Ekiti election ‘rigging tape’ merits looking into

The audiotape, apparently secretly recorded by Captain Sagir Koli, purports to record conversations between PDP officials, Mr Fayose, and an army general discussing procedure to ‘fix’ the vote to favour Fayose. The tape has since gone viral on social media, and the man who appeared to produce it has gone underground, occasionally surfacing to give […]

The audiotape, apparently secretly recorded by Captain Sagir Koli, purports to record conversations between PDP officials, Mr Fayose, and an army general discussing procedure to ‘fix’ the vote to favour Fayose.
The tape has since gone viral on social media, and the man who appeared to produce it has gone underground, occasionally surfacing to give radio and television interviews to add clarity to his claims. The voices have been identified in the tape as belonging to Mr Musliu Obanikoro, at the time the Minister of State for Defence; Mr Abduljelili Adesiyan, Mr of Police Affairs, the army general, Mr Fayose, Senator Iyiola Omisore, a PDP stalwart; Mr Caleb Olubolade, a former Police Affairs minister; Senator Andy Uba, and one Honourable Abdulkareen.  Captain Koli alleged that the senior military officer involved in the plan was Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh, commanding officer of 32 Artillery Brigade in Ado-Ekiti,  who it was said was promised promotion for his role. Koli was his staff officer.
A voice purported to be that of Obanikoro was heard declaring that he was not in Ekiti for a tea party but was on a special assignment given to him by ‘the president’. The alleged content of the tape has aroused sufficient interest in the country that the president’s peremptory dismissal of it, made in remarks to the Wall Street Journal, cannot substitute for a vigorous inquiry that it demands. Unless the president is using his powers to veto any investigation into the matter, cause does exist for such an investigation to commence forthwith.
Moreover, some of the dramatis personae have said that they did take part in the meeting mentioned in the tape, but disputed the substance of its content, to wit to rig the election. Fayose, for one first denied that the meeting ever took place but later retracted, explaining there was indeed such a meeting but not for the purpose depicted on the tape. The president’s opinion on the issue is therefore hasty and does nothing to clear the fog of impunity and lawlessness that pervades aspects of the administration’s policies. An inquiry is also important to establish the truth or otherwise of the tape’s content. It should be a matter for serious concern to the president that the tape could cast doubts on his vows that he would allow the environment for the forthcoming elections to be credible.
That is why it would be a miscalculation on the part of the president to facilitate any effort to sweep the matter under the carpet. It could also those he is trying to shield, because the tape has put under a cloud of suspicion that requires to be cleared, in their own interest. However the issue turns out, the episode is a reminder that military personnel should not have the front role they now play in the democratic process, particularly in relation to elections. They should revert to their constitutional duties of protecting the territorial integrity of the country.
Justice Mohammed Rilwan of the Federal High Court, Sokoto, provided the foundation for that when he ruled recently that it was unconstitutional for the military to be used for election duties without an Act of the National Assembly directing so. Delivering judgement in a suit challenging the deployment of the military for election duties, the judge declared that “in view of the combined provisions of sections 217(2) and 218 (1) and (4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria the president cannot, in the absence of an Act of the National Assembly…unilaterally order the engagement of the armed forces in the security supervision of elections in Nigeria.”
 But in truth, the judge only reaffirmed what the extant laws are; deployment of soldiers grew out of a culture of impunity, which should now be curtailed. It is the duty of the president to ensure strict adherence to this constitutional provision by halting the deployment of the military to election duty; the nasty experience in Ekiti should never again be contemplated.