One of the unfortunate falsehoods in the ongoing Taraba narratives is that Aisha Alhassan actually won the governorship election. The impression is created that she is a popular female politician with a cult folowership. The assumption is that she is the Hilary Clinton of Nigeria who is being persecuted by a male dominated society such as Taraba. For the unsuspecting, Aisha has played an insidious mind game showcasing her as the one with the highest cast votes in the last election.
Yet, nothing could be farther from the truth. APC is the master of propaganda, voodoo and illusions. If one is not careful, they would sell one a dummy and make one pay for one’s funeral. They know how to decorate lies and sustain mirages. Here then are the incontrovertible hard facts: Alhassan won only five local governments out of sixteen LGAs in the state. Those LGAs she won are basically the ones opposition parties always and naturally win during polls. They are the strong hold of the opposition and no one can dispute the fact that the APC clinched those five local governments.
Having conceded that, it is also a fact that the ruling PDP in Taraba with its very popular candidate, Arc. Darius Dickson Ishaku, garnered the majority votes having convincingly won in eleven local governments. Even when are run was ordered in one of the LGAs, the PDP still swept the polls. Gov Darius, an urbane professional architect, is seen by many as the voice of reason and experience. He has been a minister in three different ministries. When he was in the power ministry, Darius easily endeared himself to the electorate and thus didn’t find it difficult to get their support. His platform too i.e, the PDP is the preferred one in Taraba.
Today, sadly the APC is creating the scenario as if it actually polled more votes. But the stark reality is there for all to see. Even the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) knows this for a fact. APC is alien to our people and it has no natural roots. In declaring the PDP candidate, Arc. Darius Ishaku the winner, INEC therefore was merely voicing the opinion of the majority of our voters.
This thus brings us to the crux of the matter. If democracy is the game of number, the PDP has that number. If it is a game of majority, then the majority of Taraba electorate have spoken. And if the electoral system stipulates that anyone with a simple majority wins this contest, then Governor Darius Ishaku is in order in the eyes of the law and common sense.
That is why any attempt to smuggle the governor’s mandate through the back door would always be resisted by the teeming masses of Taraba. Five can never be greater than eleven. Any attempt to make it so is not only anti democratic, it is basically demonic.
To give Taraba governorship to the opposition APC would therefore amount to not only standing justice on its head but also giving a new meaning to profligacy. It would be a perfidy of the highest order and recourse to dictatorship.
What is more, it would be a miscarriage of true democracy and an insult on decency. It would showcase the current Buhari administration as one that enthrones wickedness and lawlessness. That is why we are praying that the right thing be done in Taraba state so that the law abiding citizens can continue to be guided by the rule of law.
There is no telling what may happen to Taraba should the APC try to force itself and take the state at the court as the tribunal wanted to do. It is a dangerously unadvisable mission. It won’t auger well for Tarabans and certainly for the entire country. This is because injury to one is an injury to all. Right now there is peace and calm basically because the court of appeal did the right thing to avert pandemonium. Electorates are now more informed than before. Stealing their mandate is thus no longer a safe enterprise. Therefore any decision about Taraba has to take these facts into considerations:
- Taraba is historically and traditionally a PDP state
2. The PDP swept almost all the legislative posts both at the state and national level in the last election as a demonstration of this dominance in Taraba.
3. Gov Darius won with a very wide margin having garnered the highest number of votes from eleven local governments of the state.
4. The APC won just five local governments which are seemingly strong holds of opposition tendency in the state.
5. Five is not greater than eleven. It is a mathematical aberration and also a satanic equation.
The highest chamber of justice would never accept the devil’s calculus that five is now greater than eleven.
Gani Bako is PRO of TMG. [myad]
