DURING the 2010 governorship Election rerun that pitted the former governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni against Dr. Kayode Fayemi, now governor-elect of Ekiti State, “rig and roast” was the singsong chanted all around polling units in Ado-Ekiti and the polling centres of the state. Another refrain on the lips of the youths was “One man, one vote.”

Some youths wearing black ‘T’ shirts with inscription “rig and roast” inscribed at the front and back of their shirts moved round the polling units especially in the state capital and some key towns. Upon inquiry, party leaders in Ekiti said that the youths were concerned about free and fair election and that they had to embark on the open campaign on Election Day to ensure the votes counted.

In the aftermath of that election, the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms (CODER) led by Chief Ayo Opadokun and many other leaders who today hold allegiance to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) made the “One man, One Vote” campaign an unmistakable issue. In the days leading to the formation of the APC, the one man, one vote slogan got popularised to the extent that whoever cared to listen would easily dub the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) the devil whose only job was election rigging.

It was interesting to see the like of Senator Bola Tinubu, Nasiru el-Rufai; Kayode Fayemi, Adams Oshiomhole and Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, among many others, mount the podium to profess their love for the one man, one vote slogan. The campaign was at the hilt during the 2012 governorship election in Edo, which secured Oshiomhole a second term in office.

It appeared that the campaign to clean the electoral system got a number of converts even within the PDP and then President Goodluck Jonathan was one of such. He chose to appoint a man he believed would instill local credibility and international acceptance to the electoral system. Professor Attahiru Jega, the man who led the resistance by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the days of former military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), was highly recommended as the one who fitted the bill. He easily earned international support for the nation’s electoral system. He was also hailed locally as a man fit for the job.

It was apparent Jonathan was pushing the frontiers of electoral sanity and was reaching for a cleaner electoral system in the country. Jega’s appointment was even given much meaning with the way Jonathan handled his leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). There were no visible interferences and Jega himself had publicly confessed that he was given free hand to run the commission. The results were obvious for all to see; a saner election environment; introduction of electronic components that made votes count and respectable results across different elections.  The spate of legal tango that usually dominates the political space started dwindling and many were thinking that the Nigerian system was gaining the much desired credibility.

In 2012, Oshiomhole won re-election in Edo; the opposition party also won key governorship elections leading to the 2015 election. It surely appeared the Nigerian electoral system was heading for a big bounce.

In the much -2015 general election, the big bang landed; the opposition swept the ruling PDP off power at the federal level; gained a majority in the National Assembly and also won governorship elections in a majority of the states.

The conclusion was that the power of the people, which lies in the thumb, was beginning to gain meaning in Nigeria and that the era of thuggery, vote rigging and announcement of fake results was over.

You could see the immediate effect of that on the polity; 91 political parties got registered and no fewer than 63 of those parties are seeking to field candidates in the 2019 elections; activists and professional started taking keen interest in governing the states and the country.

And then the bubble burst, the re-run election to the September 22, 2018 governorship election in Osun state which held on September 27 ushered in the return to the feared era, where the electorate was not needed for votes to emerge; where votes were warehoused in strange places and where results were just announced regardless of the returns from the polling units.

In the dark days, thugs, gunmen and holders of cutlasses usually ruled Election Day. These are men who usually operate in the dark. But they align with politicians and security men to wipe light out of Election Day. The bigger your cutlass, the bigger the volume of votes.  That was the sad era the re-run between the APC and the PDP threw up in Osun and it was a sad day for lovers of democracy.

Though the signs of a possible return to the dark electoral days had been there since President Muhammadu Buhari took over, the Osun election has thus far given the clearest signal of the return of darkness.

I heard that the leaders of the APC, many of whom in the past mouthed “one man, one vote” celebrated the open disenfranchisement of people of Osun in the re-run. I cannot but ask them this question; what happened to the “one man, one vote” slogan?

The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris also has questions to answer; same for the chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu. For the IGP, one can only hope he would not have cause to complain of police impunity when he eventually drops the uniform, especially if he truly sanctioned all the partisanship displayed by his men in Osun. For INEC chair, the question remains: Is INEC truly independent? Are we seeing an electoral body already aligned? Can this INEC serve Nigeria?

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