Democracy Day and the Yobe paradox

Chinyere: We now have a moral ground to raise our head and continue our interventions in support of democracy in West Africa and elsewhere. We have set a good example for African countries where the power of incumbency is always used to hold on to power by all means even where this leads to violence. […]

Chinyere: We now have a moral ground to raise our head and continue our interventions in support of democracy in West Africa and elsewhere. We have set a good example for African countries where the power of incumbency is always used to hold on to power by all means even where this leads to violence.
Hafsatu:  Yes, we can proudly celebrate the triumph of democracy. My only worry is the few but important issues we must sort out if want our democracy to be meaningful. The states that stand out as sore fingers are those where elections were rigged or contested on a faulty platform. Among them are Yobe, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states and something must be done to correct the anomalies.
Goje:  Akwa Ibom and Rivers are similar but Yobe is a unique case. Since his emergence as Governor following the death of his principal in 2010, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State has demonstrated his ability to hold on to power through fair and foul means. He should not have contested the elections in the first place.
Hassan: The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic party PDP, Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri, laid the cards on the table at a well attended press conference in Abuja. He provided incontrovertible reasons to support his demand for the cancellation of the election in Yobe. He said Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, the All Progressives Alliance APC candidate should have been disqualified. He is challenging the eligibility of Governor Gaidam to contest the election based on subsisting Supreme Court judgments that have defined the tenure of the president and governors to be a maximum of two terms of four years each.
Goje:  Alhaji Adamu Waziri noted that it is in line with its judgment that the Supreme Court determined the tenure in the case of Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state and Idris Ibrahim in Kogi state. ‘’The Supreme Court also in 2003, had declared that under the 1999 constitution, neither the president nor the governors can be sworn in more than twice.’’
Ayo: This is a very interesting argument, whose conclusion would have far reaching implications for democracy and its sustenance in Nigeria. The point is that if a governor is sworn in in the morning and for whatever constitutional reason, the deputy takes over in the evening, finishes the term and wins a second term, can he, at the end of the second term insist on re-contesting for another term on the basis that the first term was not his?
Hassan: That is one issue we need to iron out. The second contentious point on which Adamu Waziri hinges his case is about alleged inducement. He claimed to have obtained a bank teller which showed that the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Yobe was compromised.
Goje: An advocate for good governance in Damaturu said he was surprised that Yobe state government was not discreet in covering its track and the bank tellers for the payment of millions of Naira into the account of the Resident Electoral Commissioner REC were easily accessed and obtained.
 Chinyere: If this is true, then Governor Gaidam will have a difficult time extricating himself from allegations of inducing the REC. This reminds me of the case of Governor Chris Ngige in Anambra state where the governor had a running battle with his god father Chris Uba who bankrolled his election and took him to a shrine to seal the deal. When Ngige disagreed with him over sharing positions in the government, one of the party elders who called the two of them to settle the rift reminded the Governor Chris Ngige that he did not win elections.  The Governor confirmed this. The elder then told him that he should ask Chris Uba his godfather what ‘’he did’’ for him to emerge as the governor and promptly settle his obligation to his godfather!!
Ayo: The most recent one that gives me goose flesh is the nauseating drama in Ekiti State where a PDP stalwart from Lagos state Musiliu Obanikoro admitted that he was sent to Ekiti to  ‘’facilitate’’ his party’s success and defeat the APC ‘by all means’.
Hassan: Yobe replicated all these anomalies and the third and final charge, on the basis of which the Adamu Maina Waziri team hopes to make a strong case, is the issue of card reader. He said his team have evidence to show that in many parts of Yobe state, contrary to Independent National Electoral Commission’s directive, card readers were not used for conducting the election.
Goje: He also alleged that in a number of places, the conduct of the election was not free and fair due to intimidation of his agents by security forces as well as traditional rulers.
Hassan: Equally disturbing is the red herring being dangled before us that contrary to the equation nationwide, more people turned up for the governorship election in Yobe state than the presidential election. One can smell a rat here.
Hafsat: With all these cases of intimidation and manipulations, the electorate in Yobe state will be glad to see the judiciary intervening to save democracy. The decision by Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri to challenge the so called victory of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam is a decisive moment and offers one last opportunity to get things right and remedy the situation.