That the re-run election in Ekiti State went the way of previous elections in Nigeria was not a surprise. As usual, electoral malpractices e.g. ballot box snatching, ballot box stuffing, multiple voting and, of course, violence, characterized the polls.
This is not the focus of this write- up. It is my belief that when
Nigerians get tired of the rot (electoral malpractices) they will make effort to end it. As my pastor would say, you cannot change your situation until you are tired of it. It is then, and only then, you will make efforts to change it.
So my focus in this write -up is the melodrama which made the Ekiti re-run stand-out from previous polls. That is, the resignation and volte-face 24 hours later, of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ekiti State, Chief (Mrs) Olusola, Ayoka Adebayo.
The facts of the Ekiti re-run are not lost on many Nigerians. There were reports of ballot box snatching, ballot – box stuffing, multiple voting, violence etc. But the climax came with the resignation of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Chief (Mrs) Adebayo, 48 hours after she went underground.
On impulse, one is wont to clap and call her “another heroine of our democracy.” However, after a deep thought, one is bound to ask Chief (Mrs) Adebayo some questions, to have a clear understanding of events before, during and after the stalemated polls. This is because her singular action of abandoning her duty post in the middle of the re-run had caused the nation great pains (both the people and its image). One may not be far from the truth if one concludes that the REC could be up to mischief (knowingly or unknowingly).
If you are in doubt, look at the scenario that played out during her encounter with pressmen after her sudden re-appearance 48 hours after she went underground.
Treachery. Why did the Ekiti REC fail to own up to being the author of the letter, if she is not up to mischief? It is not out of place to conclude that she was the writer of that letter, if not why did the presidency reject her resignation. Now, let’s take the issues one by one.
Chief (Mrs) Adebayo knows quite will that as the REC, she is the Chief Electoral Officer as far as the Ekiti re-run is concerned. As such, no other person can conclude the process which she began. By throwing-in the towel midway, what was she working toward? A constitutional crisis? This is because, allowing the resignation to stand, and appointing another person to conclude the process would have contravened the Electoral Act 2006. The moment she signed to collect the electoral materials for the re-run, the Electoral Act recognizes her as the only person who can announce the results. Not even her boss, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu, could do it. So, I think the presidency was justified in rejecting her letter of resignation.
The second issue is the alarm raised by the REC that there was pressure on her to act against her conscience. Was resignation the only and appropriate step in that situation? The first law of nature is survival, no doubt. So nobody can fault her for seeking protection by going underground, when it became apparent that the security personnel attached to her had, once again, exhibited their ineptitude. But she went too far by turning-in her letter of resignation from her hideout. And she failed the nation, again, by not mentioning the names of those mounting pressure on her to act against her conscience.
Also, Madam REC, in the second paragraph of her letter of resignation said “my conscience as a Christian cannot allow me to further participate in this process.” This smirks of hypocrisy. Chief (Mrs) Adebayo was a member of the INEC during the 2007 polls, when all manners of electoral fraud characterized the elections. Now, the question is, “why didn’t Chief (Mrs) Adebayo’s conscience as a Christian cause her to resign her membership of the INEC “family” then? Didn’t she know then that as a Christian, one should not support fraud? No, Madam save Nigeria and Nigerians this embarrassment on this issue of pressure to act against your conscience.
Consider this, Chief (Mrs) Adebayo re-appeared after she was declared wanted by the police. The police action was suspect, but that should not surprise Nigerians. However, since the Madam came out of her hiding, she has failed to mention those mounting pressure on her to act against her ‘conscience as a Christian?’ What an embarrassment to the nation!
Not only that, how can we believe the Madam again, when she initially (after going underground) told her boss, Prof. Iwu, that the pressure of the work ‘knocked her down’, so she decided to take some time out to rest. How come, that the madam’s ‘conscience’ did not stop her from saying what was not true?
The greatest blow to the REC’s case was that the day she re-appeared, she was accompanied to INEC Office in Abuja by a lawyer from the chambers of a legal luminary who is a bosom friend of a former head of state.
This lent credence to the alleged complicity of the former head of state in the antics of the REC. What a miscalculation on the part of Chief (Mrs) Adebayo.
In conclusion, no doubt, the stalemated Ekiti re-run, and the hide and seek game of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, did rub-off negatively on the image of our dear country, Nigeria. This runs against the tide of the current effort of the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili. I think every Nigerian should avoid acts capable of stalling the current effort to correct wrong notions about Nigeria and Nigerians.
Dipo Olayoku, a journalist writes from Lagos
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