By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

In the latest intrigue to cloud the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo State, one of the major parties issues a caveat emptor on the election. Should democracy stakeholders beware?

ONLY few would have assumed that tackling Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo State would be easy. But then even fewer could have predicted the increasingly eerie turn of the campaign for the July 14th gubernatorial election.

The gubernatorial campaign which has been marked with notable incidents including murder allegations, mudslinging among other oddities got nastier last Tuesday after the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP issued a caveat-emptor on the election.

Addressing a press conference in Benin, the party chairman Chief Dan Orbih vehemently expressed the party’s opposition to the cancellation of the voters registration exercise as earlier planned. The PDP, Orbih said, would support any eligible voter who goes to court to void the election because he was unable to vote because of the botched voters registration exercise.

The party’s opposition follows last weekend’s decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to defer the voters registration exercise. The commission’s decision was upon the strong protest of the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN which alleged that the planned registration exercise was a scheme by the opposition PDP to mutilate the voters roll and rig the election.

The accusation by the ACN follows revelations that the INEC in Edo State had last week prepared for a full blown registration exercise of voters. The ACN claimed that the full blown registration exercise was contrary to existing regulations that required the commission to only carry out continous voters registration in between major voters registration exercises.

The crisis was blown open following the arrest of what was claimed to be a fake INEC officer who was reportedly caught by some ACN activists supposedly carrying out secret registration of voters ahead of the scheduled commencement that was later deferred.

Gov.Oshinmhole and Airhiavbare

The arrested fake officer had reportedly claimed to have been acting the script of the PDP. Willy-nilly, the ACN leaders turned the issue into a frenzy with pointers at PDP which they claimed to be acting a script to recruit fake voters for the election.

Even before the supposedly fake INEC officer was apprehended, controversy had broken out even within the top ranks of INEC over the need for a whole-scale registration exercise. One school of thought within the commission had argued for a limited registration exercise limited to the 18 local government headquarters. Such an exercise would have demanded the use of 18 Direct Data Capturing (DDC) machines.

Their argument was buttressed by the fact that in all other gubernatorial elections conducted since the April, 2011 elections that there was no case in which a whole-scale registration exercise was carried out.

However, in the earlier proposed for Edo State, a total of 472 DDC machines were earmarked, a development that caught the suspicion of the ACN which claimed that it was an attempt by the PDP to infuse the voters roll with fake voters.

Oshiomhole who led ACN supporters to the Benin INEC office to demand an explanation following the development had accused some INEC officials of culpability.

“We are aware that before the gubernatorial elections in Adamawa, Kebbi, Sokoko, Bayelsa and Cross Rivers States, INEC conducted continuous registration exercise only at Local Government headquarters level. In the case of Cross Rivers, there was no continuous voters’ registration at all and yet, elections were conducted by INEC.

“What will they be doing with other DDC machines if only 192 is deployed in the wards? It means it will go to the hands of the god father. Today, we apprehended a young man with DDC machine. He confessed that he was recruited by the PDP to go and register people in Igueben and Uromi and that they commenced the registration exercise on Sunday.

Orbih, the PDP chairman denied the suspicions on his party, alleging that the allegation by Oshiomhole and the ACN was only an attempt by the ruling party to run away from the election. Orbih as such charged the ACN to formally withdraw from the forthcoming election if it was not prepared for the election.

The face-off forced INEC to summon a stakeholders meeting in Abuja last Friday at the end of which it was resolved that the registration exercise be deferred. INEC, it is understood, is now pondering its options and could limit the process to only local government area headquarters.

The PDP is, however, not satisfied with the signals from the electoral commission as Orbih revealed on Tuesday.
“Voters’ registration is to cater to those who have attained the age of 18 and/or have moved from where they were during the last exercise. It is because of ACN’s accusation that is making INEC to suspend that exercise and by that will be disenfranchising a lot of prospective voters,” Orbih said.

“We expect INEC to investigate ACN’s allegation that their man (INEC’s) own staff was caught with Direct Data Capture machine and if found untrue should sanction ACN appropriately.

“Our grouse here is that a lot of people will be disenfranchised, it is callous, and it is inhuman. It doesn’t matter who the persons were going to vote for. Having done that, we have said it that we are not in support of what INEC has done.”

Continuing, he said, “The PDP will encourage those who have been disenfranchised to go to court because it is their fundamental rights that are being trampled upon and they have the right to go to court. We will stand by those people, sympathize with them and encourage them”

As it is, this caveat emptor, is only one of several weird incidents to strike the campaign in the happening state that fittingly has the moniker, Heartbeat of the Nation.