Group Politics Editor, Taiwo Adisa, examines the role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the unfolding scenario surrounding the scheduled gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State.LATE on Thursday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) moved to redeem what was becoming a messy affair as far as its handling of the Bayelsa gubernatorial election is concerned. The commission restored the name of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, on its list for the 11 February gubernatorial election, against earlier position that the matter was still a subject of litigation. The commission had, a fortnight ago, released the names of 35 candidates of the political parties who were to vie for the gubernatorial election in the state, leaving out the name of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In its release, the INEC neither included the name of the incumbent governor, Timipre Sylva, who won the primary held in January 2011, nor the name of Honourable Dickson, who won the 19 November primary of the same party. The INEC decision, according to its National Commissioner in charge of Information, Mr Adedeji Shoyebi, was in line with the need to allow the court decide the eventual winner of the PDP ticket.Shoyebi claimed in a report that INEC refrained from publishing the names of either Sylva or Dickson because it was barred by a valid court order. The commission had earlier refrained from attending the 19 November primary in Bayelsa based on the confusing media reports on the ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which indicated that the parties to the Bayelsa case be put on notice. While the court did not actually issue an order stopping the PDP primary in November, some newspaper reports quoted the judge as having given the order and that INEC stayed away from the Bayelsa primary based on the media reports.In releasing the list of contestants for the Bayelsa guber election, INEC cleared the candidates of 35 other parties, leaving that of the PDP in limbo on account of the ongoing litigation. But by doing that, INEC immediately placed itself on the cross. Questions were immediately raised as to INEC's sincerity in taking the position not to recognise any of the contending candidates in Bayelsa PDP until the litigation is resolved. The questions were rife especially considering the position INEC took in a similar position on the Kogi gubernatorial election. The electoral body had, on 3 December, 2011, conducted a gubernatorial election in Kogi State and named Captain Idris Wada as the candidate of the PDP. Before the election, it was clear that Mr Jubril Isah remained a contender for the ticket, as he had approached the court, asking to be named the rightful candidate for the election, having won the primary conducted by the PDP in January 2011. So, despite the fact that Captain Wada, who has since emerged the governor-elect of Kogi, and the PDP in the state found themselves in situation similar to that currently subsisting in Bayelsa state, the electoral body chose to recognise one of the candidates for the election proper. Thus, it was fishy to see INEC, which had declared itself ready for the true umpire role since the assumption of office of Professor Attahiru Jega, taking a shifty position on issues that remain one and the same.While tongues were wagging as to what might have gone wrong to force the INEC Legal Department to take contradictory positions on the same issue, some political developments that followed tend to justify the claims that some forces might be at play at INEC.The camp of Governor Timipre Sylva immediately hailed INEC's decision not to recognise either himself or Dickson. That was followed by the emergence of a coalition of gubernatorial candidates in Bayelsa, also asking INEC to remain firm and resist any move to make it buckle on the need to keep the PDP candidate at bay.It was shocking that while candidates, who have been cleared for the election, should be busy on the streets canvassing for votes that would secure victory, much energy was being dissipated on the need to praise INEC for first keeping the PDP candidate at bay and later for castigating the electoral commission for standing on the rule of law by recognising the PDP candidate.While reacting to the decision of INEC not to enlist Dickson's name on the candidates list, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sylva,Mr Doifie Ola, noted that 'INEC has taken the right decision as an impartial umpire by acknowledging and stating clearly that the subject of the PDP candidate for the gubernatorial election is validly before a court of law and, that as an institution that respects the rule of law and democracy, it would not do anything to prejudice the final outcome of the matter in court.'Though Governor Sylva won the PDP primary in January 2011, a ruling of the Federal High Court on tenure of governors who won re-election after the nullification of their tenures had forced INEC to suspend the conduct of election in the affected states in April of last year. As the new election date was approaching in the case of Bayelsa, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP disqualified the governor from participating in the state primary for security reasons. Honourable Dickson then emerged winner of the PDP primary held in November 2011.The PDP, at both the state and national levels, were dismayed by INEC's stance, with the national secretariat of the party writing INEC to ask it to immediately enlist Honourable Dickson as the party's candidate for the election. Bayelsa State Chairman of the PDP, Deacon James Durgo, was quoted in the media as saying that the decision of INEC to keep the candidature of Dickson at bay was shocking to the party. He had stated: 'We are completely taken aback by this development and to say the least, we are shocked, embarrassed and disappointed that INEC would take such a drastic and monumental decision without recourse to us as a party, having formally received and accepted the names of our candidate and his running mate, following the successful conduct of our party primaries on November 19, 2011.'But INEC had to wait for an order of the Abuja Federal High Court to help it reverse itself. Justice Gladys Olotu had, last Wednesday, granted an order compelling INEC to enlist Dickson as the PDP candidate in the forthcoming election. The commission immediately complied on receiving the order. The question still remains, which order of the court originally stopped INEC from recognising any of the contending parties to the PDP ticket before last Wednesday'The question has become germaine in view of the fact that some opinion molders are already reading politics into the decision. Some sources had even insinuated that certain powers were actually behind the decision of INEC's legal department which advised a stay of action as regards the recognition of the PDP candidate. But the need to isolate INEC from possible political mudslinging should override all intentions and actions by the electoral body.That the Bayelsa scenario would provide some landmark political studies has never been in doubt. The PDP had moved against a serving governor and barred him from seeking re-election. It is certain that the governor's camp will not stand idly by when power is about to slip off its hands. Certain sources however indicated that while the Bayelsa helmsman had jettisoned the idea of defecting to a rival party to fulfill his second term ambition, his loyalists have decided to throw their weight behind one of the 35 candidates confirmed by INEC, while steps would be put in place to keep the battle against Dickson alive.It was gathered that in the calculation of the Sylva men, the more the confusion on the PDP table, the better for the bid to upstage the party and secure victory for their preferred candidate. Recent developments in the state indicated that INEC was apparently being dragged unwittingly into the fray and such a development could potentially soil its image.
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