Ohakim, the Imo tribunal and the petitioners
By Reuben Abati

IKEDI Ohakim, the Governor of Imo state is an extra-ordinarily lucky chap. Last week, Friday March 7, the Imo state election petition tribunal dismissed the two petitions that had been brought before it by Ohakim's rivals in the April 28,. 2007. Gubernatorial election .Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had claimed that he won the election in 18 of the 27 local government areas of the state, and that in the remaining nine local councils, the process was marred by irregularities. The other petitioner, Honourable Uche Onyeagocha of the Action Congress (AC) had similarly asked the tribunal to nullify the state Gubernatorial election because it did not comply with the Electoral Act 2006, and that the votes scored by the Governor were false.

The five-member tribunal rejected all the grounds of petition and ruled in favour of Ikedi Ohakim. It found that Ohakim who was a candidate of the Orji Kalu-led Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA), obtained the majority of votes cast in the April 2007 elections, scoring 25 per cent or two-thirds of the total votes cast in the 27 local governments in Imo state. It further ruled that the petitioners faield to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt. Both petitioners immediately rejected the ruling, and issued statements indicating that they are on their way to the Court of Appeal.

Araraume: "Today is a sad day for democracy", he thundered, "a sad day for Imo people and a sad day for Nigeria. We are going on appeal immediately. You can see our lawyers are not here because we are not surprised. From day one, we knew the direction they will go.. We are going on appeal." And hear Onyeagoacha: "Of course, it is an anti-people judgement, delivered by an anti-people's tribunal. I have already directed my lawyers and we shall be at the Court of Appeal at the shortest possible time".

But the good news from Owerri is the relative calm and peace that followed the tribunal's ruling. The tribunal had, deliberately it would appear, reserved its ruling in the Gubernatorial matter as its last assignment in the state and as soon as their job was done, members of the tribunal quickly left the city. In the run-up to the ruling, there had been so much tension in Owerri. During the pre-trial stages, the tribunal had to sit behind closed doors. And when eventually it threw its doors open, it was as if every living organism in Imo state wanted to be part of the proceedings. Security had to be specially beefed up. There was so much hostility, aggression and uncertainty inside and around the tribunal. Gubernatorial election petitions have been determined in other states, but if there was any state before Friday, March 7, where the threat of likely violence was most evident, it was in Imo state.

Other states that continue to raise anxiety include Osun, Ondo, Edo, Ekiti, as well as Enugu, Adamawa and Kogi: three states where an ordered re-run of the election is throwing up old animosities. On judgement day in Owerri however, rather than the ricochet of bullets on the streets, there were reports of widespread jubil;ation (much of it obviosuly organised), but even this did not push the opposition into the trenches. Both petitioners spoke of their readiness to go to the Appeal Court. In Imo, as in Kogi, Enugu, Kebbi, Adamawa, Plateau, Rivers, Yobe, Nasarawa and Lagos states, before now, and even in the Yar'Adua case, there has been an uncharacteristic display of civility in the post-election petition ruling situations.

If this is no demonstration of a new trend in Nigerian politics, it, at least underscores the growth of confidence in the judiciary. Even where the election petition tribunals had given rather controversial rulings, we have seen the petitioners opting for further recourse to the court of law. In the past, self-help was a preferred option. In spite of the anger that they have expressed, Araraume and Onyeagocha would do well to maintain their faith in the rule of law.

Araraume in particular has fought long and hard in the court of law to get to this point. He may have lost at the election petition tribunal and he may still lose at the Appeal Court as his case and that of Onyeagocha appear to be standing on rickety legs, but whatever happens, the processes leading to the Imo Gubernatorial elections ought to be remembered for their peculairity and as illustration of the kind of lawlessness within the PDP which hobbled the April 2007 elections: a dimension of which was played out in the recent PDP ward congresses and last week's PDP Convention in Abuja where the PDP advertised itself as a party that is afraid of democracy.

In 2007, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume had bought the form for the PDP gubernatorial primaries in Imo state. He was screened by the party and allowed to contest in the primaries which he won by a wide margin although he did not score up to 50%. Araraume who had served as a Senator reprsenmting Okigwe and who had originally been a member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party in Imo state, and who is generallky regarded as an influential man in Imo politics was so sure that he would be supported by his party.

He had even said at the time that "only God or Obasanjo" could stop him from becoming Governor of Imo state. This was at a time when former President Obasanjo was so power-drunk, he alone determined who got what position at any level. If you had been seen shaking hands with Atiku, his Vice President and arch-enemy, or it was reported that you were opposed to the Third Term agenda, Obasanjo simply shut you out. And the easiet way, as in the case of Rotimi Amaechi in Rivers state and Atiku Abubakar at the Federal level was to accuse you of having been indicted for certain wrongdoing. In Araraume's case, the PDP suddenly came up with the story that Araraume had some issues with the security agencies.

He was declared unworthy of the party primaries that he had won. Then Engr Charles Ugwu who had performed poorly in the primaries but who had been a loud, if not reckless supporter of the Third Term agenda was chosen as the party's flagbearer. Araraume's removal was greeted with widespeard condemnation. He fought within the party to claim his mandate. Araraume then went to court. He had obviosuly stepped on sensitive toes because he was promptly expelled from the party. He fought all the way to the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court ruled in his favour ordering that he should be on the ballot as the PDP candidate. PDP leaders characteristically ignored the Supreme Court and declared that they had no candidate in the Imo Gubernatorial elections.

To accomodate Araraume, the inconclusive Gubernatorial election that had been held without him on April 14, 2007 was re-scheduled for Saturday, April 28. But he went into the election as an orphan. And the beneficiary was Ikedi Ohakim. In a strange twist, the PDP mobliised all its support in Imo state for Ohakim who was running on the platform of a rival party, the PPA. The PPA was not just a rival party, it was also the party of Orji Kalu, who had left the PDP in a huff. The former Governor of Imo state Achike Udenwa never wanted Ohakim as Governor but because he also had issues with Araraume, he also chose to support Ohakim with his political machinery.

Thus in the April 28, 2007 elections, Ohakim had all the political forces in Imo state, including the Redemption Group and the Onongono, working hard to get him into office. Araraume may have been flying the flag of the PDP but he was actually the candidate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. And yet, Constitutionally, a candidate needs a political party to be able to win an election! Ohakim was lucky in another respect: if Araraume had not been brought back into the election on April 28, 2007, if he had been excluded as was the case in the election petitions in Adamawa, Kogi and Rivers, the ruling of the Election Petition Tribunal could have been different.

Not surprisingly, how to "prove his case beyond reasonable doubt" was the main albatross that Araraume had to face at the election petition tribunal, it was also the issue that dismissed the other petitioner's case. I do not foresee the Court of Appeal giving a different ruling. Both Ohakim and Onyeagocha lost the Gubernatorial election in Imo state, the moment all the forces on the ground conspired to work towards Ohakim's success. Ohakim has also obviously enjoyed the advantages of incumbency. But those who have their palm kernels cracked for them by benevolent gods should learn to be humble. Ohakim and his supporters should not be too triumphant. The politics of Imo state in the 2007 elections was the politics of acrimony and intrigue.

The courts may rule in favour of the sitting Governor but there are still divisions within the community, and the true test for Ohakim is in the future, and that future is not too far off. In that future, the challenge is to make the kind of chicanery, which the PDP displayed, in Imo state in the April 2007 elections impossible. To conspire to shut a man out of the electoral process simply because some powerful forces do not like his face is the height of political thuggery. The PDP has not weaned itself of this behaviour: it did the same thing in Abuja last week at its National Convention, with the Governors forging a consensus that promoted the politics of exclusion.

As sitting Governor, Ohakim has a responsibility to begin to reach out to the opposition and seek rapprochement and partnership. To the people of Imo state, he owes quality performance. So far, he has launched what he calls the "New Face of Imo agenda." He is focussing on the environment and trying to make Owerri once again the cleanest city in Nigeria that it once was. He is trying to regulate the operations of the menacing motorcyclists on the streets of Owerri (the inaga). His government has also banned the sale and distribution of pure water sachets. The people of Owerri are now only allowed to drink bottled water, pure or impure, it must be inside a bottle.

In doing all this, Ohakim must avoid the kind of youthful exuberance that has led him into boasting openly on television or that got him into trouble recently on the streets of Lagos, when his convoy drove a woman and her two kids off the road. And let him watch his back for the Godfathers who may yet ask for kickbacks...

Robot  # 1 | 14.03.2008 05:35

Ohakim, the Imo tribunal and the petitioners By Reuben Abati ...Read the full article.

peterclaver2006  # 2 | 14.03.2008 09:37

Nice article, Oga Reuben. You captured the intrigues in Imo State well. But Ararume does not have the kind of political weight you gave him here. Unlike all those who were rejected by the cabal called the PDP for standing up against Obasanjo and Third Term, Ararume was stoutly behind Obasanjo and the third term with the hope that this will avail him and make him governor. For other reasons, this never happened because he had very low value with Obasanjo, whom he served so slavishly. Remember the incident of the PDP caucus meeting where the replacement for former Senate President, Adolf Wabara was being packaged and how Obasanjo told an Ararume that was warming to take over from Wabara about the presence of one-and-half Nzeribes at the meeting and that Ararume being the half-Nzeribe would never be senate president. Remember also that it was Ararume who went and addressed a press conference that Southern Senators were behind Obasanjo’s third term. It took a livid Ken Nnamani at the senate chambers to order Ararume, who claimed when questioned by Nnamani, that he was misquoted, to go and ensure he was rightly quoted on that matter. Coming to the grassroots, Ararume who cannot point to any known achievement he wrought as a two-terms senator is loathed with bristling disdain by Imo people who charge that he was from Benin. It is common knowledge that an average Imo man pins all that is horrible, detestable and vile with Imo politics to Ararume, which was why the feeling of any Imo man in the run up to the mangled election was that God prevented Ararume from being a governor. He would only have become a governor not through the votes of Imo people but by the rigging machinery of the PDP, which failed him when he needed it most. As for the advice for Ohakim, I hope he would listen and if he does, he would turn out to be a very good departure from the strings of afflictions that have ravaged Imo State since the exit of Mbakwe. He had started very well and let’s hope he is humble about it and not allow himself to be carried away by the false trappings of the office.

i-go-better  # 3 | 14.03.2008 14:14

=peterclaver2006;4294995870>Nice article, Oga Reuben. You captured the intrigues in Imo State well. But Ararume does not have the kind of political weight you gave him here. Unlike all those who were rejected by the cabal called the PDP for standing up against Obasanjo and Third Term, Ararume was stoutly behind Obasanjo and the third term with the hope that this will avail him and make him governor. For other reasons, this never happened because he had very low value with Obasanjo, whom he served so slavishly. Remember the incident of the PDP caucus meeting where the replacement for former Senate President, Adolf Wabara was being packaged and how Obasanjo told an Ararume that was warming to take over from Wabara about the presence of one-and-half Nzeribes at the meeting and that Ararume being the half-Nzeribe would never be senate president. Remember also that it was Ararume who went and addressed a press conference that Southern Senators were behind Obasanjo’s third term. It took a livid Ken Nnamani at the senate chambers to order Ararume, who claimed when questioned by Nnamani, that he was misquoted, to go and ensure he was rightly quoted on that matter. Coming to the grassroots, Ararume who cannot point to any known achievement he wrought as a two-terms senator is loathed with bristling disdain by Imo people who charge that he was from Benin. It is common knowledge that an average Imo man pins all that is horrible, detestable and vile with Imo politics to Ararume, which was why the feeling of any Imo man in the run up to the mangled election was that God prevented Ararume from being a governor. He would only have become a governor not through the votes of Imo people but by the rigging machinery of the PDP, which failed him when he needed it most. As for the advice for Ohakim, I hope he would listen and if he does, he would turn out to be a very good departure from the strings of afflictions that have ravaged Imo State since the exit of Mbakwe. He had started very well and let’s hope he is humble about it and not allow himself to be carried away by the false trappings of the office. Claver This Abati article is nothing nice. It is lazy journalism at best. He only regurgitated already known facts as regards PDP, INEC, 2007 elections and the mesmerised Nigerian public which ofcourse, includes Imo State. I have a very high regard for R. Abati but dressing Ararume in a high profile political garb that certainly does not belong to him is quite disappointing. It was the fervent prayers of good and humble people of Imo State that brought Holy Ghost confusion into PDP in Imo State and which led to the emergence of I. Ohakim as Governor. Ararume is among the worst (they are many) that the S/East has had the misfortune of showcasing to the wider Nigerian society as their representatives. A diehard 3rd termer, the only way they can win any election is when Mike Tyson, Jackson-5, the dead, et al are imported into Nigerian by Iwu-ruwuru of America-wonder for audacious rigging. Imagine Ararume as Governor of Imo State! Or the other one called Charles Ugwuh! Hmm, has anybody heard anything about him since he became a Minister in Alhaji go-slow government? Dr Abati named, in insidiously derisive manner, projects the Governor is tackling with youthful vigor which include Keeping Owerri Clean. I wish he visited Owerri before Ohakin took over Governance of the State and observed how FILTH ENCROACHMENT had almost envolped the entire city. Perhaps, he would understand when told how much morale and spiritual upliftment that singlar act of carrying out such basic social responsibilty had on the people. Imo State may be experiencing a hint of very-long-ago, almost faded nostalgic hope of a second coming of Dee Sam Mbakwe of blessed memory. I don't have faith in any of the existing politicians but the signs from Imo State are encouraging indeed.