- An Open Letter to Governor Obaseki.
My Dear Governor,
THE entire Edo sons and daughters both at home and abroad observed with anxiety, dismay, and inexplicable bewilderment, the manipulation of the election process in the ‘just conducted’ local government election.
This has in no small way or measure eroded and/or dampened the confidence of the electorate, candidates, and/ or contestants in the electioneering process of the state.
Your excellency sir, in all possible human estimation and prediction, a very large number of politicians(myself inclusive)in the state and many others were not truly shocked nor surprised that such a high magnitude of malpractice and ill practice were perpetrated. In fact, so many of us correctly predicted what your approach was going to be.
It may or may not interest you to know that we were not deceived by your excellency’s promise to conduct a true and fair election. The reason being that your your antecedents sir have been seen to follow the same pattern of consistent inconsistencies, huge appetite to hold on to power by all means(no matter who goes down in the process) among others that can not be mentioned here.
Your excellency, I need not inform you that the local government election was hugely characterized by palpable fear and the gross attendant violence, ballot boxes snatching, and outright unavailability of voting materials (especially in the polling units or areas where your opposition parties have massive followers or stronghold).
This not withstanding, the seeming prepaid returning officers, who were clearly identified to be your core PDP members, announced the shameful election results while allocating all eighteen local government areas to PDP.
My governor, sir, the most laughable part of this is the bold face with which a government that has so abysmally performed made the people believe that it had a hundred per cent sweep in the election. One is then left to wonder if it is for the good roads in Edo State that the people of Edo state gave PDP a hundred per cent votes. Or is it because of the mega infrastructural developments, sir? Maybe your excellency, it is because of the very effective and successful program for the youth that your government has blessed them with. May be it’s because of the huge level of change in the experience of our students and the academic institutions and their learning environment.
Your excellency, this one may pass now, but I need to remind you that the peace of our beloved state is superior to any personal or party interest. Let me, therefore, admonish and advise your excellency to show sportsmanship in the future by playing fair if you want the victory to resonate with the good people of Edo State.
Edo State has been in almost a near- mourning mood since this abberation was done all in the name of an election.
Finally, your excellency, let me end this open letter with a quote from J.F. Kennedy of blessed memory. And I quote, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” And also another quote, this time by our late Edo brother Dele Giwa of the Newswatch fame, and I quote, “Evil done by man to man shall certainly be redressed. If not now, certainly later. If not by man, then by God. For the victory of evil over good can only be temporal. ”
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Aruna Braimoh Denzel Edmond – PfD, FCA, FCTI, FCE, FEPM, FICA-LP governorship aspirant-Edo state.
