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Ngige Can
Still Walk Tall
By
Reuben Abati
culled from GUARDIAN, March 16,
2006
The ousted Governor of
Anambra State, Chris Nwabueze Ngige can still walk tall in this
community. He has been defeated in the court of law, but he has not been
humiliated. He is out but he is not down. History is likely to be kinder
to him than his detractors may assume. The judgement of the election
Still Walk T tribunal on August 12, 2005, has now been upheld by the
Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu, on March 15. It was declared
categorically that for close to three years, Ngige has exercised an
illegal mandate, that he was not the rightful winner of the Governorship
election in Anambra. But this is not a comment on Ngige but a comment on
Nigeria's underdeveloped electoral process and framework.
It is in addition, the
grand finale of the orchestrated assault on the government led by
Chris Ngige, a reflection of an invidious power-play, the script of
which was written in Aso Rock, and put on stage with the aid of a
Godfather called Chris Uba. Ngige's exit, and Peter Obi's emergence
as Governor of Anambra State is not about these two gentlemen
either, one fallen, the other rising but about the same bigger
forces of the Nigerian space which have turned individuals like
Ngige and Obi into victims. For close to three years, Ngige acted as
Governor of Anambra State. Obi who has been declared the rightful
owner of the seat now has barely 14 months to spend in office. So,
where is justice? Whose justice? Will Peter Obi be allowed to serve
for four years? Both men should feel cheated.
Ngige is the only
Governor elected on the platform of the PDP who has been removed
through the election petition process. Every other PDP Governor
whose election was challenged, was protected by the PDP
government exercising the power of incumbency, and its
near-absolute control of state authority. Ngige has been
sacrificed because he is considered an arrogant and selfish
fellow. If he had respected the wishes of his Godfather, Chris
Uba and handed over the treasury to him, he would still be in
office today, stolen mandate or not. After the Godfather
mobilised a revolt against him and sacked the whole of Anambra
State, with thugs destroying state property and chasing
lawmakers out of town, if he had gone to the Godfather to
genuflect, and made peace, he would have remained the Governor
today. The illegal manipulation of election results in Anambra
state would have been covered up. The election petition tribunal
would have been instructed to rule in his favour. Assassins were
sent after Ngige. His security details were withdrawn. If he had
joined the Third Term campaigners, if he had taken pages of
newspaper adverts to declare that Baba is Nigeria's messiah, his
sins whatever they may be (disrespecting a Godfather,
repudiating a secret cult oath, "eating alone") could have been
forgiven.
Chris Uba had
boasted at every turn that he would remove Ngige from
office. What he could not achieve through intimidation, he
has now achieved through due process. It is dangerous when
the judicial process is seen to be part of a grand
manipulation of advantages by those in charge of state
authority. Sound and logical as the ruling of the court in
the Ngige case may be, true as the declarations may sound,
the greatest damage to the case is the thinking that the
judicial process has been used to achieve a pre-determined
purpose. When the law and its officers are soiled with palm
oil, the garment of justice is bound to look bad indeed.
The
conclusion of the Ngige case raises more doubts and
suspicions rather than confidence in due process. This
is worsened by the excitement of the Obasanjo crowd
behaving as if Aso Rock has seen the end of one of its
enemies. The people may accept the wisdom of the Court,
but no one will see Ngige as a man who on his own, stole
and kept another man's mandate for more than three
years. Law is not morality. But the law cannot also
exist outside the dynamics of its environment, and the
expectations of its public. Ngige's exit has
strengthened the Godfathers, present and future. Adedibu
taught Ladoja a lesson in Oyo State. Chris Uba's
prophecy about Ngige's future has come to pass. Future
Governors who may be required by their Godfathers to
hand over the treasury, and key positions in government
would be tempted to comply. This will provide a stronger
basis for corruption in the system.
The big
villain of the Court of Appeal ruling is the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The anti-Ngige crowd in the PDP should pay more
attention to the declaration that INEC declared the
wrong man the winner of the 2003 Gubernatorial
election in Anambra State. The Court of Appeal also
noted the dubious role of INEC in the case. At the
election petition tribunal, it had defended the
integrity of the election that it conducted in
Anambra in 2003. It was so to speak, on Ngige's
side. At the Court of Appeal, the same INEC had
brought a strange prayer asking that the entire
election in 2003 in Anambra be nullified, and that
it should be allowed to conduct fresh elections. By
dancing around like a prostitute, INEC betrayed its
partnership and ignorance of the law. It lent
credence to the widely circulated story that the
intention of the PDP apparatchiks was to use the
Court of Appeal to cancel the entire elections so
that a man of 'their' choice could again be rigged
into power as Governor and Obi, the candidate of a
rival party, could be prevented from being the
beneficiary of the Court process.
The
Court of Appeal refused to be part of such
chicanery which would have stood the law on its
head and brought the Court to total ridicule.
Their Lordships rescued the integrity of the
Court from assault, and provided a fence of
technical strength for their ruling. INEC has
for long been regarded as a tool in the hands of
the Presidency. Because its managers need their
jobs too badly, they can be pushed from one end
to the other. Such a compromised and shameless
electoral body is a threat not just to
democracy, but society itself. The worse point
is that INEC has not shown any signs of
improvement. The Mantu committee has recommended
the scrapping of State Independent Electoral
Commissions. This is a prescription for
unitarism. In 2007, an Abuja-based INEC can fix
whatever results that may be convenient for the
Godfathers, and impose same on Nigerians. If
this amendment goes through, in 2007, it is only
the Godfathers that will participate in the
elections; not the people, and they will pretend
to do so on our behalf. Thus, INEC has served in
the last eight years, the interests of those who
have elected to exercise a veto power on the
Nigerian state and its citizens. Their efforts
and the effects qualify to be regarded as
"crimes against humanity". What the court has
said is that INEC cannot be trusted.
The judgement in the Ngige case is also
about the electoral framework. Electoral Act
2002 was indirectly, a subject of the trial.
The Act did not provide a time-frame for the
determination of electoral disputes before
the inauguration of elected persons. It is
this lacuna that has now created a situation
whereby a sitting Governor, and before now,
members of the National Assembly had to
vacate their seats after spending close to
three years in the position. This is bound
to breed ill-will and destabilise the
system. Sadly, the Electoral Bill now before
the National Assembly, as proposed by INEC
does not correct this omission. It should.
Electoral petitions should be determined
before inauguration of new tenures. The
judiciary should be given a specific
time-frame within which all election
petitions should be discharged. We
operate an American Presidential system
where the situation just described
obtains, but it is a lesson that we have
refused to learn. Election petitions are
prolonged to the detriment of the nation
in the long run. The Anambra debacle is
an embarrassment to Nigeria. The people
of Anambra may be quiet about what has
transpired - both Ngige and Obi are
their kinsmen - there may be no riots on
the streets of Onitsha, no burning of
tyres, no gnashing of teeth but the
people may never forget how their state
has been turned into a theatre of
political conflicts.
Peter Obi, shown in the papers
smiling, with Ngige wearing a scowl
was once quoted as saying: "Should I
make it into the Government House,
Awka, I shall continue from where he
stopped". This is the statement of a
fair-minded sportsman, paying
tribute to his opponent. Obi is also
a child of destiny. He says: "...
what has happened is God's doing. So
why I must bear grudges?". For about
24 hours after the ruling, a
leadership vacuum was created in
Anambra that is alien to the 1999
Constitution, and there were fears
that INEC may be tempted to flout
the Order of the Court of Appeal. It
is therefore just as well that Obi
has now been given the enabling
Certificate of Return, so he can be
sworn in as Governor. But now that
Ngige is out, and Obi, an APGA man
is in power, who will pay Chris Uba
the money he asked for? The
Godfather, the PDP and Ngige are all
out in Anambra: the shame is on the
PDP as a political party: the party
of election riggers!. As for Ngige,
he says he accepts the ruling of the
Court in good faith. He doesn't have
an option, does he? Hopefully,
"they" will now leave him alone.
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