The Abia State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which
sat in Umuahia, the capital city, wound down its activities on
Tuesday after almost 180 days of its mission in the state.
Although the judgement is still hazy as legal experts continue
to ruminate on it, pending the release and careful study of the
true certified copy, the summary is that the three-member
jurists dismissed the petition filed by Dr. Alex Otti, the
governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand
Alliance (APGA).
Otti had gone to the tribunal to seek the nullification of the
declaration of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, the PDP candidate, as
governor by the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) at the end of the April general elections in the state.
He also prayed the tribunal to declare him the rightful winner
of the governorship poll.
Specifically, he asked for the nullification of results of
Obingwa, Osisoma and Isialangwa North Local Government
Areas (LGAs) of Abia, where the election was reportedly
marred by massive fraud, irregularities and substantial non-
compliance with the Electoral Act 2010.
Otti also urged the tribunal to uphold the cancellation of the
results from the three LGAs as announced by the State
Returning Officer, Prof. Damian Ozumba, citing the reports
and evidence from local and international election observers,
who monitored the exercise in those areas.
Ozumba, however, reversed himself after allegedly being
coerced by former Governor Theodore Orji, who was alleged
to have led other chieftains of the PDP to the collation centre.
Having reversed himself, he was alleged to have been
compelled to re-admit the cancelled results. But Otti insisted
that having cancelled the results, the Returning Officer lacked
the legal power to reverse himself. He said the cancellation
could only be reversed by a competent tribunal.
The eventual collation of the results turned the table against
APGA, which was already leading with more than 55,000
votes, having clearly defeated PDP in nine out of the other 14
local government areas.
The tribunal held that the Returning Officer’s cancellation
was not backed by law. But notwithstanding this summation
as well as its consideration of oral and documentary
evidence, in addition to the final written addresses of all the
parties, the tribunal upheld the collation of the results and
ultimately the election of Ikpeazu.
Many Abians view this judgement as a judicial process of
robbing Peter to pay Paul and using the tribunal to legalise
rigging in an election that was clearly won by Otti.
So, by its approval of the cancellation and subsequent
reversal of the controversial results by the Returning Officer
as having no legal consequence, the tribunal upheld the
disputed results from the three council areas even when it
was obvious that the total votes purportedly polled by all the
political parties that contested the election in the areas were
far above the number of registered and accredited voters.
It was against the backdrop of the massive electoral fraud
evident in the election in Obingwa, Osisioma and Isialangwa
North LGAs that the masses, who gave their support and
votes to Otti, waited patiently, believing that the tribunal
would reverse the INEC result in favour of the true winner of
the election.
Curiously, whereas the tribunal, which heard petitions arising
from the national and state assemblies elections, nullified
Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe’s election, due to the alleged
massive fraud in the same Obingwa, Bwala’s tribunal upheld
the result from the area in the case of Otti’s petition.
To Mr Darlington Ezenwa, a produce merchant in Aba, the
commercial hub of Abia, Bwala’s judgement was ‘’sun set at
dawn” in Abia.
“The tribunal has murdered sleep in Abia. I do not believe
there is justice in the tribunal’s verdict. This is unfortunate”,
Ezenwa said.
A popular hotelier on Ogbor Hill area of the city, who was
made numb by the judgement, sighed repeatedly, paced
round the passage of his office and shaking his head
intermittently in disbelief, after he received the report of the
tribunal’s verdict.
Finally, he braced up and muttered: “This is shocking, we are
finished in Aba. This tribunal has dealt with Abia, especially
those of us in Aba. Where do we go from here?”
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, he said: ‘’Aba would
have gone agog in celebration today and, as a visitor, nobody
would tell you that something great has happened to the city
and its people, if Otti was declared winner by the tribunal
because we voted massively for him”.
The same coldness pervaded other major towns in Abia. In
commuter buses, tricycles and public places, the judgement
dominated discussions and many residents of the town
expressed utter disappointment.
And from Umuahia, a journey that lasted for about one-a-half
hour, due to the dilapidated road network, commuters in the
mass transit bus took turns to lampoon the judgement.
In Umuahia, the seat of government, the atmosphere was one
of mourning, people wore long faces. Except around the
Government House on Bank Road, Umuahia, where the
judgement was celebrated, characteristics of celebration
were conspicuously absent on the streets of Umuahia.
Although, while some urged patience with the new
government of Ikpeazu, many feared that his albatross would
be the system that threw him up. Not many are convinced
that he would make any difference.
Addressing a crowd of supporters at the APGA secretariat,
located on Ikot Elpene Road, immediately after the
judgement, the National Chairman of the party, Chief Victor
Ike Oye, urged them to remain calm and prayerful.
Oye said that the party ‘’was not expecting justice from the
tribunal,” describing the judgement as a parody of justice.
He said: ‘’Dr. Alex Otti won the election and had tendered
overwhelming evidence at the tribunal to recover his
mandate.
‘’We will take this petition to the highest court of the land to
recover the people’s mandate given to our candidate and
party”.
Reacting to the judgement, in a press statement issued by his
Media Assistant, Mrs Jennifer Ben-Okereke, Otti, himself,
described the judgement as ‘’nothing other than a travesty of
justice and rape of democracy’
In the statement, entitled, ‘’Judgement may have been
delivered but justice is on the way, ‘’ he expressed regrets
that ‘’the trial tribunal has again scuttled the people’s hope
and desire for positive change, quality and credible
governance in the state.
He went on: ‘’It is also unfortunate that the tribunal has
unwittingly acquiesced in the sinister conspiracy by the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to silence and deny the
people the mandate, which they freely gave to me and my
party”.
Continuing, he said, ‘’It is obvious from the mournful looks on
the common man on the streets of the major towns, cities
and villages of Abia state that today’s judgement failed to
deliver justice and certainly did not reflect the wishes and
aspirations of the people expressed through the ballot.
Therefore, it certainly cannot stand.”
He said that the cold and quiet atmosphere in different parts
of the state ”demonstrates the feeling of a people
shortchanged by an incredible electoral process.
‘’It is further compounded by the incomprehensible
affirmation by the tribunal’s judgement, which legalized the
broad-day ambush and robbery of the peoples mandate by
PDP.
‘’I share in the agony, pain, disbelief and frustration of our
people. Nevertheless, I encourage our supporters not to
despair but to further gird their loins,” he told his teeming
supporters, saying that ‘’the battle has not ended.”
He said that he would explore the next judicial window to
seek redress in order to ensure that justice is done and that
we recover our stolen mandate.‘’
The former Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer of
Diamond Bank Plc. urged the people to remain calm,
peaceful and law abiding, saying that his legal team of
erudite lawyers would study the judgement and initiate the
next line of action.”
‘We did not envisage that the struggle to liberate our dear
state from the stranglehold of the slave masters, who have
held down the state from growth and development in the last
16 years, would be a tea party.
‘’We are committed and resolute and this warped judgement
cannot deter us or vitiate our determination and commitment.
Rather, it has only strengthened our resolve to fight on until
justice is done.
‘’The struggle is not about the person of Alex Otti but about
our state, our impoverished people, our future and that of our
future generation”.
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