Nuggets from the Ekiti election

The Ekiti State election held last week has opened a new and beautiful chapter in the nation’s political sphere.

The exercise brought out many positives. The free and fair election, which has so been acknowledged even by those who lost, is simply unprecedented. The peaceful atmosphere that pervaded the election, the massive turn out of voters, cooperation of the security agencies and the superlative performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are all commendable.

It is often said that there is nothing wrong with Nigeria as a country, but that it is lack of the will power to do the right that is the problem. Events have proven that if the country applies its mind to do something creditably, it will so do. The Ekiti election has vindicated those who hold this view.

Although there were fears of possible violence during the exercise, reports show Ekiti was largely peaceful.

A number of factors conglomerated to make the exercise the huge success it was. The ability of the security agencies to deliver on keeping peace and order before, during and after the exercise is commendable. That there’s no incidence of death despite the much-trumpeted crisis-prone election could only have been the handiwork of dedicated security agents.

The conduct of the election by the INEC has also convinced Nigerians that the electoral umpire was indeed very sorry for the sham of an election it superintended over in Anambra in November last year. Unlike the Anambra poll, there were no complaints about missing names of voters on the register; men and materials got to the polling stations at the right time and there were no reports about anybody being molested while voting or after the exercise. For all these, Attahiru Jega, national chairman of INEC, and his team deserves some garlands.

The Federal Government also deserves some commendation for stepping in at the right time to nip in the bud what could have been a violence-ridden exercise. By deploying intimidating number of security personnel, trouble makers were kept at bay.

What can we say of the rare spirit of sportsmanship exhibited by Governor Kayode Fayemi, who, not only accepted defeat, also went ahead to congratulate his brother, Fayose. Of particular note is his humble statement that “Elections tend to be highly divisive affairs that often see brother rising against brother. Despite our diverse party affiliations, and regardless of which way we voted on Saturday, we must remember that we are all sons and daughters of Ekiti State. Ekiti is ours to build together”.

Although we do not throw our weight to “politics of the stomach” in which the people tend to emphasise pecuniary and immediate benefits- such as few cups of rice, maggi cubes, sachets of tomato paste, some bulbs of onions and small amount of money (which was evident in the Ekiti poll)- above developmental projects that could have a lasting effect in their lives, we, nonetheless agree with the Ekiti people that leaders must, beyond providing the needed infrastructure, be accessible to the people.

Moreover, according to some reports from Ekiti, we could deduce that there were somewhat protest votes against the incumbent. Some indigenes of the state complained that while government officials and their cronies reveled in affluence, the ordinary folks pinned away in abject poverty. They alleged that those in government circle advertised their wealth to the chagrin of the less-privileged. If these were so, they are lessons for politicians across the country.

With the INEC’s superlative performance in Ekiti, it is our hope that the Osun gubernatorial poll slated for August 9 will surpass that of Ekiti in terms of all the attributes that amalgamated to produce a worthy outcome.

We pray that the INEC, security agencies, and other stakeholders will extend the goodness to the 2015 general election. And it is our prayer that losers in subsequent elections will toe the honourable path of Fayemi, who told his supporters, “we have fought a good fight, we have kept faith”.