Suspended Deputy Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, Festus Ebea, tells Special Correspondent, TITUS OISE, why he lost his re-election bid in the April 11 state election and his grouse with PDP politicians defecting to APC.
Failed re-election bid into the House of Assembly
We had an election that people say was free and fair. But as an active participant, I will say that the election was fraught with irregularities. I do believe that Nigerians do want change as they claimed.
But taking into cognisance what really played out in Edo State here, you find that in my constituency, so many ugly things happened, to the extent that even the hands of security agents were not clean. In the Constituency 1 of my local government, at the Ewohinmi end, there were so much irregularities, to the extent that there were incidences of massive thumb-printing, shooting, snatching of ballot boxes etc. But you see, I have always said that this thing is not about me.
We want democracy to thrive. We have no other country. But we keep begging God that He enthrones good leaders for us. If you force yourself on the people, except God does not exist, the truth will always come out. The situation whereby you induce voters with N1,000 just because you know they’re poor and cannot make decisions for themselves, is a pity. I always pray that the poverty burden on our people is ameliorated, so that they can think properly.
Challenging the result at the Elections Petitions Tribunal
No, I am not in the tribunal. I am not in the tribunal because the level of betrayal, even by some members of my political party, cannot be downplayed, and I do not want a situation whereby even the witnesses we have may be intimidated. I don’t want to put anybody in harm’s way because I want to represent my people. I believe that God is the ultimate judge. But above all, my opponent who said that he won the election knows quite well that he didn’t win. They know quite well that all those boxes they snatched at Ikeken Units 7 and 8 of Ward 2 in Esan South-East Local Government Area under the cover of security men ought not to be part of it. The Returning Officer was culpable. Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as early as 1pm, had received report that two ballot boxes were snatched and they later loaded them with thumb-printed ballot papers and took the boxes to the police station.
At the end, APC agents and leaders from Ewohinmi end escorted the so-called result from those two units to Ubiaja at the final collation point. Results were never collated in Ward 2. They just came to Ubiaja; they had a piece of paper where they had entered results. For INEC to have accepted that result was most unfortunate.
I feel bad at the so-called Returning Officer, who, of course, is from Auchi; a man that I had met earlier and pleaded with not to rig election for me, but to be fair to all and follow all the rules as INEC had stated. But at the end, after manoeuvrings, they said I should have started my fight earlier from the ward level to prevent the results from coming in; that it was too late as they had to enter the result. I live in Ubiaja, this thing happened in Ewohinmi. Should I start fighting because the result was not included? I asked them if they collated any result from Ewohinmi. Our agent ensured that they did not put it there.
Members of my party, the agents who were beaten, made statement to the police. Some of them were still in the hospital when results were being declared. When you see a thing like that, I do believe that the best thing to do is to just calm frayed nerves. There is no point. Let the man who claimed he won have it. Let us see what he is going to do. I don’t believe that delivering the dividends of democracy to the people is a job of one man. Let us equally try him. I wish them all the best. But I pray that subsequent elections don’t go this way because if you allow them to continue like this, we are not helping the cause of this country.
Possibility of quitting politics
My opponent is from Ubiaja, like me. We are going to represent Ubiaja and other adjoining villages and towns. I am not saying that he is not capable; he is capable. So let us wait for him. I am not calling it quits with politics. Why? Politics, I believe, is a catalyst to bring development to the people. For you to make sure that your voice is heard and you are equally able to contribute to the change that we are talking about; if you try through elective position and it is not working for you, you remain a party member, play opposition politics and do constructive criticism. I have always told people that from the onset I don’t have problem with anybody, but the system that we are operating. Today you are in Party A, later you switch over to Party B and vice-versa. Is that why you should have problem with the people? It is the system that allows you to shortchange people and move to the other party that we should talk about. It is not about me at all. I believe that every well-meaning Nigerian knows the right thing to do.
PDP members defecting to the APC in Edo
It is not healthy for democracy. It is not healthy for people who lost election to be looking for cover from the party that won. What if you want some witnesses to buttress your case, but they have switched party too? Some of my key witnesses are already being approached by the APC with mouthwatering offers. So, it is the system that am talking about. Not until we check influence of money politics in Nigeria, our democracy is going nowhere. With this cash and carry democracy, we will not go anywhere. We just pray that the new president (Muhammadu Buhari) is able to engineer some electoral reforms; if not, we cannot say we are enjoying democracy. Unless something is done, the elections might be free and fair, but would not be credible.
