Why must we continue to drive northward when both the driver and the passengers know exactly that their destination is but in the South? Why do we prefer to make a thousand backward steps when we are just at the verge of being commended for making a step forward? When will the end be at sight for the few evil ones to dominate the just and honorable majority?
We all seem to be in for a long haul. For how long will the voice of reason be suppressed? What else could we expect from the good people of Ekiti? They were required to choose their leader, they passionately did. They were promised that their choice will be respected; they made frantic effort to defend it. Why would the federal government, through its agents and partners in crime enjoy making fool of people? How would you prove to the Ekitis and the whole World that INEC, NPF, SSS are not subsidiaries of the presidency aka PDP? After all, by their fruits we shall know them.
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I never expected that any other party would ever win any court-ordered re-run election in any of our 36 states in Nigeria based on antecedents. Adamawa, Kogi, and Akwa-Ibom States’ rerun polls were instructive. This was the assumption I had carried all along from the day the Appeal court sitting in Ilorin ordered a re-run governorship election in Ekiti State until about 10 days ago when Ekiti REC came into prominence by the scary and inspiring contents of her purported letter of resignation and all the dramas that followed. Naturally, I celebrated her resignation especially for her courage to point out the evils being perpetrated by the desperate politicians. I could not think of any public officer in Nigeria who had ever resigned from a position as a result of his/her principled stance. This singular act did not just make her my heroine but it re-ignited my hope and faith in the Nigerian project.
This woman was indeed the majority’s heroin for about 6-7 days during which the spirit of God was with her and her conscience was alive. During this time, she feared no one but God. She loved nothing but integrity and justice. She hoped for nothing but for her name to be gold-written. For 6/7 days men of honor even ministers of the Living God rallied round her. She was seen as somebody that could hold her own as a Christian even in the face of temptation and threats. It was her moment to redeem her image. But her decision to cave-in and eat her own very vomit has effectively thrown her back to where she originally belonged.
After all, she was the Tool used to conduct the April 2007 governorship election in Ekiti in the first place, which has wrecked all these avoidable havoc on the entire country and good people of Ekiti in particular in the last couple of months. It is an international embarrassment. Her name and records will forever be remembered at the mention of any of these terms..…fraud, subversion of people’s will election rigger, partner-in-crime, insensitivity, traitor, bribery/corruption, coward … This re-run election in Ekiti would have just come and gone like any other one, but for the determined electorate and Ekiti REC’s action or inaction has made it a template and proven model for what really goes on in the minds of the ruling party at every election cycle…WE MUST WIN AT ALL COSTS.
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They have all the government resources/apparatus at their disposal. However, I congratulate the people of Ekiti for their resilience and perseverance even in the face of intimidation. Though a candidate had been declared and returned as a winner by the visibly biased umpire, this is a set back that looks very transient. I am confident in the Nigerian Judiciary; therefore, true victor in this election will ultimately be declared and returned from the bench. Let us all hope that men of conscience that will be able to stand the test of time would be constituted at both Tribunal and appeal courts to look into the most brazen injustice of our time.
Victor ogunmola writes from Houston, TX.
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