T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 10, 2019
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SUNDAY COMMENT
Editor, Editorial Page PETER ISHAKA Email peter.ishaka@thisdaylive.com
KOGI/BAYELSA GOVERNORSHIP ELECTIONS The will of the people should determine the outcome of the elections
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s the people of Kogi and Bayelsa States go to the polls again on Saturday, this time to elect their governors, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has another golden opportunity to make a bold statement that it is truly an unbiased empire with the capacity to conduct credible elections. In view of the controversy that trailed the 2019 general election as well as other stand-alone gubernatorial elections in recent years, we expect INEC to have learnt its lessons from past flaws and conduct these elections with every sense of responsibility. Meanwhile, the two states where the elections would be held on Saturday have unbridled records of violence. The last elections held in Bayelsa and Kogi in 2016 were marred by violence and eventually declared inconclusive. Against this background, these are not the easiest states to conduct elections in the country. But INEC has a responsibility to prove that it is up to the task, but they also need all the support they can get. Beyond the usual banal promise to deploy thousands of policemen, questions remain as to how prepared the police are to carry out their tasks with every sense of professionalism that can enhance the credibility of the polls. More worrisome, however, is the role of the military which ordinarily should not be involved in electoral matters. During the last general election, there were accusations of interference by soldiers at polling units and collation centres. Such was the level of their involvement in Rivers that the INEC headquarters in Abuja had to suspend collation of results in the state when it became obvious that some soldiers were bent on determining the outcome by force of arms. We must restate that soldiers have no role to play at polling stations and collation
centresWe expect all security agents deployed in the states to insulate themselves from partisan politics and dispassionately discharge their responsibilities by refusing to be willing tools in the hands of politicians to stall the will of the people. We also appeal to the major political actors in these elections to give room for peace and allow common sense to prevail.
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Once again, the onus lies on the INEC to rebuild the confidence of both Nigerians and the world in its ability to conduct free, fair and credible elections
Letters to the Editor
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he population of Abuja is increasing every passing minute and if we are to ever avoid repeating the mistakes of Lagos, our former capital city, there is need for government to quickly do the needful. The needful is the provision of the basic minimum infrastructural requirements through increased funding of projects in the Federal Capital Territory. It is not surprising that the man saddled with the task of administering the terri-
S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITORS OLAWALE OLALEYE, TOBI SONIYI MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR JOSEPH USHIGIALE
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hese elections must not be seen as do-or-die affair as we have had enough of bloodshed. The fundamental rights of Nigerians to live must be sacrosanct. We specifically call on Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State and former Governor Timipre Sylva to avoid the temptation of seeing this election as a battle for supremacy or a test of might as the aftermath of such will be catastrophic for both the country and lesser mortals as it will only underscore the maxim that where two elephants fight, the grass suffers. We extend the same appeal to Governor Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) opponent, Musa Wada, to resist any acts of desperation that can forestall peace during and after the polls. Once again, the onus lies on the INEC to rebuild the confidence of both Nigerians and the world in its ability to conduct free, fair and credible elections from the outcome of Saturday elections. We expect the commission to demonstrate a strict sense of professionalism in the overall conduct of the poll in the two states. Logistics must be deployed at the nick of time. It will be a gross failure, for instance, if there are reports of late arrival of voting materials or cases of voters waiting for the arrival of electoral officers at polling stations on Saturday as well as the use of non-functional card readers. Notwithstanding the posturing by the principal actors, one fact about the Ondo elections which also is true with all Nigerian elections is that it is not going to be fought on ideological platforms. Neither the PDP nor the APC can also be described as an ideology-driven party by any stretch of the imagination. It is therefore important for the politicians to allow the people of Kogi and Bayelsa States to decide their destiny for the next four years. There should be no room for coercion and violence. As for INEC, if it can conduct the Saturday polls without hitches, then Professor Mahmoud Yakubu would have proved that the commission has indeed learnt useful lessons.
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FCT Needs More Funding tory and providing the much needed developmental infrastructure, Mr Musa Bello, had called for increase in budgetary allocations to meet the challenges of the city. The minister who made the call while presenting the 2020 national priority budget of the FCT to the committee of the House of Representatives, stated the obvious by calling for more funding to avoid the disaster waiting to happen. Better funding of the FCT administration would surely enable it to fulfil its mandate of
building a world class capital city for all. It is true that budgetary allocations to the FCT have increased since the administration of President Buhari. It is also true that the allocation was not enough to build the dream city. Much more is still needed. The minister said the ministry plans to spend about N28b for the national priority budget. A breakdown of the budget proposal which he submitted to the house includes the development of the Idu Industrial
infrastructure, rehabilitation and expansion of the airport expressway, counterpart funding for the greater Abuja water supply projects, Abuja rail mass transit project, among others. It is heartwarming to see and hear that the members of the house committee on the FCT concurred with Mohammed Bello on the need for better and enhanced funding for the provisions of infrastructure considering the enormous responsibility placed on the shoulders of the minister. There is an urgent need for investments in infrastructure to reduce the cost of doing business
and increase the ease of living in Abuja. The traditional methods of funding infrastructural projects in Abuja can no longer be sustained. We thank the minister in the introduction of the public finance initiatives and the public- private partnership initiatives as some of the financial models that would be used in financing Abuja developmental infrastructure. Example of projects which have been or are being financed through this model includes the Abuja light rail project which many describe as a model of PPP. ––Jamila Musa, Abuja.