Governor Godwin Obaseki will continue another tenure after defeating his closest political rival Osagie size-Iyanu, the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate at the Edo State 2020 Gubernatorial Election.
According to the results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Obaseki polled 307,955 while Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who had 223,619 votes.
It would be recalled that In 2016, Governor Obaseki won his first as a candidate of the APC, with strong support from his predecessor Adams Oshiomhole, former National Chairman of the APC. In 2020 they became the worst of political enemies after they both fell out.
The squabble between Obaseki and Oshiomhole generated divisions in Edo State and further heightened the political feud between APC and PDP. Obaseki was denied the flag bearer ticket at his time in APC on the grounds of divided interests with party leaders. But eventually decamped to PDP where he was given the ticket to represent the party.
The political saga was becoming alarming that an average Nigerian could easily deduce that Edo election seemed like a political battle between Governor Obaseki and APC godfathers – Adams Oshiomhole and Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The battle got intensified to the extent that Governor Obaseki appeared to have been silenced despite being the Governor of the state.
Role Of Technology
Going into the election, the confidence level of Nigerians were abysmally low due to irregularities that have always crippled electioneering results in the country. While it’s easy for Nigerians to attribute the victory of Governor Obaseki to President Muhammadu Buhari’s continued reassurance and commitment towards a free and fair election. And the warning letters by the US and UK to the Nigerian government ahead of the Edo Election which may have lowered politicians to manipulate the election. However, one major factor that stands out is the technology that was deployed in the electioneering process.
It once again shows that technology has continued to prove beyond every doubt that it’s capable of making a significant impact. Almost all the sectors of the economy have been hugely affected by technology and Nigeria is beginning to feel that same result on elections.
Edo election would be regarded as one of the most successful elections when compared to Kogi election in 2019 where lives were reportedly lost, coupled with electoral manipulations. Elections without the deployment of technology has a potency of making aggrieved parties file a suit in court. However, with President Muhammadu Buhari already commending the INEC for conducting free and fair elections, the likelihood of going to seek redresss in court is undermined.
Transmission of Election Results Electronically
Some Nigerians who were not able to view the polling units result on television logged on to INEX portal (inecelectionresults.com) to monitor and view the results in real-time. With this electronic transmission of results, it becomes difficult for election results to be manipulated. On Saturday evening, Nigerians were already seeing the results and the announcement on Sunday. The timeliness of the results via electronic transmission is something that is quite different from what has been obtainable in the past.
Regardless, INEC has been at the forefront of deploying technological solutions during elections in Nigeria. The Commission deployed the Z-pad Technology to upload polling unit results to the Result Viewing Portal for the Edo State election.
A week before the election, INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Voter Education, Information and Publicity, Festus Okoye had promised only deploy technological solutions it has tested with small bye-elections and is confident of their performance in bigger elections. ”A responsible Commission will not gamble with a big end of tenure election conducted in the shadow of a pandemic,”
Also, INEC deployed the Smart Card Reader, a veritable tool for verification and authentication in the accreditation process. As a fact, Smart Card Reader has brought credibility to the electoral process and the INEC has continued to deploy it. However, the Commission have a responsibility to make it smarter and more robust and we will continue to improve on it.
PDP Vs APC Strategy
Regardless of PDP electioneering campaigns for Governor Obaseki, the party believes that if Edo election was to have a credible election without unnecessary interference that it would win. The PDP understands that technology was the only way to put some excesses into check. The likes of former vice president Atiku Abubakar and PDP Chieftain Osita Udoka have been on the front burner.
Even during the aftermath of the 2019 Presidential Election, one of Chidoka’s assertions against INEC’s dealings was the absence of promised online computing of votes, to which it’s reported that INEC said it has no server.
Particularly, Chidoka has been pushing a technology-driven agenda into Nigerian politics. Prior to the preparation of Edo 2020 Chidoka said he written to INEC asking about online computing of results online, to which they agreed and promised to provide.
Meanwhile, the APC had a different strategic direction. They resorted to media and publicity games against Obaseki. One of the notable media publicity was the sponsored television broadcast by Tinubu. The APC National Leader had urged the people of Edo State not to vote for Obaseki. ”He is not a democrat, ” Tinubu said. Oshiomhole on the other hand was vigorously campaigning for Ize-Iyamu in every nook and cranny of Edo State.
Obaseki appeared to almost becoming helpless due to the wide publicity pushed by the APC. The intensity was so much that over 35 aides working with Obaseki resigned and endorsed Ize-Iyamu. All hope was high that the APC Governorship candidate would have won.