TURNOUT of voters at the governorship election in Cross River yesterday was remarkably low and violence-free.However, a court order, which affected the polarised resettled communities of the Bakassi Peninsula, resulted in street protests led by Senator Florence Ita-Giwa.At Unit 011, Ward 10, in Calabar South, only 18 voters were accredited as against the 647 registered voters at the close of accreditation.Similarly, only 13 persons were accredited out of 635 registered voters at the Housing Estate Primary School unit of ward 4 in the Calabar Municipality.The story was the same in all other polling units in Calabar. But, in all, there it was peaceful with no violence as every voter who turned out to exercise their civil responsibility comported themselves well.The result of the Polling Unit 015, State House showed that of the 554 registered voters, 32 were accredited but 29 voted.At the polling unit, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 24, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) 3, the Labour Party (LP) had one vote, while one vote was declared void.But there was mild drama as scores of Bakassi indigenes, led by Senator Ita-Giwa, protested what they described as 'judicial ambush' whereby a large number of registered voters from Dayspring 1 and 2 were restrained from voting.The protesters, who displayed their voters' identity cards, expressed shock at how someone could use the court as an instrument to stop them from exercising their civic right.It was learnt that Justice Adetokunbo Ademola of the Federal High Court, Calabar, had on Friday issued an order restraining INEC from conducting elections in the two Bakassi settlements. The order, which was made available to reporters in Calabar yesterday, stated that the '2012 elections in Bakassi and subsequent ones should be based on ward delineation based on the current Bakassi Local Government Area created pursuant to Law no. 7 or should be based on ward delineation based on Bakassi LGA, as existed before the ceding of Bakassi to the Cameroun'.Speaking to reporters at the Marina beach where about over 500 Bakassi indigenes were about boarding speed boats to Dayspring for the elections, Senator Ita-Giwa wondered why such steps were not takenbefore now.Her words: 'Every time there is an election, we vote in Dayspring I & 2 where we registered. We crossed to Dayspring 1 &2 to vote during the National Assembly elections. We did same during the presidential elections and even State Assembly elections. I believe you have the right to vote where you were registered. But for some strange reasons, today, and in the course of discharging this responsibility, we have what I may call 'judicial ambush' in the sense that an injunction has stopped INEC from conducting elections in Dayspring.'She said that to the best of her knowledge, the courts do not have authority over National Assembly matters and INEC. She also noted that Bakassi people had had to patiently wait to be properly resettled besides the traumatic experience of having to be sent packing from their ancestral homes.But in swift reaction to the development, the Cross River State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Mike Igini stated the injunction reached him 'very late yesterday' Igini, a legal practitioner, added: 'INEC is a creation of the law. Where there is an order of court, even if not properly given or given out of jurisdiction, the proper approach on the part of a lawful organization is to abide by the court order. If you disagree, you tell the court you are wrong in this order.'The principle of elections all over the world is that elections are conducted where people are registered. You do not ask a body to conduct elections where people are not registered. I think what we have seen, in the legal parlance, is commanding the doing of an impossibility. But for us, we cannot pick and choose how to obey court orders other than to go back to the court.'The worrisome issue is not unconnected with the conversion of the three wards of Akpabuyo at Ikang axis into Bakassi local government area, as backed by legislation from the Cross River State House of Assembly.The injunction seeks to cause the Bakassi people, who registered at the Dayspring Islands, to vote as Bakassi people in Ikang, where the council headquarters is located. But some Bakassi indigenes, including Senator Giwa, faulted with the arrangement. They described it as illegal.This has caused the Bakassi people to be divided over where should be called the Bakassi Local Government area. While Senator Giwa and some of her people opt for the Dayspring settlements, the Cross River State Government, the chairman of Bakassi, Hon. Ekpo Ekpo Bassey and his own people root for the new Bakassi at Ikang axis.
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