers APC described the incumbent governor as lion killer and went ahead to ask Ondo people to emulate Edo State.
Conclusion
It is obvious that the PDP would soon react, and the raging political battle in the state and the attendant war of words would boil over though the election took place elsewhere. Rivers PDP seems to do everything to prove Amaechi irrelevant and not a force to deliver Niger Delta to the centre, and the APC in the state seems to do everything to counter that notion. That way, the Edo election became a Rivers’ affair.
Ignatius Chukwu
