The faceoff between the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP over control of the Abia State Government House has lately been at the issue of discourse in political circles in the state and among concerned political stakeholders. At issue is the judgment of the Court of Appeal nullifying the election of Governor Okeizie Ikpeazu of the PDP as governor on the basis of alleged irregularities in three local government areas of the state. The court in its decision pronounced the APGA governorship candidate, Dr. Alex Otti as the rightful winner of the election, a judgment that has elicited strong approvals and disapprovals based on political sentiments.
Two partisans of the two men in separate interviews review the issues on ground ahead of the Supreme Court judgment that will put a seal to the agitations of the two contending camps.
S-Court ‘ll do justice — Okpara
IMMEDIATE past Commissioner for Special Services, Legal Matters and Due Process, Office in Abia State, Mr. James Okpara, a lawyer, has picked holes in the Court of Appeal judgement nullifying the election of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and awarding victory to Dr Alex Otti of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, saying the Supreme Court will do justice on the matter and uphold the overwhelming wishes of the people of Abia State.
By Clifford Ndujihe
On why protests greeted the Court of Appeal judgement,.
We have to understand what is happening from the historical perspective of Abia State politics. Abia is divided into two distinct blocs – the old Bende Division and the old Aba Division. The old Bende Division has eight local government areas and the old Aba Division has nine.
Abia North is exclusively old Bende, Abia South is exclusively old Aba; and then in Abia Central, we have three local government areas from each of the two divisions. This is the composition of Abia State.
Starting from the First Republic, Dr M. I. Okpara, Premier of Eastern Region, was from old Bende Division and when you come to the period of the military rule, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Major General Ike Nwachukwu, Amadi Ikweche, Admiral Chijioke Kaja, Navy Captain Osondu were all from old Bende.
Also, the first civilian governor of Abia State, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, is from old Bende, before the creation of Ebonyi State, when his community became part of today’s Ebonyi State.
Civilian governors
The remaining former civilian governors, Orji Uzor Kalu and Theodore Ahamefule Orji, were also both from old Bende though under the current political division, Kalu is from Abia North while Orji is from Abia Central.
So, this has been the issue. No Ngwa person had governed the state. All they have produced since the days of the late Chief Sam Onunaka Mbakwe of old Imo State were deputy governors.
The two deputy governors that Mbakwe had, Dr Agbalaha and Chief Paul Uzoigwe, were all from Ngwa land. It is as if the rest of the state is saying that the old Aba cannot produce the governor of the state. So, Abians came together and felt that it is fair that the current governor of Abia State should come from Ngwa land, from old Aba Division, especially from Abia South, or if you like, from Ukwa Ngwa. This is based on rotation.
During the last election, practically all the political parties chose their governorship candidates from Abia South as a sign that everyone accepts the need for fairness based on rotation. So, for the first time they had the chance and they voted overwhelmingly for their son.
So, for someone to say suddenly that this thing they have been dreaming of and got is no longer so is unacceptable, to them.
This is part of the tension, especially because they were or about to be denied this opportunity. Obingwa, the local government area of origin of the governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, and the two neighbouring LGAs, Isialangwa North and Osisioma, which is his natural base, the votes of these three local government areas, which favoured him overwhelmingly, were totally cancelled by the Court of Appeal.
This means that Ikpeazu, his wife, family and relatives did not vote for him. Another issue here is the voting pattern of Abia State. We all know that to win a governorship election in Abia State, you must win Obingwa and Bende. Otti won in Bende and Ikpeazu won overwhelmingly in Obingwa, his local government of origin, only for the court to cancel it, in addition to Osisioma and Isialangwa North.
Now, when you look at the voting strength of these three LGAs, it is one-third of the entire voting strength of Abia State. So, there is nowhere A or B can win Abia governorship election without the result of one-third of the state’s voting strength.
As a lawyer, if you were to preside over the appeal, what would you have done?
I would have thrown out Dr. Otti’s appeal as lacking any merit. Look, Dr. Okezie won the election fair and square. What the court said, making references to the malfunctioning of the card reader, was that there was over-voting and rigging.
But no evidence of rigging or electoral malpractice was tendered before the court. No security agency, the Police, the Army, Navy, etc, gave any evidence of violence or malpractice.
What the court said was that the card reader showed that X Y Z voters were accredited through the card reader and more votes were cast.
So, the court cancelled the elections in those three LGAs and ruled that there was over-voting. But everyone in Nigeria knows that in the 2015 election it was not only the card readers’ accreditation that was used. INEC announced openly that because the card readers were malfunctioning, manual accreditation should be used to support it.
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