For the Abia State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Alex Otti, light hope seems to be in the horizon for his people with his victory last week at the Court of Appeal, Davidson Iriekpen writes
For a majority of the people of Abia State, the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Owerri which last week declared the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr. Alex Otti, the winner of the April 11 election was a divine intervention to rescue the state from the cabal which has held it down since the enthronement of democracy in 1999. To them, it was what they needed to have confidence in the judiciary since the electoral process had failed them repeatedly. The people had become disillusioned and despondent up to the the point that they see Appeal Court judgment which restored integrity of the electoral process as a miracle. The timing of the was indeed auspicious – the last day of 2015. It was as if the forces of good were determined not to allow the hand of injustice reign in the new year.
While delivering judgment in the appeal filed by Otti to challenge the upholding of the election of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, the five-member panel headed by Justice Oyebisi Omoleye annulled the Ikpeazu’s election on the grounds of substantial non-compliance with the electoral law. The court said the APGA candidate scored 164,444 valid votes to defeat the incumbent governor who scored 114,444 votes. It declared that Otti was the winner of the April 11 and April 25 supplementary elections in the state. Justice Omoleye said the cancellation of the elections held in three local government areas of Obingwa, Osisioma Ngwa and Isiala Ngwa by the returning officers after the results were uploaded to INEC was wrong.
“In the Electoral Act, the Returning Officer has the right to only declare results of elections and not to cancel elections. This panel discovered that the earlier results uploaded to INEC headquarters correspond with the correct valid registered voters in the three LGAs, while that awarded to the respondent, shows over voting and therefore null and void,” the judgment held. While reviewing preliminary objections and issues raised by both parties, Justice Omoleye struck out the preliminary objections by Ikpeazu’s counsel to the effect that the appeal lacked merit. She also turned down the objection raised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the members of the panel were wrongfully constituted and affirmed the arguments of Otti’s counsel. The appellate court maintained that the lower tribunal erred by not handling all the issues raised.
“It was wrong for the court to insist that because the appellant failed to appear in person, his matter will not be given due attention. For not appearing in person, the first appellant did not abandon his case,” she said. After nullifying the election, the court insisted that there was no need to call for re-run because the results of the April 11 and 25 polls clearly present Otti as the genuine winner of the exercise. It therefore, directed INEC to issue Certificate of Return to Otti and swear him in as winner of the election. Otti had gone to the appellate court after the Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in Umuahia, the state capital had dismissed his petition to challenge the declaration of Ikpeazu the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoal Commission (INEC) in controversial circumstances.
The APGA governorship candidate had urged the tribunal to annul the declaration of Ikpeazu as governor, saying the election was marred by irregularities and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act. He, however, urged the tribunal to declare him the winner on account of the lawful votes cast during the election. He also asked the tribunal to uphold Ozumba’s cancellation of the results for Obingwa, Osisioma and Isiala-Ngwa North LGAs. He said Ozumba, having cancelled the results, did not have the power to cancel the result and reverse himself, adding that only the tribunal had the power to reverse the cancellation. However, in a 85-minute judgment delivered by its Chairman, Justice Usman Bwala on November 3, 2015, the tribunal said Otti and APGA failed to prove their claim to have won the election “beyond doubt.” Bwala said the petitioners had, on one hand urged the court to nullify the election on grounds that it was marred by irregularities and massive fraud and on the other hand, sought that they should be declared winners of the same election.
He said the petitioners reckoned with the card reader as a means of accreditation during the election of April 11 but failed to agree with use of voter’s register. It further refused to grant the petitioners’ request to uphold the cancellation of the results of the election in Obingwa, Osisioma and Isiala-Ngwa North Local Government Areas of the state. Justice Bwala said the State Returning Officer, Benjamin Ozumba, was not allowed under the law, to cancel the said results in the first place, hence the subsequent reversal by him had no effect. He said the onus lay heavily on the petitioners to prove beyond doubt that they won the election as they claimed in their petition. The tribunal chairman, therefore, dismissed the petition because of the failure of the petitioners to convince the tribunal beyond doubt that they won the election. It would be recalled that during the election, despite the antics and desperation of the PDP and the incumbent governor of the state, Chief Theordore Orji, to ensure his party sweeps the polls, Otti’s APGA took almost half of the seats in the state House of Assembly leaving the PDP with the remaining half.
However, as collation of the governorship election was going on, words got to the governor that Otti was leading Ikpeazu in 14 of the 17 local government areas with over 60,000 votes. Orji together with some PDP chieftains allegedly stormed INEC office to teach the returning officer some bitter lesson. They forced him to cancel the election of Obingwa and Osisioma local government areas together with a third one, Isiala Ngwa North which was actually not one of the PDP stronghold. That to many observers, was the journey to the fraud which characterized the election, leading to awarding victory Ikpeazu. For a state that has not been particularly fortunate to have a governor that will put a smile on the faces of the people since the enthronement of democracy in 1999, Otti had entered the governorship race at a time majority of the people were looking for change. People were really sick and tired of the political domination of the Orjis. Besides, there was a consensus of opinion even among PDP faithful that the administration failed in providing infrastructure and good governance in the state. To make matters worse, Ikpeazu was literally imposed by both Orji and his son without consulting any other person in the party. In the tradition of party leaders in the state, most of them objected in their homes and among themselves. No one dares challenge them. However, because a seed of discord had been sown and some of our members were only too eager to work against the party.
Otti until he joined the governorship race, was the Managing Director of Diamond Bank. Just when the Board of Directors of the bank renewed his appointment for another term of six years, having done creditably well in lifting the bank out of the doldrums it found itself over six years ago, the APGA candidate rejected the offer, preferring to heed to the clarion call of his people to replicate the same feat he achieved in the bank in the state in order to lift it out of the underdevelopment it has found itself. All through the electioneering, he had a very strong message which resonated with majority of people of the state in spite of political affiliation. He spelt out in very clear details, the state of his dreams. He transversed all the nooks and crannies of the state, even some remote villages like Itumbuzo and Ntalakwu that had been literally forgotten by past governments.
The former banker laced up his campaign trail with entertainment as he moved around with some top music and nollywood artists, mostly from Abia State, who entertained the audience as part of the events. He also had in his train, international football stars like Kanu Nwankwo and Austin “Jay Jay” Okocha. That sure attracted a lot of people, the young and old alike. But the end of the election, victory was snatched away from him, leaving the people despondent. Reacting to the Appeal Court story, the minority leader of state House of Assembly, Prince Ikedi Ezekwesili went spiritual in his speech, saying that God manifested himself on December 31, 2015 at a time it seemed all hope was lost and that God would not answer the people’s prayers. “It was a day transformation, change and liberation were delivered to Abians,” he said, adding, “Today Abians have trooped to the streets to appreciate God for recovering the stolen mandate”. He expressed optimism that the Supreme Court would affirm the judgment of the Appeal Court.
Also, the APGA senatorial candidate for Abia North, Chief David Ogba Onuoha-Bourdex, said the victory of Otti at Appeal Court was for Abians, adding that those that voted for him cut across party lines as APGA supporters alone could not have made him win. He said that Abians who yearned for change expressed it by voting for Otti For, the people of the state particularly those who in the camp of the PDP who have been disturbed since 1999, will have to wait for the verdict of the final court, Supreme Court. In the main time, the people are celebrating and hoping the apex court will uphold the Appeal Court judgment.
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