EMEKA NZE writes that the Supreme Court judgement on Imo governorship polls which sacked Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha and ordered the swearing in of Senator Hope Uzodimma aggravated the already frosty relationship between the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
Judgement proved as a shock
The last week Supreme Court judgment was a rude shock to many Nigerians. No even Pro-APC Nigerians expected the judgement. Permutations that in the worst case scenario, it would favour the first or second runner-up were blattantly proved wrong as its beneficiary, Hope, came a distant fourth in the election. For the PDP, the judgement was “groundless and should be reversed.”
If the judgement created further schism between the ruling and the opposition parties. Their reactions and counter reactions to the protest pitched one against the other thus making their relationship frostier than it ever was.
APCs reaction to protest
The APC described the protest embarked upon by the PDP as “senseless and capable dragging the image of the country and the judiciary into public ridicule.”
The party said the PDP has become a threat to the present democratic practice in the country and asked the relevant security agencies to bring to book all those posing threat to peaceful coexistence in the country.
In the highly worded statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa Onilu, the APC said it find the action of the PDP disgraceful, senseless and worrisome as well as a calculated attempt to heat up the polity.
While recalling the seats the party has lost to the PDP, the party said it has just lost the governorship election in Sokoto state to the PDP, adding that even though the party does not agree with the judgement, it has accepted it, and still have abiding fate in the judiciary.
Reacting to the meeting of the APC Governors Forum which hailed the judgement, the PDP alleged that the governor’s stood in defence of the judgment of the Supreme Court on Imo governorship election because “many of them are products of huge electoral manipulations”.
The APC statement read, “the All Progressives Congress (APC) finds the indecorous and contemptuous actions and remarks by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) worrisome. The disgraceful and senseless protest embarked upon by the opposition party is being done with the sole purpose of dragging the apex Court of our land, and indeed our great country into odium and scorn before the international community.
“We also view the irascible actions and irresponsible remarks by the PDP as a calculated attempt to overheat the polity. PDP has become a present threat to our peaceful coexistence. For the avoidance of doubt, it is important to put the issues PDP is reacting to in context.
“On January 14, 2020 the Supreme Court delivered a bold and very remarkable Judgment in the case involving the Governorship election of Imo State. Like all judicial contests, there was a winner and there was a loser. The crux of the decision was that the PDP candidate (who had been adjudged to have been wrongfully declared the winner by the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Imo State) was removed by the apex Court and Sen. Hope Uzodinma of our party was declared the rightful winner of the election.
“The Court directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue a Certificate of Return to Sen. Hope Uzodinma and that he should be sworn in as the Governor of Imo State. This decision by the apex Court was not made lightly but was, in fact, based on the facts presented by the Parties and the law canvassed before it by their respective Counsel.
“How else should a Court of law determine a case before it? Based on innuendos, conjecture, suspicions and conspiracy theories? Certainly not.
“Since then, the PDP has issued press statements and made series of wild and unsubstantiated allegations as well as casting aspersion at the Court for its decision. We know that the PDP will find justice served by our Courts very hard to swallow because it had become accustomed to crooked manipulation of due process to its benefit and at the expense of the entire system.
“Weaning it from this bad modus operandi has proven difficult if not impossible. Every time the PDP loses in Court, it declares the decision suspect and our democracy on life support.
“For the Records, APC, through no fault of ours, even as the ruling party, has suffered monumental losses in our Courts in respect of elections conducted in 2019. Let us start with Rivers State where the party was deprived an opportunity to even field any candidate. Never before had such an occurrence been experienced in our political history.
“What many do not appreciate is that the decision that led to this state of affairs was itself the first of its kind in our history since 1960. The Court determined that a case which, in every material particular, arose in respect of congresses which are held before elections, constituted a pre-election matter and consequently was said to have contaminated the legal ability of the party to even nominate candidates for the general election.
“As a result, the PDP, who was the sole beneficiary of this decision, had a clear run for all the elective offices in Rivers State. APC did not produce a Governorship candidate as well as candidates for the 3 (Three) Senatorial seats, 11 (Eleven) House of Representative seats and 32 (Thirty-Two) State House of Assembly seats. In essence, APC lost out in 46 elective positions even before the starter pistol was fired! We took it in our stride.
“What about Zamfara State? We won every elective position in Zamfara State. However, when the Court determined that all the votes willfully given to us by the good people of Zamfara State were wasted votes (which again was the first of its kind in our electoral jurisprudence), the APC lost everything. In essence, we went to bed occupying all 35 elective offices in Zamfara State and woke up occupying none on account of the decision of the Court. We did not bring down the nation but accepted our loss because democracy is as much about losing as it is about winning in any election contest.
“We have just lost Sokoto State governorship to PDP on account of the judgement delivered today by the Supreme Court. We should state that the judgement is completely strange to our expectation based on the facts before us. For the record, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwa, the current Governor of Sokoto State, is on his seat with 324 votes with over 30,000 canceled votes in the March governorship election. PDP does not see anything wrong in this, but it is comfortable with Mr. Emeka Ihedioha occupying the governorship seat in Imo State for seven months without meeting the constitutional requirement of 25 percent in two-third of the Local Government Councils in the state.
“Unlike PDP, we are not going to behave like spoilt brats and threatened the peace of the country over the surprising judgement of the Supreme Court on the Sokoto State seat.
“As our records show, APC has lost several seats in the Senate, House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly across the country. Many have offered real confusion as the decisions departed from our knowledge of our electoral laws. Yet, we have carried ourselves with candor and dignity even in defeat.
“It is against this backdrop that we find the reckless and insensitive actions by the PDP in reaction to the Judgment of the apex Court regarding Imo State very irresponsible and indeed contemptuous. The PDP, without any scintilla or iota of fact, has alleged bribery, inducement, coercion and collusion between the Executive arm of Government and the Judiciary.
“These are very weighty allegations that can completely undermine any democracy and damage our judiciary beyond repairs. It is therefore incumbent on the PDP to provide the evidence to back these senseless allegations.
“In any democracy, no one should be allowed to inflame tempers within the polity, set the nation alight with such damaging allegations thereby threatening its peaceful coexistence and retire to his own home in peace as if he has done nothing. All those behind the statements issued by the PDP pouring invectives on our judiciary and leveling baseless allegations against the Executive arm of government should feel ashamed of themselves.
“The question to ask the PDP is whether the same Executive arm it accuses today were not the same ones in government when APC lost over 100 elective positions to Court decisions? Why did the same Executives not intervene to stop it and could that have even happened if indeed there was any form of collusion with the judiciary.
“The PDP must not lend its platform to conspiracy theorists, propagandists and rumour peddlers if it wants to be taken seriously as a partner in our democratic experience. It must accept the role of a responsible opposition or face the wrath of Nigerians who cherish their hard-earned democracy and will do all to defend it.
“You all will note that we have deliberately avoided addressing the well known facts of the insurmountable legal impairment faced by the PDP Governorship candidate in Imo State; Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. We have also steered clear off the ignoble role played by the Returning Electoral Commissioner for Imo State in the said election which culminated in the dubious return of the PDP candidate.
“These are now matters that have been finally determined by the apex Court and anyone with lingering complaints and grievances must ventilate same through the appropriate channels. Law jurists can take up the duty of reviewing the decision so that every one learns from it as we work to perfect our democracy. It is not for us, as political parties beclouded by political bias, to conduct a surgery on the reasoning of our eminent Judges in a way as to deliberately cause embarrassment and derision.
“We e urge the relevant agencies to immediately take the necessary steps to bring to account anyone attempting at causing chaos and inciting violence in our cities while hiding under dubious political protest. We also urge our teeming members to remain calm but steadfast.
“When we offered ourselves as a party of change personified in the person of the President of the Republic, President Muhammadu Buhari, we meant it in every sense. Change is a process and it can be slow and painful at times. However, we are assured by the continued support of millions of Nigerians to remain squarely focused on the task at hand, which is building a strong, prosperous nation based on the principles of rule of law, zero tolerance for corruption and justice to all no matter whose ox is gored.
“To the people of Imo State, we promise you that our new administration will quickly abandon the “tear-them-down” policy of the ousted PDP administration as well as all acts of state-sponsored brigandry in an attempt to cow political opponents. All persons who were dehumanized and summarily dismissed albeit illegally from their positions will have their cases reviewed appropriately.
“The public infrastructures that were damaged as a result of the PDP war of desperate vendetta will be restored as these are assets belonging to the good people of the State and not a single individual. We will quickly restore the pride of Imolites through constructive engagements of every strata of society and implement an aggressive programme of building both human capital and infrastructure within the State. Imo will once again assume its pride of place as a shining example among the South Eastern States.”
PDP reactions to APC Governors Forum
But the PDP in a statement issued by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, Sunday stated that “the APC governors’ attempt at cheap blackmail will never stop the PDP and millions of Nigerians from the demand for the review and reversal of the judgment in which the Supreme Court manufactured and donated fictitious votes to name a 4th position candidate the winner of the Imo state governorship election.
“It is rather not surprising to many that the APC governors could allow themselves to be enlisted to haul insults at the PDP with a view to blur and distort this grave miscarriage of justice because many of them are products and beneficiaries of electoral manipulations.
“The APC governors’ part in this script appears very glaring. Of course, who else will the flies support except a person with open smelly sore?
“This is also why APC governors are encouraging their party to engage in underhand measures and supporting injustice instead of following democratic processes.
“In comparing the Imo state judgment to that of Zamfara and Rivers states governorship elections, the APC governors forgot that Nigerians are abreast of the facts.
“The APC governors deliberately veiled the fact that they lost Zamfara and Rivers as a result of their internal wrangling over their failure to conduct a credible primary, which voided their votes and left the party with the second highest number of votes as the winner.
“This is different from the judgment on Imo where fictitious votes were manufactured by the Supreme Court and donated to the APC to lift it from the fourth position and declared winner.
“In making their plea for the rejected judgment, the APC governors should explain to Nigerians how the Supreme Court, in its bid to award votes to APC, ended up declaring a total valid votes of 950, 952 votes above the INEC’s official 823,743 total number of accredited voters for the election.
“Can the APC governors explain to Nigerians how and where the Supreme Court manufactured the extra 127,743 vote above the number of accredited voters.
“What can they say to the fact that the Supreme Court could not produce the details of the votes from each of the fictitious 388 polling units, upon which it based the ruling?
“Furthermore, can the APC governors explain why the Supreme Court summersaulted on its declaration on a host of cases, particularly the Atiku vs Buhari case, that for a petitioner to succeed in allegation of infraction of any provision of the Electoral Act, especially one complaining about malpractice, the petitioner must call witnesses polling unit by polling units”.
