By Xajo Iweta OROBUKOGBAKE
Ahead of the Governorship Primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled for today Wednesday, Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has been embroiled in a delegates gagging controversy.
It was alleged that not satisfied with the assurances extracted from the delegates who had been heavily induced monetarily, the governor resorted to arm twisting tactics by threatening and intimidating the. delegates.
It was learnt that he had already camped them in various hotels in Asaba, with a firm instructions that each delegate must mark his or her ballot paper with a written code “9” at the back as evidence that the delegate didn’t vote anything other than the aspirant he or she was instructed to vote for.
However the delegates are said to be uncomfortable with the instructions to write a code on the back of their ballot paper, describing it as an invasion of their privacy and intimidation taken too far.
Going by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) guidelines of open secret ballot system, Governor Okowa and the State PDP are not only breaching democratic norms but are also trampling on the inalienable rights of the delegates.
According to one of the delegates who pleaded anonymity, he said, “we have been directed to write ‘9’ as a code behind the ballot paper after voting to identify those that would refused voting for the Governor’s preference today”.
Another delegate, who also craved anonymity, said “Voting is supposed to be secret ballot so that we, the delegates can feel free to act according to our consciences or judgements, but the Party, on the directive of the Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, is now breaching our rights with intimidation that we must write 9 at the back of the ballot paper after voting, before dropping it in the ballot box.”
He added that, the gagging method of writing code 9 at the back of the ballot paper was to identify those who would vote against the governor’s choice for appropriate sanctions and punishments,” he lamented.