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By Ehichioya Ezomon

The typical politician shows only one part of their persona when campaigning for elective office. They tell the public that they seek the political position simply – and solely – to render service to the people. They deny the craving for further expansion of their private frontiers with public power, resources, and influence!

Note that the tongue-in-cheek politician or politico-technocrat doesn’t render any noticeable service – not to talk of a selfless one – for the general good, but only to themselves, their immediate and extended families, friends, business associates and old school mates, if they still remember them.

The grassroots are never in the reckoning of the average politician or technocrat until it comes to seeking to occupy an elective position. If their competitors abridged their ambition, they rave and rant in the media about a “stolen mandate” allegedly given to them by the very people they’ve never considered on their way to the top.

The tenacious efforts to “retrieve the stolen mandate” – with a huge financial outlay to hire several of the best and most expensive senior lawyers – betrays the politician’s selfish reason for wanting to serve in an elective position. If really their interest is genuine – and the people they seek to serve have rejected them at the ballot – why not simply shrug their shoulder and honourably bow and retreat?

Not so with the Nigerian politician, who sees the alure of elective office so tempting as to declare the fight for it a do-or-die affair that entertains no failure at the poll, nor a concrete and peaceful plan of exit. Rather, the politician will cry foul that their “mandate has been stolen.”

They’ll rile up their party base, supporters and critics with inflammatory statements against the actual “mandate holder,” and the electoral umpire that may’ve made that declaration without bias, or being influenced, but in accordance with the laws of the election. They’ll follow up their criticisms and condemnation with a threat to – and actually – go to the Election Petitions Tribunal, to “regain the stolen mandate.”

This illustrates the step-by-step reaction and actions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State, Dr Asue Ighodalo, who lost to the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo (APC, Edo Central).

Let’s briefly look at Ighodalo’s reason for elective office vis-a-vis his rationale for vowing to go for broke at the tribunal, which he hinted about in his thank-you message to Edo people on September 23 in Benin City. The message was entitled, “My good people of Edo State, in all things, we must first give thanks to God.”

According to Ighodalo: “We are grateful for the gift of life, health, and your overwhelming love and support throughout this journey. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who stood by us. Your unwavering dedication has fueled our campaign and kept us moving forward.

“I particularly thank the brave people of Edo State who, despite rain, threats, and intimidation, cast their votes on September 21, 2024. Your resilience is the bedrock of our democracy. You are the true heroes of this moment, and your courage will never be forgotten. Your sacrifice paves the way for a brighter Edo State, one built on integrity and justice.

“My aspiration has never been about power. It has always been a genuine desire to serve and create prosperity for all in Edo State, for every man, woman, and child. I visited every ward, every local government, sharing this vision of hope and listening to your dreams. Your voices strengthened my resolve to fight for a better future.

“To our dedicated supporters, I thank you deeply for your belief in this cause. Your time, conversations, and votes carried us far beyond expectations. We ran a great campaign together, and your support was clear. Sadly, our progress was abruptly halted by those who don’t care for the people or the future of Edo.

“September 21, 2024, will be remembered as a dark day. The brazen theft of our mandate and the silencing of your voice was a grave injustice. But we must not be discouraged. Evil’s temporary victory can never erase the truth. Our quest for prosperity is just beginning, not ending.”

Certainly, Ighodalo, being a politico-technocrat, has subsumed his professing of “service to the people,” to gain the elusive elective office of Governor by all means possible. Rejecting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC’s) declaration of Okpebholo, Ighodalo heads to the courts for an epic legal battle to retrieve his “stolen mandate.”

Unless the unforeseen, and unexpected happens, Ighodalo – if he chooses to run the gamut of the law – has 10 months of six months at the Election Petitions Tribunal, two months at the Appeal Court and two months at the Supreme Court, in that order, to exhaust his case.

In an interview on Channels TV’s ‘Politics Today’ on September 27, as reported by Daily Trust, Ighodalo accused the INEC and the Police of colluding to rob him of his “mandate,” stating that many voters were disenfranchised, amid evidence of rampant over-voting, and alteration of results.

Ighodalo said: “There was a collusion between the INEC and the police to suppress the will of the people of Edo State. People of Edo State purposely voted for us (PDP). We won the election clearly. It is painful because you have many young people who felt that they were disenfranchised in the past; they feel that their votes were not counted and they asked what kind of democracy we run.

“I had been trying to encourage them, that make sure your votes count but we have serious collusion by INEC and the APC working towards votes not counting. But this time around, we will go through the judicial process and the vote will count. We are quite clear that with the evidence we have, we will show clearly that we won the election. And the mandate of the people will be upheld.”

Exonerating the PDP from vote-buying, Ighodalo added: “We were not involved in vote buying at all. APC agents came with minted notes straight from the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria); they were offering N20,000, N30,000 and N50,000 per vote. Our guys went to them and told them, ‘you can’t come here to buy votes.'”

Very weighty allegations of disenfranchisement of voters; suppression of votes; over-voting; buying of votes; alteration of results; fraudulent process; and connivance of the APC, INEC and Police to flip Ighodalo’s “victory” for Okpebholo. To get judgment(s), though, at the courts, Ighodalo and the PDP must “prove these allegations beyond all reasonable doubts,” and “in substantial compliance” with the relevant electoral laws in Nigeria.

However, it appears Ighodalo and the PDP are poised to run their election petitions at the tribunal along with an indefinite protest to pressure the INEC to reverse its declaration of Okpebholo as the winner of the poll, and restore Ighodalo’s reported “stolen mandate.”

Kicking off the protest in Benin City on October 2, the party leaders, including the Edo chapter chairman, Dr Anthony Aziegbemi, the Director-General of the PDP Campaign Council, Hon. Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, and the Deputy Director-General (Media and Publicity), Rev. Olu Martins, carried placards, demanding that INEC return the “stolen mandate” by declaring Dr Ighodalo as “the authentic winner of the governorship election.”

Stating that the protest was to inform the world that Ighodalo had won the election, and that the INEC altered the results of certain local governments in favour of another candidate, Aziegbemi thanked the PDP supporters for “joining this journey to reclaim our stolen mandate, which was subverted by both the police and INEC.”

“If we had lost in a free and fair contest, we would have congratulated them (Okpebholo and APC), but they stole our mandate. Therefore, we cannot congratulate them,” Aziegbemi said. “This is Nigeria; we will not allow our victory to be stolen. We are confident that the overwhelming evidence we will present will help recover our mandate.”

Aziegbemi urged the supporters to “remain patient,” while the judiciary reviews the evidence impartially, “and recognises that the PDP rightfully won the election, and delivers a fair judgment.”

As Ighodalo takes his defeat to the tribunal, a chieftain of the PDP and Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Rt Hon. Blessing Agbebaku, has congratulated Okpebholo on his victory. This comes as Agbebaku welcomed members of the assembly back from a very long recess on October 2, as reported by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Agbebaku, who’s third in the hierarchy of elected and appointed officials in the state, and a major player in the September 21 poll, noted that “the Governor-elect is for all Edo people, and not just the APC,” and expressed the hope that sycophants wouldn’t mislead Okpebholo from running an inclusive government.

Meanwhile, Okpebholo – after he and Deputy Governor-elect Dennis Idahosa presented their Certificates of Return to President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on September 26 –  stated that if he were in Ighodalo’s shoes, he’d congratulate the winner of the election.

Okpebholo, fielding questions from State House correspondents on what he would’ve done had he lost the governorship, and what does his election portend for Edo State, said: “I think Edo people have spoken with their votes. For me, I’m coming as a servant to serve Edo people. That is what is required of me, and that is exactly what I am going to do.

“My election as Governor of Edo signals a new dawn for the State. So, very soon, we will see a lot of developments coming to Edo. A lot will be happening over time.”

Promising to run an open-door administration – and urging those who lost at the election to bear the pain with fortitude – Okpebholo declared: “If I had lost, I would have to bear it, and I would have, by now, congratulated the winner. So, I’m expecting them to congratulate me.”

To the typical politician, accepting electoral defeat is easier said than done, notwithstanding their parroting of service the people. As he’s not affected in the instant scenario, Okpebholo can afford to sing a different tune from Ighodalo’s, who’s taken the optional legal route for remedy to his poll grievances.

If Okpebholo were defeated on September 21, it could only take his will power – via the grace of the Lord – to take a page from the playbook of former President Goodluck Jonathan and ex-Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, to say to the winner, “I congratulate you for your victory at the election.”

Does Okpebholo possess such will power, to resist the pressures from his immediate family, the campaign organisation, political party, financial backers, supporters, aides and consultants not to cave in, and congratulate the opponent that beat him to the second position at the ballot? Yet, must politicians serve the people by force, by going to the tribunal to regain a “stolen mandate” that’s most often a figment of their imagination?

Ighodalo congratulating Okpebholo or not is immaterial at this stage of the long journey to the Osadebey Avenue Government House seat of power in Benin City, Edo State capital city. What matters is Okpebholo’s choice to waste or make judicious use of the first months at his disposal – within which before the election petitions and appeals are dispensed with – to prove his mettle that he’s the right person for Governor of Edo State from November 11, 2024!

* Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.