The consequences of flawed elections still vibrate in the country with the losers lambasting INEC of awarding stolen mandate to the winners. The February 25 presidential election and the March 18 governorship election will go down in history as most controversial elections tinted with vote buying, compromised INEC and security operatives that gave the election to the highest bidders. That is the most plausible reason most elections observers described the election as less than fair, free and credible.
The sore point in the election was the deliberate refusal of INEC, the electoral body to obey the electoral law. Among others, the law states in clear terms that votes from the polling units should be transmitted to the INEC national server in Abuja. Coupled with allegations of INEC compromise, the integrity of the polls became doubtful. The eternal beauty of election which is the popular choice of the masses and the sovereignty of the people was destroyed by selfish dictators masquerading as politicians. The election was the greatest advertisement yet that our politicians because of the greed of money and power could descend to the gutter level to rubbish the system.
The Pond News is very disturbed and incensed with this stripe of politics. A compromised electoral system that produces winners would also compromise the system of governance by oiling only the egos of those that manipulated the electoral system. To say the least, our democracy is polluted by this brand of fat cats which is a little shade better than military dictatorship. Those elected do not owe allegiance to the electorate.
Many prominent Nigerians including a former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and world famous wordsmith Prof Wole Soyinka have described the election as a show of shame. We hope that INEC chairman Prof Mahmoud Yakubu and those who participated in this national disgrace would show remorse and atone for the electoral transgressions. Winners had emerged and those aggrieved with the results should seek legal redress. The threat by Lai Mohammed about treason is most unfortunate. Democracy becomes a sham when freedom of expression is conscripted. Let plurality of ideas flow within the ambit of the law. The winners should stop taunting the losers knowing fully well the nature of their victory. In the national interest, we advocate peaceful settlement of the electoral crisis. It is left for the judiciary to redeem the system and act as a soothing balm to the national disunity and distress.
