In less than 24 hours, Ekiti people will go to the polls to elect successor to Governor Ayo Fayose whose second term ends October 16, 2018.
Ideally, that should be an easy task. In most democracies, election, which forms an integral part of any democratic process, has been simplified.
Besides, this is a standalone election and coming on the eve of the 2019 polls, all eyes – local and international – are on the state.
In the circumstance, a more reflective nation-state cautious of its image will be careful to get it right so as not to give the wrong signal.
Again, Ekiti, a homogenous state, is one of the least populated in the country, ranked 29th out of the 36 states with a population of 2,384,212 according to the 2006 Census figures.
With 913,334 registered voters, out of which only 667,064 collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the voting population is equally small and, therefore, manageable.
But, nothing is ever ideal in Nigeria, particularly in the political sphere. That is why the country and not only Ekiti State is soaked in palpable tension, which boiled over, literally, on Wednesday when the police, without any provocation, mounted a barricade at the entrance to the Ekiti State Government House in Ado-Ekiti, took over the premises and fired teargas at the governor.
The police team led by the Commissioner of Police in charge of Mobile Police (MOPOL) unit, Eche Eche, blocked the road between Fajuyi Park and Government House, preventing members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from holding a rally.
They also occupied the state pavilion, the campaign base of the candidate of the PDP, Kolapo Olusola-Eleka, and dispersed party supporters who were preparing for what was called a victory rally.
The teargas reportedly left Fayose unconscious for about five minutes before he was resuscitated by party supporters and taken to the Government House Clinic.
This is unbecoming and condemnable particularly when the police have not come up with any cogent reason for their bizarre conduct.
The excuse that the action was taken to forestall a possible clash between members of the APC and PDP is untenable since the APC which had a mega rally on Tuesday attended by the party’s bigwigs including President Muhammadu Buhari, said they never applied for any permit to have another rally on Wednesday.
If the PDP wanted to have a rally on Wednesday, it is well within their right since time for capaign had not elapsed.
So the explanation by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Operations), Habilal Joshak, that the police took the ill-advised action because of “the mood of the state,” flies in the face of reason.
The security build-up in Ekiti is monstrous and scandalous.
For the purposes of a standalone election, a one-day affair, the police deployed 30,000 personnel, two patrol surveillance helicopters, five armoured personnel carriers, 10 armoured personnel and 250 police patrol vehicles, with operations to be led by a Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG), an Assistant Inspector General of Police and five Commissioners.
The military deployed 4,390 soldiers and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) ordered the deployment of 19,997 personnel, mobile surveillance vehicles and sniffer dogs, surveillance/intelligence unit, medical and disaster rapid response team, special forces and other specialised units.
Like the police, the NSCDC operations will be led by Deputy Commandant General (DCG) Operations, three ACGs, six Commandants and other senior officers from the rank of DCC to ACC.
The Department of State Services (DSS) has equally deployed 1000 men.
This is simply an act of intimidation, an unnecessary show of force with the intent of cowing Ekiti people and influencing their choices at the polls.
This is an election, which though parades 35 candidates is likely going to be a straight fight between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, is the incumbent deputy governor and political protégé of Governor Fayose, and the APC whose candidate is Dr Kayode Fayemi, former governor of the state and Minister of Solid Minerals Development.
All the contestants are known to the people, which ought to make decisions easy.
The question to answer on Saturday is; In whose hands will the lot of Ekiti people be better? And the people can answer that question empirically based on the antecedents of the political gladiators in private and public offices.
This newspaper, therefore, does not see any justification for the militarisation of the democratic process in Ekiti.
The beauty of democracy is the freedom of choice it affords the people. The conduct of elections is not rocket science. Even if it were, Nigeria is not reinventing the wheel.
Unfortunately, with the unfolding drama in Ekiti, the powers-that-be seem not prepared to allow the people exercise that inalienable right of franchise.
There is so much tension. An entire state has been shut down, nobody comes in and nobody goes out in an era where, in some countries, voters don’t even go to the polling booths again to vote.
India, for instance, a country with a population of 1.237 billion people (as at 2012), and a world record of 815 million eligible voters in over one million polling stations conducted a seamless election in 2014.
Soldiers were not drafted onto the streets, the country was not locked down. The opposition party defeated the ruling party. The defeated Prime Minister said Indians had spoken and congratulated the winner, and country moved on.
What is going on in Ekiti State right now is antithetical to democracy. Any election conducted in this pugnacious atmosphere cannot be fair no-matter the outcome.
It smacks of insane desperation. It is condemnable.
The political class should remember that this democracy was bought with the blood of patriots and should not allow their inordinate ambitions to imperil it.
Ekiti people should be allowed to elect their governor without intimidation.
Rather than promote free and fair poll, the massive deployment of security personnel may deter some prospective voters from coming out to avoid being in harm’s way.
Intolerance, bullying and gangsterism are not democratic values and any election conducted in the circumstance cannot be fair even when it seems free.
The credibility of any poll is undermined when the people are intimidated.
And the government should not send out the signal that this is a foretaste of what the 2019 general elections portend.
The Niche frowns against the militarisation of elections in Nigeria. Ekiti people must be allowed to make their decision tomorrow without any encumbrances.