IT would have been against the order of long standing tradition, even nature, so to say, had the outcome of last weekend’s local council elections in Cross River State turned out differently. But it never was.

True to pre-election predictions and exit polls, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, retained its popular appeal, and its firm hold on the 18 local councils in the State by making a clean sweep of the chairmanship of all the 18 local government areas in the State.

The electorate may have given the PDP an overwhelming majority but in the 196 electoral wards, a couple of
seats went to the opposition. Even at that, PDP lost those seats as a result of protest votes against the imposition of candidates by so-called godfathers whose political relevance is on a steep decline in the face of contemporary dynamics within the political establishment in the State.

This election may have rightly sounded the dead knell on the unwholesome role the much maligned godfathers play in the political process, at least in Cross River State.

The transparent conduct of the elections by the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission, CROSIEC, indicates that the Commission had kept faith with the fundamental elements of Governor Liyel Imoke’s domestic political reforms.

Prior to the elections, Imoke virtually staked his life on the organisation of a free and fair poll that in its basic drive met the spirit and letter of democracy as practiced in highly developed countries. The voting was largely free of aggression, rancour, and ballot stuffing. The electorate was allowed to cast the vote in absolute freedom in accordance with their wishes.

There were huge challenges no doubt. Cross River State has a large territory, and a most difficult terrain. The Federal road network in the State has virtually collapsed. In ordinary circumstances, therefore communication is daunting. In the first instance, electoral materials had to be delivered on time to even the most remote of polling units. This CROSIEC did efficiently.

Even in the case of an accident involving one of the delivery trucks, replacements were delivered on time for voting to commence on schedule. There were also cases of overzealous supporters attempting to snatch ballot boxes and papers.

This too was prevented through the vigilance of security agents and electoral officers. All the persons involved in the elections were alive to the great responsibility before them. So they left nothing to chance.
Indeed, they gave their utmost. It was a rare but customary display of the passion for excellence and good conduct that the Government and people of Cross River State are noted for.

A quick lesson to learn from the efficiency and credibility that coloured this election is that it is possible to get it right. If Imoke, CROSIEC and Cross River State can do it, then President Goodluck Jonathan, INEC and Nigeria can do it.

Although with respect to the federation, the scope and scale of operation may be longer, the fundamental principles are the same. Really, there is no magic in doing things the way it should be done. All that is required is the willingness and disposition of the actors to do it the right way.

Prior to the election, Governor Imoke had assured the electorate and the opposition that he stood ready to allow civil society organisations to monitor the conduct of the elections. When the chips were down, Governor Imoke abided by this commitment. CROSIEC accredited 39 election monitoring organisations for this election.

It was critical, for the purpose of ensuring credibility and building confidence in the process, for election monitors to be spread to cover as wide a terrain as logistics and human limitations allowed. In a rare appreciation of this, the leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, CAN, in the State, Cletus Obun, commended CROSIEC for delivery of sensitive election materials on time and in the presence of all party agents.

And for creating a level playing field for all the parties. This was an openness never seen in the conduct of elections before.

Of course, by default, the rest of the opposition will make hell out of the result. They may have been to the courts already to challenge an election they stood no chance of winning ab initio. But then, the efforts put in by CROSIEC to have a free and fair poll in the face of overwhelming challenges, would belie their protest.

Seven opposition parties took active part in the polls. According to the Chairman of CROSIEC while giving a breakdown of the result, the parties only fielded candidates in only 75 percent of the seats. Definitely, they do not have the appeal and broad-based support the PDP has in the State, neither did they campaign as ruggedly as the PDP.

So naturally, they would not have been expected to constitute any real threat to the PDP. But they still made a decent show, winning about five councillorship seats to the PDP’s 191.

It is remarkable that Governor Imoke seized the opportunity offered by the elections to engineer a level-playing field and equal opportunity for all the parties. If anything, the elections had shown that the challenge of credible elections is not an albatross of the PDP hegemony but the appalling failure of the opposition to get its acts together.

The opposition, already infested with a defeatist mindset, goes into elections seeking to discredit the process by engaging in lawless acts and electoral offences. They hardly prime themselves to participate constructively, act honourably, and lose gallantly.

More than the PDP, the opposition is the nation’s electoral nemesis. Indeed, it is for the opposition that the bells of electoral credibility toll in 2011.

CROSIEC, Cross River State, and Governor Imoke have done their bit in advancing credible elections in Nigeria. Like it is contained in the Bible, the seeds for a credible election in Nigeria have been sown by Governor Imoke with the local council elections. It is up to Nigeria to take up the gauntlet. The dream of a credible election is within reach.

The opposition just needs to heal itself of its psychological problem of defeat arising from the cumulative effect of it not being able to match the PDP in electoral contest since 1999. By doing this, it needs not continue to suffer from the bitter lash of continual electoral defeat.

By James Abang, a political analyst, writes from Calabar, Cross River State.