Edo Poll: Analysts Rate Campaigns By Major Candidates

…Demand, Free, Fair Process On Saturday

With just a day to the Edo governorship election, some political analysts have given their assessment of the campaigns carried by the candidates of the two major political parties contesting the poll.

The major candidates are incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In an exclusive interview with THE WHISTLER, one of the analysts, Ariyo-Dare Atoye, rated the campaigns as eventful, adding that the rhetoric about violence outweighed actual violent incidents recorded so far.

He said: “Very eventful campaigns, matched by a lot of noise and allegations over issue of violence. I want to say from my own assessment, which may be different from others; the violence rhetoric is more than the violent incidents. And it’s good if that will in a way, help the security agents to nip violence in the bud or to put in place strategies to be able to contain it. But, I want to say the violence rhetoric far outweighs the incidents.

“Both candidates, I think have campaigned in all the local governments; they’re well known to the people and I am sure the people have a better assessment of the two major candidates (Godwin Obaseki and Osagie Ize-Iyamu) and they’ll be able to decide, but if you want to ask me I will say that, the two candidates have given a good account of themselves.

“What are the issues? PDP has succeeded in making godfatherism an issue. And the intervention of Bola Tinubu has not really helped the APC’s candidate.”

He expressed doubt over the 31, 000 policemen deployed for the poll, saying the number might not be the actual number of personnel to be seen on ground in the state.

The analyst added, “But let me also say this, I don’t think that the deployment of security in the state reflects the number that has been touted. We have seen this repeatedly in different elections. When they say that 31,000 police officers are deployed, maybe you hardly see 15, 000 on ground. So that’s another area that Nigerians must look out for.”

He charged the National Assembly and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to assess the actual number of security personnel deployed and as well ensure that the officers wore name tags issued by INEC.

He stated: “And I think the National Assembly and also INEC must have a way of assessing the actual number deployed. INEC must be in control of the deployment of security agencies, because we don’t believe that the number that has been pronounced is the exact number that is deployed. So, every security agent should have an INEC name tag as a police officer deployed for the election. In this way, we can avoid cases of fake policemen and other security agents. And I think that is one lesson we can learn going forward.”

On his part, Ralph Adebayo, who spoke to our correspondent, said the campaigns by the two candidates were not issue-based.

Adebayo noted that they were personality-driven and personality- targeted rather than the fundamental issues that concern the people of the state.

He said: “Well, Unfortunately the campaigns have not exactly been issue-based. They have been more personality-driven and personality targeted rather than the fundamental issues that concern the good people of Edo. And I think this is one of the things that our politics must evolve into. It must evolve into politics of issues, one that is people-centred.

“Because when the political scene is not people-centred we begin to see the kind of scenario that have continued to bedevil Nigeria’s electoral processes and that is why even now that the Edo election is very much upon us, the campaign that has preceded this time has been more personality-driven, more about the other person rather than the people. And so that is one area that our politicians need to improve on. They need to begin to see the ultimate, the people and not the other political party or the other candidate.”

He further said despite the campaigns, the most important thing remained the promotion of free, fair and credible elections as well as democratic tenets and principles.

He said: “I think that personally, both parties have done what they can with regards to campaigning but more importantly for me, are the things that are as stake in spite of of the campaigning -free, fair and credible elections and the promotion of democratic tenets and principles. Putting that into context, I believe that it is important for both parties to demonstrate their commitment to democracy during the elections on Saturday. Both parties have the responsibility to make sure that on that day, they don’t subvert the will of the good people of Edo state.”

The Edo governorship election comes up on Saturday, September 19th.