Another reversal in Osun State

THE reverberations of the shambolic general elections of 2007 continue to affect the political health of Nigeria. Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a second-term governor, said to have won in Osun State in 2007 has recently been sacked.  He had been in office on a stolen mandate for an astonishing three years and seven months out of a four-year term before he was found out.  With this latest upset, coming close on the heels of a similar overturn in Ekiti State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a party  almost single-handedly dragooned into reckoning in the South West by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, is beginning to look increasingly like a house of cards.
To date, in the old Western Region, the PDP has lost control of Edo, Ekiti, and Osun states and of course Lagos State. Currently the PDP’s presence in the South West is restricted to the two turbulent states of Oyo and Ogun only. Following a tenacious plea by Engineer Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) that he was the rightful winner of the governorship election in Osun State in 2007, an appeal court in Ibadan finally ruled in his favour.  Rising from four and half hours of deliberations the court in a unanimous decision declared Aregbesola winner of the election with a total vote of 198,799 against 172,880 polled by the deposed governor.  It deprecated the previous judgment of a lower court that awarded initial victory to Oyinlola.
The court came to its decision on the basis of the preponderance of evidence that the results in 10 local government areas out of 30 were fraudulent and riddled with all sorts of malpractices. It annulled those results.  Of the remaining valid votes, the court found that Aregbesola had won two-thirds of the votes cast in accordance with the Constitution and the Electoral Act.  The court therefore ordered that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should immediately issue the Certificate of Return to Aregbesola who has since assumed duties.
The court’s ruling is a major boost to all lovers of democracy and fair play.  The rule of law has triumphed over impunity, demagoguery and deceit. It is also a warning to all politicians that Nigerians are no longer prepared to condone electoral malpractices and that henceforth, the will of the people will be the sole determinant for electability. The INEC must learn a lesson from the many reversals of the fictitious results of the 2007 general elections, making sure that it does not support fraudulent practices.  It should remain circumspect and avoid the ridicule and disrepute to which INEC under Prof. Maurice Iwu has now been typecast.  INEC should ensure that the 2011 general polls are free, fair and credible. INEC officials who collude with corrupt politicians should be prosecuted and if found guilty, jailed.  Politicians who refuse to play by the rules should be severely punished and barred from contesting future elections at any level.
Following from the reversals – too many to count – occasioned by fraudulent elections in Nigeria, many are calling for the prosecution and imprisonment of guilty election riggers. Civil society groups have joined the call for election malpractices to be seen as crimes against the people deserving of serious punishment. But even within existing laws, there is the capacity to bring culprits to book.  What is lacking is the political will to ruthlessly deal with a growing number of ‘do or die’ politicians who think it is their divine right to win at all elections.  Some have called for the establishment of a special electoral malpractices tribunal to tackle the malady.  If that is what it takes to get serious with election riggers, then let us have one before the 2011 general elections.
Unfortunately the problem of stolen mandates will not go away anytime soon.  As we pointed out in a previous editorial, the fact that the 2011 general elections will be taking place in April -- as was the case in 2007 -- practically means that the nation is locked into the same treacherous groove as before with one month between elections and handover. Such a short time span will not enable disputed results to be disposed of before swearing-in of the winners.  And more time cannot be created because INEC has assured the nation that the handover date of May 29, 2011 is sacrosanct.  We have accordingly warned Nigerians to brace themselves for the possibility that the 2011 general elections may throw up a fresh batch of usurpers with disastrous consequences for the rule of law, accountability and good governance.
We congratulate Aregbesola on his deserved victory hoping that he will use his good offices to improve the lot of the common man in Osun State.  Now that the euphoria of victory is dying down, he must swing into action to deliver good governance to all the people of his state, not just to his supporters.  He should hit the ground running and not waste too much time probing every perceived misdemeanour of former governor Oyinlola.
SOURCE:.ngrguardiannews.com