ALL EYES ON SUPREME COURT

 Charles Nwanaga contends that the governorship election of November 11 in Imo State did not serve any purpose

The outcome of the governorship election that held in Imo State on November 11 is instructive. It tells us that the election should not have held in the first place. The November 11 exercise was unnecessary and a monumental waste of time and resources. Imo did not need that election for the simple reason that the Supreme Court is yet to resolve contentious matters arising from the 2019 governorship election in the state.

Relying on the subsisting tenure of Hope Uzodinma which began on January 15, 2020, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rescheduled an off-season election for the state for November 11 with the intent to elect someone who will pilot the affairs of the state for the next four years. What INEC has done is within its responsibility. However, the action stands vitiated by already existing issues which render the election redundant.

It should be recalled that the Supreme Court judgment of December 20, 2019 on the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state is yet to be given effect to. The court ruled on that day that the All Progressives Congress (APC) on whose platform Hope Uzodinma has been laying claim to Imo governorship did not participate in that election. This means by extension that Uzodinma was not a candidate in that election.

In fact, Uzodinma, after his declaration as governor by the Supreme Court expressed surprise that what he thought was a gamble had materialized. He had said then that he became APC candidate and, subsequently, governor the Ben Johnson way. Do you still remember Benjamin Sinclair Johnson, the Canadian sprinter who, during the 1987-88 season, held the title of the world’s fastest man by breaking both the 100m and 60m indoor World Records?

After his feat, it became fashionable to brand someone who wants to get to his destination in an extraordinarily fast way as Ben Johnson. Uzodinma was therefore right when he dubbed himself a Ben Johnson by purporting to have rushed to the front row to grab a governorship ticket that was held by someone else. He was also correct to have christened himself after the fastest sprinter when he was catapulted to first position in an election in which he came fourth.

Essentially, Uzodinma’s governorship has no foundation. It was a product of grab and run.

To lend credence to the fact that the leopard never changes its spots, Uzodinma has done the untoward again. He claimed to have won the election in all the 27 local government areas of the state. He is congratulating himself for that. But everybody knows that he did not win the election in a proper way. He still enacted another melodrama. Voodoo is the name of the game. The more you look, the less you see. Imo does not deserve this unending subversion. This makes the return to the basics necessary.

So, what was the problem with APC and Uzodinma in 2019? The story is straightforward enough. A certain Uche Nwosu was their undoing. Nwosu was nominated by both the APC and Action Alliance (AA) as their governorship candidate in that election. On account of this, the Supreme Court disqualified him and the parties he held their tickets from the election on ground of double nomination.

Apparently due to the fact that the court did not take immediate steps to give effect to its judgment, it was railroaded into giving another judgment that contradicted its earlier position. The contradictory judgment was that of January 14, 2020 in which the Supreme Court pronounced Uzodinma as the governor of Imo State based on the election of March 9, 2019. It was baffling because Uzodinma could not have emerged winner in an election he did not participate in. The December 20, 2019 judgment of the Supreme Court affirmed that Uzodinma and his party, the APC, did not participate in that election. It is this contradiction that the Supreme Court has set out to resolve on December 5, 2023. Everybody that has respect for democracy and rule of law is looking forward to this date. It is hoped that the court will, on this day, free Imo from all the cobwebs that have been clogging its governorship since 2019.

In the light of the foregoing, will anybody say that the governorship election of November 11 in Imo state served any purpose? One can say without fear of contradiction that it did not. Apart from being a colossal waste in terms of the resources and time deployed to the exercise , the election was a poor advertisement of what an election should not be.

Before November 11, the people of Imo State did not show in any way that an election was afoot. The atmosphere was subdued. There was no excitement. There was no expectation of something new. The air of despondency was most palpable on the day of the election. There was large scale voter apathy, the type never witnessed before in the history of elections in the state.

The poor voter turnout spoke volumes. It showed that the people of the state were interested in anything but the election. Rather than go to election venues, youths chose to play football on empty streets. The elderly either stayed indoors or at best, derided the exercise in their quiet confines.

To make the situation worse, thuggery, brigandage, vote buying, ballot box snatching and other electoral malpractices dogged the exercise. Votes never counted as those who filed out to vote never saw any result sheets. It was an elaborate charade. The people of Imo State regret it all.

But they have a consolation. The Supreme Court is set to right all the wrongs that have dogged Imo governorship in the past. The people of Imo State and all lovers of democracy are looking forward to December 5. It is hoped that the Supreme Court will, on this day, restore normalcy to Imo governorship. Our eyes are focused on this.

Nwanaga is of the Lower Niger Vanguard