…will BVAS/Irev work without a glitch?
…as states delivered by the judiciary go to polls
In the next 24hours the offshore elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo states may have been concluded by Nigeria’s apex electoral body, the all powerful INEC.
But many questions are begging for answers as the imported technology used in the last general elections left a very bitter taste in the mouths of many Nigerians making whatever the electoral body delves into now to be laced with suspicion.
The imported machines(BVAS/Irev) totally failed in the last presidential election but recorded success in other elections.
In this offshore elections will INEC remedy its previous mistakes and right its many errors?
Already there are pockets of protests in Imo State that the Irev password has been removed.
TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) in this analysis will take a snappy look into the three offshore states that were birthed by the Nigerian judiciary not by the tagged Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC that is not truly independent.
A PEEP AT IMO STATE A PRODUCT OF THE JUDICIARY:
On 14 January 2020, the Supreme Court declared Uzodimma the duly elected Governor of Imo State. The court held that results from 388 polling units were wrongly excluded from votes ascribed to Uzodimma and the APC in Imo adding that the first appellant Uzodimma holds the majority of lawful votes cast.
The Imo State Supreme Court’s verdict eventually earned the governor the tag of a Supreme Court governor. Precisely, the Supreme Court single handedly produced a governor that came fourth in INEC’s conducted election.
Hope Uzodinma eventually became the first tagged Supreme Court governor in Nigeria.
His reign as governor has turned the state into a theatre of war in the last three years.
Insecurity wore ‘agbada and sokoto ‘ and peace became alien to the state.
If INEC adequately deployed its imported technology the right way Uzodinma should be relocating from Nigeria by Monday but the magical prowess of imported technology could just install him as nothing is impossible in Nigeria.
BAYELSA:
Governor-elect David Lyon did not for one day rule the State after INEC declared him winner as on the eve of his swearing in ceremony he was given the red signal.
A five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Mary Odili nullified the election of Mr Lyon on the grounds that his deputy, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, presented false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in aid of his qualification for the November 16 governorship election in the state.
The apex court in the judgment delivered by Justice Ejembi Eko consequently ordered INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Messrs Lyon and Degi-Eremienyo.
End of David Lyon’s mission impossible to government house in Bayelsa.
In today’s election, Governor Diri is facing a master of the game and a ruthless politician in the mould of Timipre Sylva a one time governor of the state with a massive war chest.
It’s too early to call but definitely it’s not going to be a roller coaster drive for Governor Diri today. He has to be on his toes for the next 24hours to make sure he returns to government house.
KOGI:
Kogi State equally had its fair share in INEC’s dislocated elections as ‘inconclusive’ electoral process helped to shape the state into another judiciary product.
Flashback:
Bello was declared winner of the 2015 Kogi gubernatorial election after he was chosen on the platform of the All Progressives Congress as the replacement for the late Abubakar Audu who originally won the election but died before the result was declared.
Thereafter there were legal tussles, expectedly the Supreme Court verdict favoured Yahaya Bello.
His reign remains infamous.
He’s at the verge of installing his puppet today if Kogites allow the youngest governor in Nigeria to have his way.
As Nigerians wait for the outcome of today’s polls, democracy is sitting on a keg of gunpowder in Nigeria. The outcomes of the results in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo will go a long way to prove whether democracy has come to stay.