Discordant Tunes Tarnish Gombe LG Poll

The much awaited local government elections in Gombe state has been won and lost but the poll has left in its trails serious controversy, CHUWANG DUNGS, report

Arguably, one of the defining features of the Local government elections which took place in Gombe state on Saturday 25 February 2017, to elect chairmen and Councilors in the 11 council’s areas of the state, is the controversy it has generated.
After the elections, rumours that the Gombe State Independent Electoral Commission (GOSIEC) fabricated fake results in favour of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state have been mounting.
While the ruling PDP and indeed, some observers insisted that the election was peaceful and indeed, credible, some members of the opposition described the election as mockery of democracy.
While reacting on the conduct and outcome of the election the opposition parties under the umbrella body of coalition of Political parties described the exercise as a sham.
Speaking on behalf of the opposition parties, the chairman of the caretaker committee of APC, Idi Barde discredited the election process insisting that there was no election anywhere and the results were fabricated.
According to him the ruling PDP in the state collaborated with GOSIEC and some agencies to steal the will of the people, claiming that no election materials were taken to any polling unit in the state. “There was no accreditation of voters for the conduct of the election in any units throughout the state.”
The group also alleged that the state government also employed the services of the state Marshalls to unleash terror on the people in the state in order to intimidate and deny them of their right to vote.
The coalition then called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the commission claiming that millions of naira was voted for the election.
“We call upon the EFCC to investigate the where about of these monies and to prosecute anyone found to have misappropriated the funds meant for the council election.” Barde said.
He said the coalition have resolved to the rule of law and would pursue the sustenance of their rights to logical conclusion.
Speaking in a not so dissimilar manner, the chairman of House of Representatives committee on electoral matters, Aisha Jibril Dukku said it was fraudulent describing it, while addressing journalists in her office, as a mockery of democracy and a breach of the fundamental right of the people of Gombe state.
Dukku who represents Dukku/Nafada federal constituency of Gombe state alleged that the election was rigged in advance by the ruling People’s Democratic Party-PDP- in the state, in connivance with the state independent electoral commission.
Hajia Dukku, however demanded that the Gombe state independent electoral commission which conducted what she described as charade, should refund fees collected from candidates as cost of the sale of nomination and expression of interest form.
But some human rights groups, observers and some political organizations who claimed they monitored the votes on local government -to local government basis, dismissed the claims, stressing that they saw no irregularities, nor had they received any official complaints from the contestants or political parties that participated in the elections.
While releasing its preliminary statement of findings and recommendations shortly after the elections that saw PDP sweeping all the 11 local government councils, Bar. Festus Okoye of the Civil liberties organizations who spoke on behalf of other human rights groups that were accredited to monitor the election said though there were some challenges, like cases of materials arriving late in some polling units, “but we saw no evidence that the results were tampered.”
He commended the people of Gombe and the electoral body for the largely peaceful conduct of the elections, despite earlier apprehensions of political tensions and violence.
Okoye said the group observed the commitment of the state electoral body in ensuring that the election was peaceful and transparent. “Our observers reported that the majority of polling units visited were operational and election were conducted peacefully.” He said. “In most of the polling units the polls opened on time and the voters exercised their democratic franchise in a peaceful and orderly manner,” he added.
He however admitted that due to logistics challenges, polls opened slightly late in some of the polling units but there was no chaos or any case of rigging.
The chief observer then commended security agencies for remaining civil throughout the period of the elections and recommend that the state Independent Electoral body should device a way of moving sensitive and non-sensitive materials to the various wards quickly to avoid the recurrence of late commencement of polls in remote areas.
Similarly Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the umbrella body of registered political parties in Gombe state also commended the electoral body for conducting free, fair and credible elections which saw PDP sweeping all the positions.
Our correspondent recalled that six political parties, the PDP, APC APGA, Accord Party, Labour Party and the UNDP participated in the elections.
The commission declared PDP as winners of all the chairmen and 114 councilor seats across the state and has asked opposition parties to seek redress before a tribunal.
But some politicians, especially members of the ruling APC insisted that the election was a charade which fell short of minimum standard of electoral practices anywhere in the world.

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