A Prince Defeated

Upon learning of his victory, Idris thanked the people for standing behind him, promising to double his effort in a bid to deliver more development to them. He ascribed his victory to God and extended an olive branch to his opponents.

But in a press conference he addressed shortly after INEC announced the result, Audu disclosed that the victory ascribed to Idris was made possible by the active connivance of PDP chieftains, the police and especially INEC. Audu, who singled out Maurice Iwu, INEC Chairman, for vilification, promised that he would challenge the result at the tribunal. He recalled a statement credited to Iwu in which the INEC boss reportedly declared that if given the chance, he would conduct future elections the same way he did previous elections. “Now Iwu has done it again,” Audu said.

Mike Adeleye, Chairman of Action Congress, AC, in the state and spokesman for the ANPP/AC coalition, called for the rejection of the election result, which he described as daylight robbery. “We are going to contest the result with all the evidence at our disposal, to prove that what happened during the weekend election…was daylight robbery,” he declared.

While the election has been largely hailed as trouble-free, violence and electoral malpractices were witnessed in some wards. They include Ankpa, Kotonkarfe, Adavi, Ajaokuta and Dekina and Anyangba, where supporters of both PDP and ANPP clashed. In Ejule/Ate ward in Ofu LGA, there was a free-for-all fight as supporters of both Idris and Audu went on the rampage over an alleged attempt by one of the parties to carry away the ballot box allocated to the unit. At least, one house and two cars were torched by gun-wielding thugs in Ugwolawo area of Ofu, while in Egan, thugs ambushed electoral officers who were on their way to different parts of the state. The situation was not different in Odagba area of Ankpa Local Government Area, where thugs abducted an electoral officer and carted away ballot boxes in his possession. Timothy Omora, the state Commissioner for Works, who was found at the scene, was briefly arrested by security agents dispatched to the place. The situation was, however, generally peaceful in other areas.

The Election Monitoring Group hailed the election as peaceful and credible. In a release signed by Chijioke James on behalf of Major-General Ishola Williams, the group noted, however, that the only thing that appeared inadequate was voter education. The group congratulated the people of the state for their exemplary conduct and also gave kudos to INEC for conducting a credible election.

“Voting took place in a peaceful atmosphere in majority of the polling stations across the state except in isolated cases of violent conduct. There was adequate security presence in majority of the polling units observed,” the group said in a statement.