By Lugard Izoukumor
To some who may not be conversant with Delta State; the State was formed from the former Bendel State, on August 27, 1991, from the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria.
Named after the Niger Delta that is a petroleum-rich region, the State just like other States in the Niger Delta, has been the center of international concern over pollution that has resulted principally from major oil spills of multinational corporations of the petroleum industry.
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In a pep conversation with an economists, who said something that stunned me, “We economists would often say your vote does not matter. Or at least it does not matter if what you care about is who wins election. It is therefore something of a mystery why anyone bothers to vote at all.”
However, no empirical evidence to underpin the economists thesis. Meaning in other words, misconceptions exist on his [hypothesis or pilot argument for acceptability nor feasibility, etc]!
In any case; while, brainstorming for the draft of this piece, my pseudo-intellectual curiosity was proved mostly worthless, with litany of issues. One, the congratulatory press statement by Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru, conceding defeat to the Governor-elect, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori.
And; two, how Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru were caught on camera merrymaking with two of his arch political rivals, Messrs Drs. Okowa and Uduaghan with lone Rt. Hon. Oborevwori, making it three eventhough at a pre-election interview, with BBC pidgin, Chief Ogboru implicitly spoke of post-election lawsuits.
His gesture was worthy to be commended, election must be seen as what, I have often advocated for as a contestation of ideas, and should be detached from the traditional politricks of a winner takes it all nomenclature.
Being that said, the wave of litigations regarding the gubernatorial election in Delta State, will be high from the stance of the APC’s gubernatorial candidate, whose claims of electoral heist or election malpractices, such as “disenfranchisement of the people, non use of, and tampering with BVAS machines, declaring double results at polling units, issuing of fake result sheets to agents and uploading cooked up results into the BVAS,” among others.
Mr. Ima Niboro, who is the Director, Communications and Media Strategy, Delta APC Campaign Council spoke on behalf of his principal, pointing to the widespread of voter suppression, voter intimidation, thuggery and violence against APC’s supporters.
Considering, for instance, the volume of election-related litigation that were filed in the months leading up to the 2023 gubernatorial election. These lawsuits, some of which were filed by individuals or groups associated in varying levels with the election-denial movement, generally seek to circumscribe the methods by which citizens can vote or to challenge how state officials administer their elections.
The pre-election lawsuits described above portend a hectic and contested post-election period akin to the same period in 2015 and 2019; respectively, stressing on the nation’s legal and electoral institutions.
We can probably predict another set of election-denying lawsuits—ones with little to no legal merits and grounding in the facts, as noted by DSP Omo-Agege of the All Progressives Congress within the context of his opinion to adjudicate his constitutional right by seeking legal redress.
Indeed, I think such lawsuits would be worrying because they can become the epicenters of election-denial conspiracy theories and disinformation.
There is no denying that the next few months will reveal an intense and ongoing program of legal attacks on all elements of voting and election administration.
It is highly likely that the process of the 2023 voting litigation wave, will head the way by slowing, i.e., governance and policies or programs that will impact the populace, pointing to prosperity, security and accountability.
On the contrary, I also think it will be difficult to predict the exact nature of post-election litigation we may see.
In either of the cycle and spectrum it is underscored, the state of post-election lawsuits is not what any politician would wish for, or entertain because it will be almost impossible for she or him to be focused in delivering his agenda in his policy portfolio.
DELTANS are agitated and they expect result for jobs, decent education, affordable healthcare and the security to protect and provide similarly to investing in the talent of the young demographic for inclusive governance.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Daily Report Nigeria.
