BORNO GUBER POLL: HOW IT WAS WON, LOST

Against the backdrop of the precarious security situation in the state, the announcement of the results of the April 26, 2011 governorship poll in Borno State which declared the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Kashim Shettima as the winner could have triggered violent reactions but the story last Wednesday was different. Rather, an unusual solemnity pervaded the troubled state.

Hours before the announcement, Maiduguri the state capital was gripped with tension. There were fears that crisis would erupt should INEC announce either of the leading candidates: Mohammed Goni ,the Peoples' Democratic Party governorship candidate and his main rival, Kashim Shettima of the ANPP. The Congress for Progressive Change was not rated as a party that could spring any surprise during the governorship poll in the state. Apart from the fact that its candidate, Honourable Mustapha Baba Shehuri was largely unpopular, his campaigns were not as vigorous as the other two candidates, having restricted himself to Maiduguri metropolis and its adjoining local government, Jere than any other parts of the state.

The post-presidential election violence allegedly perpetrated by CPC members in some northern states was also responsible for the loss of a good number of its supporters in the state.

The PDP youths were ready for a showdown, last Wednesday, as there was speculation that there were attempts by INEC officials to tinker with the results. The ANPP youths also laid siege to the Airport Junction, about 100 metres to the INEC state headquarter.

The news had filtered into the city that ANPP candidate was leading and that some chieftains of PDP including the Works Minister, Senator Sanusi Daggash who were at the INEC office in the state as the collation progressed, were allegedly mounting pressures on the Commission to announce the PDP candidate as winner.

'Walahi, we won't take any cheating today. They did it to us for Buhari [sic] but this one will not get through,' one of the restive youth had declared as he hit the ground with his machete to underscore the seriousness of his threat. While all these were going on around the INEC office, shop and business owners hurriedly closed and scampered to their homes. Most corporate organizations, including banks also shut down their operations.

Weeks before the governorship poll, bookmakers have tipped the PDP as the possible winner of the governorship seat. For the first time since 1999, the PDP chances to form government in the El-Kanemi state appeared very bright. The popularity and integrity of its flag-bearer, Mohammed Goni, the first executive governor of the state (1979-1983), raised its rating among the people. It was generally believed that with Goni in power, the problem of insecurity particularly Boko Haram will disappear.

For the Borno citizenry, Ali Sheriff's eight years administration gave birth to Boko Haram insurgence and other security problems. The measures designed to address the incessant killing and bomb blasts, they argued, were 'anti-people, deliberately invented by the ANPP-ruling government to make life unbearable to the people,' an allegation repeatedly denied by the Borno State Commissioner for Information, Inuwa Bwala. According to Bwala, 'no governor will deliberately punish the people it swore to govern', adding that 'the security measures were rather introduced to safeguard the lives and property of the people of the state.'

But the people insisted, Ali and his party must go. Maiduguri, being the seat of government, residents in the city were at the receiving end of the stern security measures put in place by government. As such, the protest votes against the ANPP during each of the elections came from the two local governments in the metropolis namely, MMC and Jere which incidentally had the highest numbers of registered voters and wards in the state. With soldiers and special police squad everywhere in the state, more people were being killed daily while the spate of bomb blasts did not abate.

Riding on the general discontentment among the people against Ali Sheriff's government, the PDP launched aggressive propaganda to nail whatever remains of the image of the ruling party through mobile text messages. Such SMSs' were sent to the people including the purported 'fire' in ANPP and 'war' between Sheriff and his anointed successor, Kashim over the alleged refusal of the latter to 'swear to Holy Quran to remain loyal to the outgoing governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, if he emerges governor of Borno.' Such SMSs undoubtedly painted the ANPP as an occult party before the electorate especially in the metropolis.

But the PDP was not just deploying its propaganda; it equally embarked on aggressive campaigns to all the 27 local governments as well as the three senatorial zones, selling its agenda to the people.

Its flag-bearer, Goni confessed in a chat with Daily Sun before the election that his campaigns were rigorous. Unlike ANPP, the PDP had a close-knit campaign team and clear-cut campaign itinerary. With a gubernatorial campaign directorate headed by a brilliant politician and former Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, Honourable Mohammed Kumalia and other seasoned politicians and professionals, it was believed the PDP journey to the Maiduguri Government House would be smooth.

But while the impact of the PDP campaign drive was felt more in the metropolis, MMC and Jere where it enjoined impressive supports three weeks before the poll, the ANPP stormed the local government areas.

Daily Sun findings revealed that some far reaching decisions were taken by the ANPP chieftains few weeks to the election. It was reliably gathered that the Governor had told his loyalists the implication of losing the Government House to PDP and appealed to them to work harder to retain the seat.

'What else do I need from Borno people again that I have not got?

They voted for me three times to go to the Senate and as governor twice but you will regret it, if we lose the governorship seat,' he was said to have told the stalwarts at a stakeholders meeting a week to the governorship poll.

The ANPP also tried to undermine the PDP flag- bearer, as it painted the picture of its rival candidate as a flippant personality. A text message purportedly circulated by ANPP alleged that the PDP candidate disowned his party presidential candidate, Dr Goodluck Jonathan so as to win the supports of the teeming supporters of the CPC Presidential candidate, Mohammadu Buhari.

An advert was also placed in one of the nation's dailies purportedly by PDP Borno Elders Forum to deny Goni's support for Jonathan while an audio recording of Goni's alleged telephone conversation with PDP members was also circulated in the state ostensibly to rubbish the integrity of the PDP standard bearer. It was these propaganda that did a deadly blow on PDP and its candidate as the party was compelled to battle with the allegation till election day.

Many believed the allegation was responsible for PDP poor performance in about 22 local government areas outside the metropolis as Goni's comment was erroneously interpreted as a campaign for the rejection of Buhari, a northerner at the presidential poll.

Ironically, in northern Borno where Goni and Sanusi Daggash hail from, PDP put up a dismal performance.

But Goni insisted that he would not deny his support for President Jonathan who was his party presidential candidate, stressing that he would not have campaigned for any other person other than a PDP candidate.

'There was never an occasion where I denied campaigning for President Goodluck Jonathan as being speculated or rumoured. In fact, I had told my supporters and PDP members to vote for our party's presidential candidate and other candidates in all the elections. My words are 'if you don't vote for Jonathan, then don't also vote for Goni,' he said through a statement made available to Daily Sun.

Some analysts also traced PDP electoral misfortune to lack of commitment on the part of some stalwarts of the party. It was believed that some chieftains of PDP undermined the party before and during the governorship election, to achieve personal agenda. They alleged that Senators Daggash and Abba Aji, Works Minister and Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, respectively were rather paying lip service to PDP claiming the governorship seat but were rather interested in negotiating ministerial appointments or other federal appointments under President Jonathan government.

'How much did Daggash contribute to the campaign purse and how many votes was he able to deliver either in the presidential election or governorship? How many times did Abba Aji follow us on campaign trips?' a PDP chieftain who preferred not to be named demanded in a chat with Daily Sun.

He maintained that the PDP would have won the governorship seat had all the stalwarts worked together as a team.

'We all knew it was going to end this way because anytime we asked for money for campaign expenses, they would tell us there was no money,' another PDP faithful submitted, apparently expressing his frustration.

By the time the Returning Officer, Professor Abubakar Mustapha finally announced the results at about 5.50 pm last Wednesday, Kashim Shettima of ANPP polled 531, 147 while Goni, PDP scored 450, 140 votes, about 82, 000 votes margin. Meanwhile, one of the PDP agents at the collation centre, Mr. Stephen Iliya who made a remark after the announcement claimed the elections did not take place in about nine polling units at Gozamala and Bayo local governments. He also alleged that the ANPP brought thugs to Ngala, Governor Sheriff local government to disrupt the election process, adding that gun shots and fighting prevented voters from exercising their civic right.

Director- General of Mohammed Goni Campaign Organisation, Honourable Kumalia said PDP members and agents were severally harassed, beaten or arrested on election day, a development which he alleged, marred the conduct of the poll and its outcome. He insisted the exercise was not credible.

'We want to categorically state that we reject the result and this will be corrected by the grace of God. Throughout the state, our agents were harassed, beaten, threatened and locked up while several persons were wounded and killed.'

With the accusations and counter- accusations being traded by the parties, the last has not been heard on the governorship election in Borno. By its body language and disaffection over the outcome of the exercise, the PDP would challenge the results of the election in court; but an accelerated judicial process would ensure that real calm return to the Home of Peace.