Why Oshomhole failed Bayelsa arithmetic

The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) may have failed the arithmetic  on the Bayelsa State governorship election result where he declared that no one will be sworn in as Bayelsa Governor on Friday because the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate failed to meet the required 2/3 votes.

APC supporters have argued that the ruling APC secured 352,552 votes while the PDP had 143,170 votes. They held that accredited votes were 517,883 while total votes cast were 499,511.

The APC supporters, therefore, argued that 2/3 of Total votes cast is 333,007 votes, maintaining that Oshiomhole was right.

They declared the 2/3 of total votes cast 333,007 exceeds PDP’s 143,170 votes.

The APC further argued that PDP failed to make 2/3 votes in 3 LGAs identified to include Nembe LGA where APC had 83,041 votes and PDP 874 votes; Ogbia LGA where APC had 58,016 votes, PDP 13,763 votes and Southern Ijaw – APC 123,803 votes;
PDP 4,898 votes.

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They concluded that Bayelsa will be going for rerun election.

However, the APC supporters appeared to rely om self-knowledge than constitutional prescriptions. The constitution prescribes majority votes and 1/3 votes in 2/3 LGAs of the state.

In their submission, the PDP candidate did not meet the requirement in 3 LGAs identified above. However, 2/3 of the 8 LGAs in Bayelsa State is 5.333; since the .33 is less than .5, the approximation tilts to 5; if the figure had been greater than .5, it would have tilted towards 6. Apparently, the Oshiomhole and his supporters are on the wrong side of the political calculus. There will be no rerun; even when there is any, APC is already out of the race because the candidates have been disqualified and time replacements has elapsed.

APC must accept the consequences of bad leadership than covering up and infesting the polity with lawlessness and recklessness of the party leadership. Bayelsa State is just one circumstance, Rivers State, Zamfara State, Imo State, etc, were conspicuous places APC lost to intractable conflicts emanating from bad leadership and disruption of internal democracy in the party.

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