The untold story of Tambuwal’s victory

The results of the last governorship polls as well as the supplementary elections conducted under the stewardship of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) still continue to steer a surprise obstinate look on the faces of the teaming electorates of Sokoto State. This is because the result announced by INEC was completely a detraction of […]

The results of the last governorship polls as well as the supplementary elections conducted under the stewardship of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) still continue to steer a surprise obstinate look on the faces of the teaming electorates of Sokoto State. This is because the result announced by INEC was completely a detraction of the merits of what actually happened at the polls. Sokoto State has no doubt witnessed the worst level of leadership since its creation in history. So it became eminent for the citizens of Sokoto to rise up together as one in other to eliminate the tyranny of misrule which unfortunately has become the order of the day in the state. This is the sole reason why all the polling units were flooded with myriad of people; old and young, men and women.  However, as the old African adage says, “As the good people are working, so are the bad people working to sabotage their efforts”. The last elections is not just a dramatization of broad day light thieving, but a systematic unconstitutional disenfranchisement of the guiltless, innocent and vulnerable electorates who did everything they can, within the ambits of the law to ensure that they performed their civic responsibility.

The election was completely marred by violence sponsored by Tambuwal and compromised electoral officials bought over with state resources. In fact, in some places, APC supporters were denied their right to vote even in the APC strongholds. Weeks prior to the election, tons of thugs were recruited and given a mandate to disrupt the serenity and tranquility of the election which had already been forecasted by the fiendish PDP fraternity to be a complete reflection of the people’s alternative. It was obvious to the dubious self-centered and desperate Sokoto state PDP politicians that their end was near. To make matters worse the state governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, instead of creating a bond to woo the citizens to his side, spent tax payers’ money shuffling between Abuja and Port Harcourt in his bid for the presidential seat. With this desperate move, it became obvious to even some PDP supporters that for the leadership of the PDP the election is not only a tug of war but a do-or-die affair.  The PDP, knowing all of these, felt it was up to them to do whatever needed to be done no matter how dastardly or unscrupulous their actions and the consequences of their actions would be.

What happened in Sokoto state is by no means an election. Instead it is the largest electoral robbery in Nigeria’s history. However, what is more sickening, is INEC’s role in all of these. This deceptive and unpatriotic role played by INEC will not only dent the image of the entire electoral body but deaden the little hope raised from the credibility of the presidential election. Furthermore, a bad precedence has been set, because some politicians will no longer contest elections on the strength of their popularity, leadership vision and qualities, but on the strength of their pockets. For INEC’s role has clearly eliminated the myth that the 2019 electoral umpire has gone through a “rebirth” process that is free from corruption, bias and inequity.

Since the results of the last election, Tambuwal has been venting his anger against the Nigerian military. This is obviously because of the great role the military played in sabotaging the efforts of the thugs recruited by Tambuwal to snatch ballot boxes. It is also because of the fact that after the election, several members of Tambuwal’s thuggish group were arrested by the military and all his attempts to free them were futile. Tambuwal’s bitterness is because the military truncated his plans to use his thugs to allocate thousands of votes to himself instead of the mere so called criminal stolen mandate of 342 vote margin he claimed to have gotten as a celebrated political fraudster. Elections were criminally conducted twice in more than 20 polling units, both at the supplementary and general elections, producing different inflated fake figures for PDP in other to emerge by all means. This is unacceptable. Democracy cannot be a game of stealing the mandate of the people. It is not a surprise that Tambuwal is venting is anger on the military and indeed anyone who is not on his side, because he is aware that his false victory is temporal. And it is only a matter of time for the tribunal to return a mandate that was stolen by Tambuwal and his cohorts. It is only sensible and wise to do the needful to avoid been disgraced out of office. Tambuwal should therefore save himself without insulting the sensibility of the electorates by vacating the government house before May 29, 2019. He should allow the law to take its course because any efforts exerted to put up a stiff defense or to truncate any legal process will be an exercise in futility.

 

Prof. Aliyu wrote this piece from Sokoto