APGA, PDP, Supreme Court and questions for Abia’s charter of unity

THE angst is palpable in Abia State with the 60-day timeline for the Supreme Court to decide the next governor of the state. In the face of the wait, the show of anger continues on the streets.

Just as a string of protests by thousands of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) supporters, ushered Dr. Alex Otti’s appeal to the Appeal Court in Owerri in November 2015, Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu is riding on the crest of celebrations by APGA supporters in Umuahia and protests by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) supporters in Aba, as he gets set to head to the Supreme Court to challenge Otti’s Appeal Court victory.

Last month when the Abia State Election Petition Tribunal, Chaired by Usman Bwala affirmed the victory of the PDP and Ikpeazu as Governor of Abia, thousands of APGA supporters protested.
And two days after the Appeal Court in Owerri quashed the judgment of the Tribunal, thousands of PDP supporters, in what was speculated to be coordinated rallies, trooped to the streets of Aba to protest. Aba has acquired a reputation in the election.

On the eve of the rescheduled governorship election on April 25, huge coffins appeared overnight at strategic corners in Abia South council and Abia North council areas regarded as APGA stronghold. The scary message then was: “Vote against PDP and die.”

Speaking during the Aba protests with bated hope of a reversal at the Supreme Court, former Senate President, Adolph Wabara, who is from the Ukwa/Ngwa axis, where the governorship was zoned to, described the Appeal Court judgment “as an anomaly and surprising.” He hinted at a possible probe of the Appeal Court judges as “the verdict gives room for suspicion of compromise.”

Former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Prince Christopher Enweremadu, who reportedly led the protest at Isiala Ngwa junction, said they would sustain the protest until the verdict was reversed amidst fears of a subterranean plan to swear in Otti, saying that any such plan would be resisted.

A press statement by a group, the South East Progressives Assembly (SEPA) signed by the president, Ebere Uzoukwa alleged a conspiracy to lure Otti and Abia to the All Peoples Congress (APC) with support of the Appeal Court justices, drawn from the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, under the influence of some top chieftains of the party. SEPA expressed the hope that “A judgment that clearly disenfranchises about 300,000 registered voters from the strongest-hold of Ikpeazu, can never survive the judicial scrutiny of the Supreme Court.”

With the ink barely dry on the ruling of the appellate court, Otti was already looking ahead, hailing the recovery of the people’s mandate, affirming his belief in the judiciary and noting: “Our guiding philosophy in leading this liberation struggle has been, ‘Abia First.’ This philosophy will continue to guide all our decisions and actions as we commence this new journey together. I welcome you to come with us to make our state great again. To our opponents including those responsible for what we have gone through in the last couple of months, we extend a hand of fellowship as we invite them to join hands with us as we seek to provide credible leadership to our people and restore their dignity.

“I shall address you soon in greater detail on our way forward and the challenges we envisage along the way.”

Otti said Aba, Ikpeazu’s stronghold is “the commercial powerhouse of West Africa. It was an industrial centre where multinationals and indigenous entrepreneurs held sway. It was the area that produced such great men as Michael Okpara, Dick Tiger, Jaja Wachuku, Alvan Ikoku, Nnanna Kalu, OC Ememe and so on. Today, it is a shadow of its former self. Our mission is to restore our beloved state to greatness.”

As Ikpeazu heads to the Supreme Court, more than the restoration of his mandate will be on the board. A favourable outcome of his case will be a success for the Abia Equity of Charter on which his predecessor, Senator Theodore Ahamefuna Orji and the PDP had anchored the choice of Ikpeazu. And in the 2015 election, when the debate was on whether the people of Abia would vote for the performance of the PDP or for power shift, Otti had faulted the principle of rotation and preferred that the contest be thrown open; let the best man win.

All the questions that the governorship election answered have been resurrected with the Appeal Court ruling. But in this case, the fate of the actors at play is in the hands of the courts and not with Abia people, which is why many wonder the point of the protests. Pondered an Abuja based contractor, Marcellus Chimezie from Uturu, Isikwuato: “This is why I don’t understand the reason behind these obviously stage-managed protests. They will change nothing as it is not about the votes anymore but about the process and the finer points of the law. Is it likely that the Supreme Court justices will be influenced by the protests by the Ukwa/Ngwa people and their sentiments for power shift? Will the justices be backing Orji and return his protégé in Government House?

“So far, Ikpeazu has been busy with road projects since he assumed office. The reason is not far fetched. The legal crisis probably motivated him to do so much in a short while. On the strength of his activities, most people will want the court to rule in his favour. But this is not a popularity contest. I believe that this development is good for governance. If Otti for example should come in, he will have the motivation to outdo Ikpeazu and the final beneficiaries will be Abia people. There is also the probability that but for the challenge of Otti, Ikpeazu would not be working so hard, and if he returns, he will relax.

“But the truth is that Ikpeazu is closer to the elite than the masses. The average Abia citizen wants an end to anything that will do with Orji and Orji Kalu. Otti looks like a break from that and is independent enough and has achieved a lot on his own to have the people’s sympathy.”

The former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Bank, Otti alongside the Chief Executive Officer of Masters Energy, Sampson Ogah were in the forefront of opposition against the famous Abia Charter of Equity and the rotation of power to Abia South, one of the fronts on which the PDP had contested and won the election.
Ogah, who hails from the Isikwuato axis, had argued that power shift was a tool by opportunist politicians to grab power and that since 1999, “people have always contested for the governorship and circumstances have always had a way of putting in the right candidate.” He lost in the PDP primary and walked away from the polls.

Otti contrived to fight. Aware that he won’t get the ticket in PDP, he decamped to APGA where under controversial circumstances, he beat Chief Reagan Ufomba, who claimed that he was on the track to picking the APGA ticket. He is still in court contesting the pre-election matter of who was the rightful APGA candidate.

Incidentally, if Otti’s Appeal Court victory is affirmed, it will in a way sustain the argument for power shift and the Abia Charter of Equity. Ahead of the 2015 elections, Otti claimed to be an indigene of both Arochukwu in Abia North and Isiala Ngwa South in Abia Central. While his parents hail from Arochukwu, he was born in Ngwa land where his parents settled. With the zoning of the governorship to Ngwaland and Abia South specifically by the PDP, he resettled in Ngwaland, and built an expansive and tastefully furnished mansion. He had hoped to garner votes of the Ukwa/Ngwa in Abia Central while for APGA, his entrance also answered the yearnings of power shift to the Ngwa people. Has Otti’s gambit worked? The Supreme Court will tell.

APGA, Otti and Ufomba

Ufomba, who is also in the Appeal Court in Owerri seeking to be declared the authentic winner of the APGA primary held in December 2014 believes that APGA ran the 2015 election the right way. The only drawback he once said was “at every turn, we were told that it is the turn of the Ngwa man to be governor and Otti is not an Ngwa man.”

With the success of the Appeal Court ruling, Ufomba from Isiala Ngwa in Abia Central was exuberant. In court to contest why he was shoved aside for Otti, at the primary by the APGA hierarchy, Ufomba said, “the victory is a very positive outcome and the right step in the right direction. It is good for the party and it strengthens my case and position because I won the primary of 2014. This victory takes us closer to the wishes and aspirations of the people because when the Appeal Court declares that I am the authentic candidate of the party, I will be sworn in as governor.”