Election Under PDP Cage

By UbongAbasi Ise | The Sensor On Monday 4 December, 2017, pg 3

“When one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mobs, great woes befall the state” – Euripides

If such widespread thumb-printing exercise, systematic violence, and the reign of terror engineered by Akwa Ibom PDP on Saturday 2^nd December 2017 are what we call elections, then it becomes apparent that our society has morally retrogressed and degenerated to nadir of decadence. Virtually everything about the so-called elections was nothing but a complete sham. It was a shame on Governor Udom Emmanuel; a shame on PDP, the state’s ruling party. The entire arrangement confirmed that AKISIEC is PDP and PDP owns AKISIEC, and no demarcation between the two. The whole thing was a disgrace brought upon the faces of every Akwa Ibomite, and was also an utter desecration on democracy.

At Lutheran Primary School (polling unit 4) in Ward 4, Uyo, after polling officers and election materials arrived around 11.00 am, panic set in as the polling officers, who were visibly nervous as a result of heavy presence of thugs, showed the electorates that the unit has 810 names in the voters’ register but confessed that 400 ballot papers apiece were all they were given for the chairmanship and councillorship elections for the unit. The unit was further thrown into disarray as thugs suspected to be sponsored by PDP took hold of the young female corps member and the other polling officer, then moved them along with election materials into a nearby vehicle, and zoomed off to unknown destination.

Election observers, pressmen and few security personnel were apparently under threat, and they had to escape through nearby bushes.

From polling unit 4 to unit 5 at Nung Otobok in Uyo Ward 4, the surreal electoral situation was not different. It was all mafia-styled takeover by PDP, and the electorates were scared out of their minds to even utter a word, while thugs had a field day detecting the pace of the ‘elections.’ The electorates had to endure unprecedented high level of impunity, and remained coy to irregularities ranging from late and non-arrival of election materials, snatching of election materials, intimidation to widespread violence which altogether denied them opportunity of exercising their franchise at the polls.

At St. John Primary School (Polling Unit 3), Eniong Offot in Uyo Ward 7, many electorates were scared away from the unit owing to the activities of thugs. The driver who conveyed the polling officials and materials to the unit were beaten, and some persons suspected to be PDP sponsored thugs were seen boarding the same bus to unknown destination.

At Uyo Urban III, there was no election at polling unit one located at Christ the King Primary School, Wellington Bassey Way. Voters were only dismissed with N500 as they expressed solidarity to the PDP.

Who think our society would fare better with hoodlums placed at the helm of electoral affairs? After elections and swearing in, the thugs are bound to constitute a menace to the society. Failure to settle them would spell doom as they would take their frustration on the innocent members of the society. And settling them too, is another intrinsic problem because to reward them, unskilled role would be created for them in the public domain.  To buttress this point, it would be recalled that on Thursday 30^th November, when the Technical Committee on Agriculture and Food Sufficiency organized first interactive public forum in Uyo for traders, farmers, and other relevant stakeholders, a staple food seller at Itam Market, Mrs. Glory Ukpong, stressed the suffering traders pass through in the hands of taskforce. She said that the only way political leaders nowadays are using in settling the thugs whose services were acquired during the elections is by sending them to markets to oppress the poor, struggling traders. They would be there in the markets to collect different kind of levies, beat the traders, and create problem for the traders to pay fines. It was noted at the forum that the rising cost of food items experienced today is basically caused by multiple taxations, and this is as a result of responsibilities duplicated in the market to help fit in the thugs.

An elderly woman, Mrs. Stella Akwaowo, who sells at Urua Nka since 1973, revealed that she has been reduced to punching bag by hooligans recruited by government as taskforce; they would manhandle her with no recourse to her age. According to Mrs. Akwaowo, more than three forms of tickets have been collected in the market. This shows why things are hard for the common traders selling in Akwa Ibom markets today. And this case is not different in the area of transportation.

In respect to the just concluded sham called local government election, it is mindboggling to ascertain where this vast number of thugs would be settled. Is it that our markets and the roadsides would once again be saturated with unskilled uniform men playing the same role and heaping more burdens on the heads of those that play productive roles in the informal sector of our economy?

The local government officials that are brought forth by corrupted, rotten system and arrangement owe people no accountability because they getting there against popular wish. Electorates had no hand in their emergence. These tin gods enthroned at our local government councils would be there to protect the narrow interest of their political benefactor. Of course they are structure rooted for the sole purpose of Udom Emmanuel’s reelection in 2019. And if heaven likes, let it fall, let people die, Udom and PDP cannot negate their raison d’être for the popular yearnings.

The central activity that characterizes democracy is voting. When think of voting, we think of election. Without a free and fair election, the basic ingredient of democracy is violated and there is no way a result produced by such a warped arrangement could represent the collective will of the people.  It therefore becomes a gross misrepresentation of democracy to impose on people unpopular individuals who have not won the confidence of the people, who would only serve the interest of their benefactor at the detriment of the common masses. If majority are constantly disenfranchised by these perfidious leaders, then to what extent do we think that the government is the reflection of the will of the people? Our system of government has so much been disfigured in a way aimed at unleashing shameless bunch of criminals who go on looting-spree without recourse to law and their own conscience.

We deserve a government of the people, by the people and for the people instead of the government of the cabal, by the cabal, and for the cabal as was defined by Hon. Patrick Obiahagbon, a former House of Reps member from Edo State.

Yes! I am UbongAbasi Ise. For comment, send SMS to 08189914609.