THAT the December 10th House of Representatives re-run in theEkiti Central Constituency II, had been approached cautiously bythe two major political parties in Ekiti State should be understood, given the renewed confidence and campaign propaganda of the opposition in the state.The opposition's song was: 'Oh, now, the world would know how much the Ekiti people had missed us since we lost power in the Appeal Court ... The people had since waited in vain to see the ACN's transformation magic... Our tested and more popular candidate will easily emerge...'Such, really, was the real-test situation for both the ACN and the PDP, the two main political parties in Ekiti State, the 2010 General Elections proof of ACN's superiority not withstanding. The 2010 General Elections could be said to have come too closely to the retrieval of the ACN's mandate and could have, therefore, enjoyed a bandwagon effect of the retrieval even though the PDP had since been disputing it in desperate terms.With over a year in office, the ACN must have been seen in its true colour by the people, with the true colour capable of influencing a poll like the rerun of December 10th but the true colour of a political party would largely be in the eyes of the beholders.To some, the picture could have been so bad and colourless because it had since not been business as usual in Ekiti State; no compromised or crooked contracts from which funds could be diverted into private pockets.Such individuals who had suffered from the justness of mandate retrieval could become very bad losers who would see no colour at all or see terribly bad colours that would prompt them to jump at the rerun opportunity of December 10th to prove a point; that the opposition was capable of bouncing back!If a picture or a perceived colour is wrong, it cannot lead anyone to a desired, positive result. That was the basic truth which played itself out in the Ekiti Central Constituency II rerun of December 10th.Apart from being totally fed up with the PDP's outlandish administration in Ekiti State before the mandate retrieval of 15th October, 2010, the new ACN government had since been demonstrating purposefulness, such that the people of Ekiti State would not ignore or disregard in casting votes.The people were conscious of the fact that they were going out to invest their votes once again even if only in a single House of Representatives seat. They turned out in large numbers, neither deterred nor intimidated by the unprecedented number of security personnel.Two major classes of voters were on queue on that voting day. One class was out to invest in intensification of road-construction as on the Ado ' Ifaki dual-carriage way, in massive youth employment, in the N5,000.00 monthly stipends for the senior citizens, in free medical services for the needy and special care for mother and child, in special attention to farming, industries and tourism, in free education and humane care for the workers.The other class of voters which had never had any sense of ideology were just on queue to see 'power' reverted via a wishful first step in the nature of a House of Representatives seat gained. The Ekiti Central II voters were resolute since their votes were going to count; thanks to the INEC which truly amplified their voices.Now, come to think of the attempted reversal of the true result of the election in the Ekiti Central II House of Representatives seat in the April 2010 General Election by an unknown National Reformation Party, (NTP), by legal instrumentation!That party, NTP, had proved that registered parties are equal in law, regardless of the glaring weaknesses of most of them. Stop to think of the cost of the attempted reversal of the true test of popularity which free and fair election had helped ACN to pass in 2010; the cost to INEC, to the ACN, to the government, at national, state and local government levels, given the fact that NTP only managed to score 153 votes in the re-run, perhaps the least!Doesn't the NTP 'power show' confirm that the law is an ass and that we all have to learn to respect and guard against the ass all the same''Oguntoye wrote in from Ekiti State
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