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Last week Friday
was a big turning point in Nigeria’s journey towards genuine democracy.
The Appeal Court sitting in Ilorin finally gave a judgement which
returned the mandate of Ekiti people to Kayode Fayemi of the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN)). Segun Oni of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), who held the mandate of the people captive for the last three
and a half years, was asked to go home.

Since the
judgement and the swearing in of the legitimate governor, intense joy
and celebration have broken out in the state. Men, women, children, old
and young have burst into a mood that was hitherto unusual for the
state since the return of democracy in 1999.

It was as if the state was just witnessing a new dawn.

But a new dawn it
really is. The journey for Mr. Fayemi and his party has been really
long and tortuous. It is still unclear why it had to take this long-
three and a half years- in a tenure that was supposed to last just
four. Mr. Oni has had full run of the state taken decisions and
appointed people to sensitive posts when in actual fact he was an
impostor and should never have been allowed to preside over the affairs
of a state.

It is these kinds
of anomalies that the Electoral Act 2010 is supposed to quickly address
and make sure that those who do not have the legitimate votes of the
electorate are not allowed to hold public office in future. It is
important that the National Assembly, political parties, Independent
National Electoral Commission and all well meaning Nigerians cooperate
to see to it that this kind of thing is not allowed again.

This is very important because it is gradually becoming a practise.

Between 1999 and
2001 the same scenario was played out in Anambra State when Chris Ngige
was declared as the governor of the state until he was later sacked by
a court to usher in Peter Obi who is now the governor of the state.

This aberration
that is gradually being turned into a norm must be stopped. That is why
we support the need to have elections well ahead of time so that all
grievances pertaining to them would have been solved before a candidate
is sworn in. A situation where a candidate has been sworn in and spent
two to three years in office before being sacked does not augur well
for democracy. In such a situation who pays for the costly mistake in
declaring a wrong candidate the winner? And who pays for the errors? In
our system we have found out that no one in the long run pays for the
mistakes, except, of course, the electorate that has been short changed.

For instance, all
the INEC officials who participated in the heists that foisted both Mr.
Oni and Mr. Ngige on the electorate are still holding to their posts at
the commission or wherever they came from. They have not been arraigned
before any tribunal to face trial for their connivance in the travesty
that brought those men to power. The question then is: how will such
people be dissuaded from committing such electoral crimes in future? Or
how will the failure to punish them serve as deterrent to others?

We salute the determination of Mr. Fayemi to pursue his case to a
logical conclusion and also salute the courage of the judiciary to
restore his mandate. However, the time to begin work is now. The new
governor must realise that he is no longer an activist; the traumatised
people of Ekiti expect a lot from him. He should therefore bend down
and work to restore the confidence of the people and justify their
votes.