There is this gentleman, Mr. Ogunsowo, who often comes on air on Channels Television to analyse issues, as, I guess, a Guest of the station.
He was very much on hand this Sunday, September 22 to analyse the results of the Edo State Gubernatorial election, in the course of which he spewed lots of lies about the Edo Governor-elect, Senator Monday Okpebholo.
For the avoidance of any doubt, it was Ayotunde Balogun of that TV station who read the 10pm news on the aforementioned date, during which he invited the said self acclaimed Analyst to spoke and he spoke on the Edo Guber election as referenced above.
The young man began by a weird observation that the election would go down in Nigerian history as the only one that was won by a candidate who won or scored votes only from one geographical area of the State.
He referred to Edo North as the said Zone. On hearing this, I necessarily chuckled because I knew he was out to spew arrant nonsense.
He then went into specifics, still spewing lies, that Okpebholo got his victory votes only from Edo North, which he attributed to the political prowess of Senator Oshiomhole, who, according to him, hails from Edo North with much political clout in the zone.
He said some other derogatory things about the outcome of the elections, things that were obviously meant to de-market the Governor-elect, and by extension, Senator Oshiomhole.
I will only address the point that the so-called Analyst made concerning the election. That is, where he spoke about Okpebholo having scored victory only in one geographical zone, according to him.
That claim amounts to a wanton and deliberate misrepresentation of obvious facts in the public space since he was on a global television.
Yes, deliberate misrepresentation of facts because apart from the Governor-elect scoring victories in all the six LGAs that make up Edo North Senatorial Zone, he also made serious incursions into both Edo South and Edo Central Senatorial Zones by taking three LGAs in Edo South and two LGAs in Edo Central.
These were Oredo and Egor Municipals, as well as Orhionmwon (all in Edo South Senatorial District) and Esan Central and Esan West (both in Edo Central Senatorial District). In other words, the 11 LGAs out of the 18 in the State, in which Mr. Okpebholo scored victories, all cut across the entire three Senatorial Districts.
Ordinarily, I should not have mentioned anything about the other major contestant, Asue Ighodalo, but this has become, not only necessary, but also inevitable because our ‘Almighty’ Analyst had tried to create the impression in his weird analysis herein referenced that Mr. Ighodalo did better than Okpebholo; a point on which I totally disagree with him.
Indeed, it amounts to turning logic on its head for anyone to claim, either directly or by implications, that in the contest herein referenced, a candidate who won only in LGAs in two Senatorial Zones had faired better than the one who won in LGAs that were spread across the three senatorial Zones and won the election, defeating the other.
I have never seen this level of base reasoning as found with the Channels Television Analyst. It is inconceivable for a man with his eyes wide and wild opened, to have fallen into such grave error as Mr. Ogunsowo had done, in this instance.
It becomes more troubling that he was on a global television station on the occasion.
Having thus stated, I now turn to the relevant legal instrument on the qualifications for anyone to hold a Guber position.
I’m here referring to qualification from an election point of view. Since Okpebholo was not a sole candidate in the election in question, I’ll only refer to the provision which deals with a situation of multiple candidature.
In the foregoing respect, I refer to and subjoin hereunder Section 179(2) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which provides, inter alia, as follows:
“(2) A candidate for an election to the office of Governor of a State shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being two or more candidates-
(a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and
(b) he has not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the State.”
That is the Constitution ‘speaking’, and without any scintilla of allusion to Senatorial Zones as a basis.
In this instance, Okpebholo did not only score the highest number of the votes cast at the election, but he also went on to score not less than one-quarter of the votes cast in each of not just two-thirds of the LGs in the State but in ALL the entire LGs in the State.
The situation of his closest rival, Mr. Ighodalo, is a far cry from the foregoing.
Then the question, what was the point the Channels Television Analyst, Mr. Ogunsowo, was trying to make with his said analysis by which he has completely de-marketed himself in the public space qua Analyst?
Yes, he has de-marketed himself as has been clearly shown from this rejoinder. In particular, and needful for emphasis, what was the point for him to have made a derogatory remark that this election would go down in the nation’s history as the only one in which the winner garnered all his votes from only one Zone of this State?
I’ve seamlessly shown that his assertion is not only untrue, but it is also something that roams large in his fertile imagination.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amaize lives in Benin, Edo State
