In our open letter to the INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega, on the 21st of Dec. 2010, we stated unequivocally that our primary objectives as an organisation, are to ensure that the people of Delta State of Nigeria, exercise their civil rights to choose their desired leader in a free and fair election; and to be governed according to their expressed democratic choices, consistent with civilized norms.
In our open letter to the INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega, on the 21st of Dec. 2010, we stated unequivocally that our primary objectives as an organisation, are to ensure that the people of Delta State of Nigeria, exercise their civil rights to choose their desired leader in a free and fair election; and to be governed according to their expressed democratic choices, consistent with civilized norms.
In the same letter, we did not only lay bare our desire for INEC to achieve a credible rerun election but we also promised to setup an Election Monitoring Centre (EMC) in London which will broadcast up-to-the-minute details of our observed experiences onto the Internet for the whole world to see. We also promised to send secret cameras into Delta State to take live videos of the progress of the election.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
We are pleased that we completely delivered on our promises. The minute-by-minute twittering that came from Delta State live into our EMC can still be viewed today on our website at www.deltastateforum.org (click on the TWEETS tab). We recruited ordinary local people to help with our monitoring process as well as local INEC-approved monitoring organisations. Over 200 tweets landed at our website on Election Day. We must emphasize that what is published, is the raw unedited details of what our volunteers observed on the field on Election Day. Therefore, as a general guide the information provides a real feel of the overall conduct of the election.
Also, at the time of this report, our video cameras are still being processed and we shall surely deliver any hard evidence of any manifestation of electoral fraud to the relevant authorities as well post on to our website at www.deltastateforum.org in due course.
The Absurdity Of The INEC Declared “Winner”
Based on what our observers reports round the State, we can only conclude that INEC’s declaration of Emmanuel Uduaghan as the winner of the election rerun, is nothing but a disgraceful affront to democracy and a shameless usurpation of the true wishes of the people of Delta State. The total lack of jubilation that greeted the announcement of INEC’s declared winner should send a clear message that Uduaghan may be INEC’s preferred choice, but for the vast majority of the people of Delta State, he is still an imposition and will continue to lack acceptance.
You can fool all the people some of the time, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. From our collated results on the day from various parts of the State, though a small sample, PDP were trailing with only 25% of the votes behind DPP.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });
The three Warri LGAs seem to have polled a total of 35% of the entire votes of the State, even though they only make up about 14% of the entire population of Delta State. Our twitters revealed that no other party agents apart from PDP, were allowed in these “no go” LG Areas, and ideally, the entire “election” there should have been cancelled for a breach of electoral rules.
Missing voters. We warned INEC about using the fraudulent 2006 Voters Register and the need to embark on a thorough review. Our concerns came to fruition, as the reality on Election Day was that many people could not find their names in their own local voters’ registers (We have damning video evidence of this which we will forward onto relevant authorities and post on our website in due course, a CNN report also confirmed this).
At Obiaruku, Ughelli and many parts of the State, there is sufficient evidence that many voters were deliberately disenfranchised. More striking conclusions from INEC’s results affirmed that there were more voters in Koko than in Sapele, Asaba and Agbor put together!
INEC declared that 98.75% of the voters in Warri North, 85.59% of Warri South and a whopping 94.73% of voters in Warri South West voted PDP. Many residents in Warri find this quite ludicrous.
Another interesting conclusion is that INEC declared that there were about the same number of voters in the three Warri LGAs as we have in IKA SOUTH, ISOKO SOUTH, ISOKO NORTH, NDOKWA EAST, NDOKWA WEST, OKPE, OSHIMILI NORTH, OSHIMILI SOUTH, PATANI, SAPELE, UDU, UGHELLI SOUTH, UGHELLI NORTH, UKWANI AND UVWIE all put together!
This declaration beggars belief!
Another interesting declaration from INEC is that almost 50% of the entire population of Warri South West actually voted in this election. A whopping 50,933 voted for Uduaghan out of a population of just over a 100,000 people by the 2006 Census figures!
Our Monitoring & Observations
Our monitoring team was spread throughout the State. Apart from the DSF observers, other anonymous persons were hired and equipped with covert video cameras and fully-funded mobile phones with which they could send live text messages to our Monitoring Centre in London. Our instruction was clear. Report anything significant that you see and take a secret video, if necessary.
The first Tweet came in just about 7:12am London time, advising us of the procedure for the day. Voters Accreditation 9-12noon followed by voting 12-3pm. This was quickly followed by a healthy notification of INEC materials arriving unhindered to their various offices. At 8:58am, we received another notification as follows;
“All is well in Warri South West, materials are now being disbursed to polling units.”
Followed at 8:38am by “Materials hav bn despatchd frm INEC's office Obiaruku, to all ten wards in Ukwuani LG area. We r also monitoring 2ensur hitch free delivery.”
By now, our confidence in INEC was beginning to grow for a hitch-free and fair election for the people of Delta State, at last!
It did not take long before the next tweet came, “Reports coming in that some ballot boxes were snatched in the Igbudu area of Warri”. As if to confirm this further, another tweet followed “Igbudu material has been reported snatched at akara junction”. This was at 10:03am
Almost immediately, we were to get this “Materials 4 Bowen & Pessu wards in Warri hav bn hijackd by PDP thugs n taken to Alders Town Pri. Sch. Agents of other parties seriously beaten!”. This tweet has been confirmed by independent report presented by CEHRD for Sahara Reporters, read “Delta Re-Run Election: Lessons Not Learned-Special Post-Election Report By CEHRD”
More interesting news of ballot box snatching and intimidation of political opponents with names of possible culprits continued relentlessly. Areas mentioned were Ugborodo, Okere, Sapele, Olomu, Ethiope West (Okweka), Ovie Palace road Warri, Jesse Irhodo Ward 2, Okwode Ward 3, Upper Erejuwa, Warri, Osubi Airport, Warri Stadium, Iyara, Ogbe-ijoh
It was indeed a sad day for democracy.
Later that afternoon, reports of arrests started flowing in as police started to crack down on the some of the fraudsters. This was indeed gratifying, true or false.
The Results
The first signs of counting came from Olodi Warri at exactly 3.08pm.but the first actual result came at 3:17 pm from St. Malachy’s Sapele, ward 9 unit 4 where DPP scored 50 votes against PDP-15. Sadly text came in that two had been shot dead at Orogun following some disturbances. News of further two deaths came in from Evwreni.
Results from Ward 9 at Obiaruku claimed a 96.2% win for DPP at 2:30pm, Sapele LGA Ward 2, unit 4: DPP-62, PDP-17, Umunede DPP swept 100%, further successes for DPP poured in from Ward 5 unit 2, Eyabugbe pri. Sch. Ugborikoko Effurun, with DPP-86 and PDP-2. Ethiope West Ward 3, unit 2: DPP-43, PDP-6; Unit 4 DPP-58, PDP-5.
By the time we had collated a few ward reports from LGAs ranging from Delta North to Delta Central and South, it was clear that Uduaghan was losing the election by a whopping margin of 75%!
The final results declared by INEC differ greatly from our observations and DPP is right to seek to challenge the validity of the quoted figures. Should the courts once more find INEC to have deliberately falsified election results, then INEC would have again failed Delta State, and also failed our nation. Given that the Nigerian nation under Jonathan Goodluck has invested over N200 billion Naira in INEC so far, it is about time that INEC takes elections seriously and ensures that the vote of every Nigerian counts, and that each vote is held and protected with the respect and dignity that democracy dictates.
Conclusions
• We regret and condemn the needless loss of lives. Human life must be held sacrosanct. No one deserves to die just for the sake of an election. THIS MUST STOP!
• We condemn in the strongest terms, the blatant disregard of our electoral laws openly exhibited by our politicians some of whom were busy parading round their LGAs with a troop of armed thugs, and in some cases, accompanied by the men of the Nigeria Police Force, to kill, steal ballot boxes and harass voters. This is akin to bank robbers being provided with Police escort!
• We must ensure that politicians who use Federal security to commit crime are arrested, humiliated, charged and imprisoned, no matter how highly placed.
• Should the courts decide that Great Ovedje Ogboru is the rightful winner of the election re-run, as it should be, we shall expect INEC to put it’s house in order, probe its staff and apply our electoral laws accordingly. Can Jega do this? We doubt.
• Security during the election was non-existent in many places. Granted the rumoured 22,000 Police deployed for this election, security was still a problem in many places especially in the Riverine areas where agents of opposing political parties were chased away from polling booths and collation centres.
• Shamefully, there was report of complicity by some Naval officers in the Riverine areas.
• What then can we expect from INEC in April? Will the issue of “missing” voters be resolved? Will thuggery and ballot box snatching be glorified once more? Will the open brigandage by top politicians be protected by Police escort, celebrated and go unpunished?
• We would like to call on all Deltans of voting age to ensure that they register for the forthcoming elections in April, with the hope that your votes, will indeed count.
• The people of Delta State at home and abroad deserve explanations from INEC on the conduct of the re-run election. We would at least expect INEC to address some of the issues we have highlighted here if it is to be taken seriously as a credible organization, otherwise INEC will be sending a message to the electorate all over Nigeria that election rigging is the sure way to “WIN” elections in Nigeria.
• If the Delta State rerun was a litmus test for Professor Attahiru Jega, our honest conclusion is that he has failed miserably and should do the honourable thing and resign NOW. We have no confidence in his ability to supervise the April General Elections in Nigeria.
The deafening silence that greeted INECs declaration of Uduaghan as the winner in the Delta rerun has spoken volumes already. Once more, the swindled candidates in the election have no choice but to return to our courts for the much needed justice for the people of Delta State. To them we say “soldier on” and reclaim your stolen mandate! We have little doubt that the fraudulent results declared by Jega’s INEC will be able to withstand the cold but impartial scrutiny of a competent and uncompromising court of law. And, as the highly respected Professor of Law Itse Sagay has publically commented: “the fraud was so blatant that even a blind man could see it”.
To The Good People Of Delta State
We at the Delta State Forum UK, congratulate you for speaking with a clear and loud voice about who you want as your Governor; INECs declaration notwithstanding, the whole world heard you! We admire your total commitment to elections without violence and thuggery. For this, we salute your courage and we are extremely proud of all good Deltans, as people of integrity and dignity.
Good Deltans, please do not relent in your pursuit of true democracy and good governance for all. The overwhelming desire you showed for true democracy in the face of unimaginable obstacles has confirmed that Delta State is truly, GREAT!
In your relentless quest for good governance and the betterment of the entire people of Delta State, the road may be rough, you may encounter injustice, but so long as you maintain a peaceful resistance, you can be rest assured that the TRUTH will eventually prevail.
Signed:
Olorogun Charles Okobia Onowu Amaechi Nwaenie
Chairman Vice-Chairman (Delta North)
Sylvester Efole Godfrey Udugba
General Secretary Vice-Chairman (Delta Central)
Da Costa Adowei
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });