IMO: WHY DECEMBER 5 MATTERS

The day matters to those who place premium on justice, argues Ifeanyi Nwalor

Four years after Imo State was visited with a judicial assault, it will not be out of place to submit that the strangeness that was berthed in the state on January 14, 2020 has run its full course. On the aforementioned date, something never heard of in Nigeria’s electoral jurisprudence hit Imo State. The then governor of the state, Emeka Ihedioha, was unceremoniously removed by the Supreme Court. He was replaced by Hope Uzodinma who, going by the earlier judgment of the same court, was not a candidate in the March 9 governorship election in the state. This bizarre act has not only been a thorn in the flesh of the apex court, it has left Imo quaking since then. There have been upheavals of all sorts, most of them culminating in loss of lives and property. Insecurity which was hardly heard of in the state grew into a whirlwind, sweeping through the length and breadth of the state. The strangeness that brought Uzodinma to power has remained a source of distemper, pitting the people against the government. Imo has, in the process, practically become a killing field.

As I earlier noted, this anomalous situation has run its full cycle. It is therefore high time it was replaced with a just, democratic order. This is what the Supreme Court is set to do on December 5, 2023. This date matters to all lovers of democracy. It matters to those who place premium on justice. It is a day that can free Imo State, indeed the Nigerian state, from the shackles of injustice and democratic disorder. Above all that, the day will afford the Supreme Court the opportunity to right its own wrong. If it does this, it would have set itself free from charges bordering on double standards and duplicity.

But what exactly will the Supreme Court be talking about on December 5? Let us go down memory lane. On December 20,2019, the Supreme Court adjudicated on the Imo governorship dispute and ruled that a certain Uche Nwosu was guilty of double nomination in that he was the candidate of both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Action Alliance (AA) in the March 9 governorship election in Imo State. Double nomination is an electoral offense as it violates the provisions of the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and the Electoral Act. Consequently, the court disqualified Nwosu from the election and declared that the two parties he held their tickets did not participate in that election.

Curiously however, the same court, while sitting on another petition on Imo governorship election brought before it by Hope Uzodinma, threw its earlier judgment overboard and came up with a strange verdict. In the judgment delivered on January 14, 2020 the Supreme Court conveniently glossed over its earlier judgment and recognized Uzodinma as the APC candidate in the said election. The court did not just recognize Uzodinma as candidate, it even went ahead to award him victory in that election. By this act, the court, wittingly or unwittingly, imposed two candidates on the APC. One was Uche Nwosu. The other was Hope Uzodinma. This was the absurdity we were left with. The judgment contradicted its earlier declaration that “a political party is not capable of sponsoring two candidates for the same office in the same election”.

It must be emphasized that the Supreme Court involved itself in this absurd situation because it did not give effect to its earlier judgment of December 20,2019. If it had done that, there would have been no need for the January 14,2020 judgment. Why the court did not make a consequential declaration on the judgment left many wondering. Why it has not done so since four years has been another source of curiosity. Why has the Supreme Court been acting strange on a matter that is supposed to be straightforward?

Obviously miffed by this contradictory judgment, two political parties, the Action Peoples Party and the Peoples Democratic Party approached the Supreme Court to reconcile its January 14 judgment with its position that a political party is not capable of sponsoring two candidates for the same office in the same election. This is the matter before the Supreme Court on December 5, 2023. It has taken four clear years for the court to return to this contentious issue. The matter has been unduly delayed. But now that the court has decided to deal with the issues in contention, the expectation is that it will be guided by justice and the law.

The need to return Imo State on the path of sanity cannot be overemphasized.

Since January 2020, peace has been a luxury in the state. What is prevalent is bloodletting. Life has become so cheap. People are easily cut down on a daily basis. Security agencies have not been left out in the mayhem. In their bid to maintain peace and order, many of them have lost their lives. The situation has not been helped by the overzealousness of some security personnel who have been cashing in on the bad situation.

To fully appreciate how bad things have become, one needs to take a little recourse to the report of a coalition of civil society groups on the killings that have taken place in Imo State in the last four years. The report of violent deaths, extra judicial murders, abductions, arson and the like are frightening. The stories sound outlandish. Yet they are real. They are only indicative of the brutish state that the state sunk into since 2020. This ugly trend must be halted and reversed.

The situation has even been exacerbated by the governorship election that recently held in the state. For the people of the state, the election was unnecessary. They wondered why the dispute over the 2019 governorship election will be glossed over in preference for a new election. They did not understand the purpose it will serve considering the fact that it will only bring about the elongation of the ugly order they are up in arms against. All that the people want is a resolution of the existing matter around 2019 polls. They want justice to be done. Regardless of their reservations, the election held. The outcome was predictable. The old, ugly order wormed its way back. This setup is not promising. It can only bring about renewed anger and hostility towards the disruptive order.

To calm frayed nerves, justice must return to Imo State. It is hoped that the judgment of December 5, 2023 will go a long way in returning Imo to the path of peace and stability.

Nwalor, a civil rights advocate, writes from Okigwe