The
scenes that greeted the electoral exercise of last March 28 in Anambra
South Senatorial Zone were completely bizarre. It was not that we have never witnessed election malpractices and violence before.
Far from it!
The
astonishing thing about this one is the direct involvement of the
supposed respectable ones in our society in this open rigging exercise
that ushered in a new brand of electoral malpractices. Seeing Chief
Ifeanyi Ubah, Chief Cletus Ibeto, Chief Nicholas Ukachukwu respectively
lead combined teams of military, police and thugs to harass INEC
officials, opponents, neutrals and observers just to rig in their choice
candidates depressed a progressive mind.
Dr
Ernest Ndukwe had over six months earlier declared interest, sustained
that interest with action by procuring necessary forms that made him an
aspirant under the coat of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. This
aspiration turned into candidacy when he most overwhelmingly navigated
the party primaries with admirable aplomb.
His
campaign team, anchored by his Director-General, a workaholic
progressive in the person of Chris McCool Nwosu , who knows the politics
of the zone like the back of his hand, set out an infallible
programme,followed it to the letter and astounded the Anambra South
Senatorial District citizenry with firm religious thorough.
Dr
Ndukwe is a man, who loves humanity. He belongs to that rare specie of
creation that are consumed by constant desire to leave behind a better
world. When he had the chance, he demonstrated such desire by giving
Nigerians, and I mean every one of them, affordable access to
communication. That singular achievement besides creating millions of
jobs, put Nigerians, particularly our leaders of tomorrow, in same plain with the modern world in every aspect of global interaction.
A
man, who has seen it all, and who, as a consummate professional, has
worked hard enough to quietly retire to his private business and
comfort, could not just do so. He sees a society that is moving
backwards instead of the right direction ….he sees an impoverished set
of people when it shouldn’t be so. He sees the helpless, hopeless and
miscreant all over the place. He decided that his personal philanthropy
wouldn’t just be enough to re-direct these people. He believed being a
senator provides appropriate standpoint to impact every of the
communities in his senatorial district as well as impact the nation via
bills and debates.
Like the workaholic he
is, Dr Ndukwe put in everything, time, resources, patience and
astonishing attention to every detail necessary for a successful
campaign. In every community he visited, people genuinely accepted him.
Those who didn’t know him by reputation got convinced by his poise,
elegance, oratory and this astonishing air of complete honesty that
follows him around.
He visited churches,
bishops, clergies and laities across denominations and they all adopted a
man, who clearly represented a new dawn.
Traditional
rulers came together, held meetings and adopted the man they described
as “onye eziokwu” (honest man) “onye megolu nke afulu anya” (a proven
achiever).
Presidents-Generals, both men
and women wings of the 109 communities in Anambra South Senatorial Zone
visited his home in Oraifite to throw unanimous support behind a man,
who has convinced them beyond all doubts that a new chapter is about to
be opened in their district.
Students unions of all institutions in the state gave a combined endorsement of a man, who holds high hopes for their future.
Little
wonder then that the electorates, despite the initial drawback of
non-functioning card readers, trooped out in appreciable numbers to vote
in this man, whose antecedents presented a rare opportunity they were
not willing to miss.
I had contacts in many wards of all the seven
L.G.As
within the zone. I knew the election itself was conducted all round in
free and fair manner. I got reports from many ward agents of the
favourable results of the senatorial contest. I knew of confirmed
results from the result sheets of various wards in most L.G.As. And I have evidence that Dr Ernest Ndukwe won very convincingly in five local government areas of the state.
When
these early signs became glaring, the show of shame took over, Chief
Chris Ubah, Chief Ukachukwu, Chief Ibeto and other PDP stalwarts took
over, openly bribed assaulted INEC officials and party agents. The worst
of it all happened at Ihiala, where Chief Ubah’s contingent of army
,police and thugs went as far as assaulting and pelting chief Ernest
Obiejesi (Obi Jackson) bullet proof vehicle with bullets, reportedly
killing Chief Obiejesi’s mobile police orderly as well as injuring many
others.
This unprecedented show of shame
that happened at the collation centres and finally at the zonal
collation centre in Nnewi eventually led to a lopsided announcement of a
result hugely rigged in favor of Andy Uba. The charade got to
unimaginable level when the returning officer declined to announce the
result while collation hadn’t been completed in most of the local
governments areas. The RO, a professor, knew his reputation was on the
line and flatly refused. One woman, heavily induced with foreign
currency, announced what they termed result that is still brandied today
as the result of that exercise.
Some of us
who believe in honor, dignity, rule of Law and hopeful of real
democracy had always stayed away from active politics because of this
manner of debasing practise. But whenever someone like Dr Ndukwe decides
to be part of it, you can bet people like us will queue behind him.
There are many Ndukwes out there that will help our society for the
better. We need them and we won’t ever have them if we fold our hands
and let these charlatans get away with open robbery of the people's
will.
This is a call to Ndi Anambra South
Senatorial Zone to ask for the restoration of the mandate they gave to
Dr Ndukwe and all APGA candidates on March 28.
We have all voted … let’s unite in demanding that our votes counted. That is democracy.
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