SpicyTricks

...Plus The Jega, Wali connection

While the controversial election which brought Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike to power is undergoing  trial now at the Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, fresh facts have emerged on how the governor who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic  Party, PDP, allegedly conspired with some highly connected politicians and money bags to 'purchase' the seat. He was said to have paid a whopping sum of 2.5 million dollars which is about 600 million naira to the facilitators and surrogates of the former chairman of the electoral commission.

Information reaching our news desk has it that the former Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega may have compromised his position in the deal through his second in command, Ambassador Ahmed Wali whom he had handed over the commission to upon his retirement from service before President Buhari appointed Mrs, Amina Zakari as the acting Chairman of the commission, pending the appointment of a substantive Chairman.

According to our source who pleaded for anonymity, the information on the said transaction between Wike and Jega was facilitated by a close associate of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, popularly known as Otunba, who it was that revealed this to our source.

While trying to throw his weight around and explain why the case of Rivers State under Jega was tight, Otunba was said to have preferred that the APC won the election I n the state but that the problem was that Dakuku Peterside, the governorship candidate was not willing to succumb to such overtures. It was then that the middle man in the deal allegedly approached Wike who was willing to part with the said sum.  The money was paid in foreign currencies to Otunba who allegedly handed over part to Amb Wali for onward transmission to Jega. According to the business mogul, this was part of the reason that Jega insisted that the election in Rivers was not compromised against wide spread criticisms and condemnations by both local and foreign observers who were physically present to monitor the elections in Rivers State.

It would be recalled that Professor Jega whose tenure expire on June 30 had handed over to Amb Wali who is one of the Commissioners in INEC but that was immediately overruled by President Buhari, whose constitutional right it is to appoint a Chairman of the Commission.  Buhari had gone ahead to appoint Mrs. Amina Zakari, another Commissioner but that didn't seem to go down well with the opposition PDP as the party's Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh and the PDP governors kicked against the decision.  While it remains the prerogative of the President to appoint, the truth is that Jega did not appoint Wali but merely handed over to his man Friday who incidentally happens to be a brother to the PDP governorship candidate in Sokoto State and is currently at the trib unal challenging the election of Gov. Aminu Tambuwaal.

Apart from being a close relative of the PDP candidate in Sokoto, the President through security reports within the commission had been briefed of the closeness between Jega and Wali of which the latter is regarded as the proxy to the former Chairman especially as it concerns the case of Rivers and Akwa Ibom.  Though the PDP allege that Zakari is a close ally of the Kaduna Governor, Nasir El Rufai but unlike the case of the two Walis, the PDP candidate in Kaduna, former Gov. Yero is not challenging the election of El Rufai, so the issue of compromise on the part of Zakari does not arise.

Inspite of Jega's initial disposition that there were no flaws in the case of Rivers, before his retirement from service, he had warned on the consequences of the use of incident forms for accreditation during the April 11, governorship elections. He maintained that despite the fact that there were no immediate cases of the use of fake ballot papers for the election, the Commission had warned that the Card Readers must be used for the accreditation of registered voters and where the device failed; election should b e shifted till the next day.

But evidence from the INEC Server in Abuja showed that whereas Wike was declared winner with the total of 1.2million votes, the actual number of accredited voters in Rivers state for the governorship and State Assembly election was merely 292,000 voters. It is therefore surprising where and how the PDP candidate amassed additional 1million votes allocated to him by the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers, Gezila Khan, and her team of Returning and Electoral officers.  This probably will be the issue to be determined by the Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja where the APC and its governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside is seeking for a can collation of the election which brought Wike to power. 

About 31 candidates of the APC are also challenging the result of the election s which took place on the same dates as that of the governorship. If the tribunal succeeds in overcoming the delays posed on it by the PDP and its candidate, Wike, allegedly in collusion with the INEC, then it may just be an easy road to fresh elections in the state.

With Zakari now at the helm of affairs in the Commission, it may mean that those who have compromised their positions during the election may well be shown the way out as the President has vowed to prosecute all those involved in electoral offences including violence. Already, the two Resident Electoral Commissioners of Rivers and Akawa Ibom are already being investigated by the Inspector General of Police.   Buhari has maintained that those who perpetuated electoral fraud cannot hide under the guise of immunity and enjoy such fraud. Special Courts will be inaugurated to prosecute electoral offenders.