A Guber Poll With A Difference: Lessons From Edo

Iwor Romgbo Obi, Head, Political Desk, was in Edo State at the weekend to monitor the guber polls there and shares his experiences regarding the conduct of the polls, candour of citizens and operational patterns of the law enforcement and security agencies.

I was a guest in Benin City, the Edo State capital between Thursday and Sunday, September 17 and 20, 2020, during which period the Edo State Gubernatorial Election was conducted and results declared.

While getting into Edo State through Delta State from Patani down to Ughelli, Sapele, Oghara before entering Benin City, I didn’t see fierce looking security men barricading the landscape of Edo State despite the fact that an election of such magnitude and high stakes political implications was just few hours away.

I was actually expecting reports of violence judging by the taunting threats of political parties that all hell will be let loose as all the divides wanted to win by all means.

So, you can imagine the disappointment I got when I got to the city center and noticed that even in the city center the Policemen were merely doing routine patrol and not moving in a commando style as they do during elections in my state, Rivers.

I sought to know why this was so and was told that the Oba of Benin had on the previous day called the political actors to order and made them enter a peace deal with the ancient throne that none of them or their supporters will carry out any act of violence before, during and after the elections.

That explanation and the eventual reaction of the people got me really amazed that a traditional ruler can wield that level of influence in modern Nigeria, especially, being a Port Harcourt boy who knows that such things can’t happen in my dear Rivers State. So, I was pleasantly surprised.

On the election eve, people were going about their normal businesses and woke up peacefully the next day by 8:00am to cast their votes which outcome you already know.

I left in the latter part of yesterday being Sunday, September 20, 2020 to my base in Ngo Town, Rivers State, heart of the Niger Delta. Inside the car I entered to Port Harcourt and then to Ngo Town, about 70% of the other passengers were Edolites, and I listened to them analyze the election as they all participated in the keenly contested gubernatorial poll. They reaffirmed the issue of the Oba’s order and reiterated the preeminence of his decisions on the entirety of the state.

Most of them equally predicted that the incumbent Governor, Godwin Obaseki was going to win as he was massively supported not just because they loved him but that it was a collective decision across the state that Adams Oshiomhole, the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state cannot dictate for them again as to who to support having told them that the APC’s candidate, Osaze Ize-Iyamu was not a good candidate for the state in 2016. This, of course, was still in the realm of speculations.

But, I noticed that all but one of them were glad that INEC allowed their will to prevail and I asked myself, can this be replicated in my state where few men are more powerful than all the traditional rulers put together?

Frankly speaking, I doubt if the situation could have been the same if it all happened in my state? Imagine a Rivers election without bloodbath and gangsterism as well as various forms of security infractions not forgetting illegal arrests and detention of opposition political leaders by the ruling party at the federal level?

If a traditional ruler can give an order and it is obeyed, one is won’t to ask what happened to our own traditional rulers that we ignore their orders?

Apart from celebrating the unique work INEC did in Edo State by conducting a largely adjudged hitch-free and conclusive election, can we as Rivers people ask ourselves, if this same peaceful, free and fair election can happen in our state?

The lessons we can get from Edo State is that we can respect our traditional rulers and that a peaceful election is possible only if we are determined to change the negative narrative of a violence-filled election.

But are we ready? I seriously doubt it.

…On the flip side, I enjoyed my stay in the ancient historic city. Ngo is also sweet but…We will talk about Ngo, headquarters of the Obolo (Andoni) ethnic nationality, another day.

Iwor Romgbo, a Journalist writes from Ngo Town, Rivers State Nigeria.