Anxiety, tension as Kogi decides today...

Governor Idris Wada, Prince Abubakar Audu

Amid anxiety and tension, voters in Kogi State will today decide on who will govern them for the next four years, in an election that will also serve as litmus test for the chairman of the INEC. 
The Kogi governorship election, under way in all the 239 wards and over 2, 548 polling units across the 21 local government areas of the Confluence State, will see about 1.3 million registered voters take part. Although the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has recognised 22 political parties to participate in the election which some analysts have tagged ‘the battle between continuity and change’. Incumbent governor Idris Wada of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and ex-governor, Prince Abubakar Audu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are considered the main contenders in the battle for Lugard House, Lokoja.

The election precedes the aggressive campaigns embarked upon by the major gladiators and parties - the PDP, whose candidate is the incumbent, Captain IdrisWada from Dekina local government area, Prince Abubakar Audu of the APC, from Ofu local government area and the candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Philip Omeiza Salawu is from Ihimain Okehi council and his kinsman Enesie Emmanuel Ozigi of the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA), from Okene. The INEC in Kogi State said it was fully prepared for the election.
Daily Trust observed that palpable anxiety has gripped the state, as citizens prepare to decide who will govern them for the next four years. The fears are said to stem mostly from allegations being expressed in some quarters that arms were into some parts of the state to be used by thugs to unleash mayhem. In its pre-election observation report, the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) had stated that small arms and light weapons were brought into some parts of the state and promptly alerted the Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light weapons to nip it in the bud. The PDP had equally raised alarm over alleged infiltration of some elements to perpetrate mayhem.
There were also pockets of clashes between supporters of the two major governorship contenders at Idah and Igalamela local government areas in the build-up to the election, which spread fear. Although many people who spoke with Daily Trust expressed their readiness to turn out massively, their concerns were predicated on provision of adequate security and ensuring that their votes count. 
It was in view of these concerns and the need to ensure that people’s votes count that the INEC in collaboration with the police, held a stakeholders’ forum towards ensuring peaceful, free, fair and credible election. The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, who spoke on that occasion, urged the electorates to come out en masse and exercise their voting rights without fear of molestation as adequate security arrangements had been made by the police.
Assuring the forum that the police high command had deployed adequate personnel for effective security before, during and after the election, Arase said 21 units of mobile policemen had been deployed to Kogi to man security in each of the 21 local government areas in collaboration with the 6,000 policemen already on ground. He charged all policemen deployed for election duty to respect the rights of voters, stressing that all acts of misconduct, including intimidation and threat to voters by security personnel will not be condoned.
On the role of the military, the IGP clarified that the military would not directly be involved in election duties but noted that nothing stops them from assisting in the protection of some of the critical national institutions on the day of election. 
Daily Trust observed heavy deployment of security personnel within and around the state preparatory for the poll. The major streets of Lokoja, the state capital, were manned by anti-riot police personnel even as some were keeping vigil at state headquarters of INEC. The level of anxiety in the state was further aggravated by the fact that the two major contenders, Wada and two-time governor Audu, vying for the coveted seat, are from the eastern senatorial zone.
Supporters of each camp are convinced the election would be decided in their favour. Director General of Wada/Awoniyi Campaign Organisation, Senator TundeOgbeha, said the PDP was confident of winning giving the level of response they got from the electorates in the cause of their campaigns across the state. He enthused that the performance of Governor Wada in the last three and half years, where solid foundation was laid for the development of the state, would help the party coast to victory. 
In the same vein, the Director General of Prince Audu/Faleke Campaign Organisation, Isa Daniel said they were sure of carrying the day because Audu is not a new name in the country’s politics, not just Kogi. “To us, he is an institution politically and he is a man that has been tested and trusted. Kogi State as it stands today happens to be his brain child; he is the architect of Kogi State and practically all you see here as far as dividends of democracy are concerned are all he did while he was in office,” he said. 
While Wada, who he is rounding off his first term in office, is seeking a second mandate to ‘consolidate,’ Audu wants to bring about ‘change.’ Interestingly, there has been a touch of comedy over a war of posters and billboards, especially in Lokoja where the battle over space for posters took the centre stage.
In the build-up to the election, supporters of the various political parties struggled to outdo their opponents by trying to deface posters/billboards of their rivals. For instance, it was observed that some billboards belonging to two major governorship contenders at the popular NTA Roundabout in Lokoja suffered defacement several times. Also,  Lokoja streets had been turned into a carnival of sorts as supporters moved from street to street singing and dancing to music in support of their candidates.
New INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, gave assurance in Lokoja said the commission had deployed three of its national commissioners and 11 resident electoral commissioners to monitor the election. “The three National Commissioners will be saddled with the duty of monitoring the election in the three senatorial districts,” Yakubu said, stressing that INEC attaches a lot of importance to the conduct of the polls, especially being the first under his watch. While assuring of INEC’s neutrality as an electoral umpire, he also assured on the use of card readers in today’s election. “Only people of Kogi can choose who their governor will be and nobody else,” he said.