In the most heralded election since Abiola was dribbled out of a victory, the outcome of this election now hinges on the electoral votes in Enugu State.
After pollsters at NTA, AIT, OGTV, TSOS and other stations had initially called the Enugu electoral vote in favor of Obasanjo, the call was changed and called for IBB.
As things go, we all woke up yesterday morning and we are told that Enugu is now in play again.
What an interesting 24 hours it has been and the media is still wondering what went wrong
yesterday.
Interestingly, Jim Nwobodo was with IBB when the results were being called and feeling satisfied that he had delivered the Enugu electoral vote to IBB. The prospects of contracts now filled his head. Xmas was sure going to be merry.
His excitement was not to be for long though as Enugu was put back into play in the wee hours of the morning when it seemed like the farmer was
gaining on the master dribbler.
There are even stories reaching us that in the Trans-Ekulu district, the ballots were not all that understandable. It seems people who wanted to vote for Obasanjo ended up voting for Abacha who had passed away some 5 years ago.
It seemed like in death, Abacha's name managed to get on the ballot, thanks to Daniel Kanu of the "Youth Earnestly Asking for Abacha" (YEAA) fame, and thanks to the fact that the Trans Ekulu district used ballots that were to have been used in 1998 when Abacha was to run for
President.
The ballot recount in Enugu State is taking a while. Each candidate has representatives at the recount.
Representing Obasanjo are D. Okupe, T. Danjuma and Bola Ige and the IBB side, we have Abubakar Rimi, Shehu Shagari and Mohammad Buhari.
At this juncture, let us examine what the other could do if Enugu State is finally called for his opponent.
Analysts for NTA have refused to comment but the AIT correspondent has said that if Enugu is called for Obasanjo, it is possible that IBB could go ahead and annul the election, as far fetched as this may seem, and Sharia riots could suddenly materialize.
On the other hand, we have been told that calling Enugu for IBB might cause the farmer to go to the stations to discipline the news anchor with 20 strokes of the cane.
We are also told that with the new presidential jet at his disposal, it is possible for him to get to Enugu within an hour of the pronouncement and proceed to lash the electoral counters for getting it wrong in the first place and possibly telling Enugu State voters to go to hell.
Meanwhile, Nigerians are buying newspapers in unprecedented numbers, unlike the usual stance of United We Share, (U.W.S) nobody today is sharing, everyone is buying to they can soak in the news.
Even Ovation has nice spreads of what people wore to the election and how the mode of dressing
might possibly affect they outcome of the election. Suffice to say, circulation is up.
This poses a constitutional crisis because in the even that a decision can't be made, the house of representatives would vote on who would be president.
We all know that that's not possible since everyone in the house of reps had been impeached as of a week before the election and new elections to the house does not come up for another two years!!!!.
As we await the absentee ballots of all the Enugu (Wawa) residents abroad including those serving in ECOMOG, we ponder this one thought, will NIPOST be competent enough to deliver those ballots sometime this year in order for us finally decide who becomes our next president?
In any case, both sides are confident they will win, it is possible they know something we don't know but in any case, we might end up with something someone famous once called an Army Arrangement.
This is Sisi Eko
Reporting Live for Satellite Television (STV), Lagos.
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