Abia; passing through political definition

By Uche Aguoru

I have restrained my self from commenting on the current political confusion being experienced in my state Abia simply because the matter is sub-judice, but having read so many confusing information coming from people who ought to know but are intentionally misinforming the public and those who look up to them for Information including the actions of our political institutions and political stake holders, I became worried at the high level of deception and political sycophancy being displayed by the political class.

While I have patiently read all the articles,opinions, advices,comments,accusations and counter accusations as it relates to Justice Okon Abang's judgment on the case of presentation of false information and lying under oath against Dr. Ikpeazu by Uche Ogah on issues leading to the 2015 PDP governorship primaries, The supporters of Dr. Ikpeazu is insisting that Dr. Ikpeazu paid his taxes as at when due and that he never forged his tax papers as alleged by barrister F.N Nwosu but Dr. Ogar is not contesting wether Dr. Ikpeazu paid his tax or not his only concern is in the correctness of the information so contained in the tax document issued to him by the tax office which he forwarded on oath to the party when he declared his intention to run for the governorship of the state, it is important to underline the differentials on both legal issues as instituted by both Barrister Nwosu and Dr. Ogar for the purposes of clear understanding for legal illiterates like me, except we are on a clear mission to intentionally mislead the gullible public on what the real issues are.

I have also read the submission of the Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) where they openly admitted alterations and mistakes in the document they issued to Dr Ikpeazu but argued that they weren't given the opportunity by Justice Abang's court to explain the alterations in the tax receipts, the bigger part of the blame should go to who ever collected and went ahead to submit the tax documents for gross carelessness which had subjected the state to an unnecessary setback and ridicule and had turned the state to a theatre of drama and uncertainty.

Another worrisome angle is the one being introduced by some people alleging that external influences are trying to push away Dr Ikpeazu as the governor of Abia state and instal Dr Ogah, that to me is an attempt to blackmail the judiciary and garner undue sentiments that will ultimately have no effect on the ongoing judicial process that will lead to the determination of the issues pending at the appeal courts it is also important to note here that no amount of media blackmail, solidarity visits by political groups and accusation of compromise by the judiciary being made by parties to the suits will change the mind of the law on a constitutional matter, if we truly love Dr Ikpeazu as our governor what we must do now is to help him plead with Dr Ogar to drop the case against Dr Ikpeazu since the matter had already been established in the courts and it has been ongoing ever before Dr. Ikpeazu became the governor of Abia state on May 29th 2015, this to me will be more helpful than wasting government resources on solidarity visits that will have no reasonable impact over the outcome of the matter pending in court.


Having known that in democracy one cannot deliver leadership without politics I want to state unambiguously that my total blame goes to the leadership of my party the PDP which allowed the matter to get to this stage, the immediate past leadership of the party would have settled the problem as an in-house issue even before the exit of president Goodluck Jonathan's administration but the Senator Emma Nwaka led PDP which took us through the party's worst outing in the state were busy seeking personal interest as against the party's interest and ideology pushing underneath the interest of Abians who are predominantly PDP, that selfishness and incompetence of the Emma Nwaka led PDP is responsible for the political morass my state is passing through at the moment, it is therefore an act of intimidation and bias for the party to punish Dr. Uche Ogar who acted Inline with the party's constitution that allows one to go to court if he/she is not satisfied with the outcome of the decision of the panel set up internally by the party to look into election matters, it is to me an act of political sycophancy and wicked intimidation on the part of the party leadership to suspend Dr Ogah as he has not in any where erred or acted against the party's constitution having exhausted all the legal channels within the internal mechanism of the party to get justice to no avail, I am not standing in for Dr. Ogar but for the sake of justice I am calling on the Chief Johnson Onuigbo led PDP to come public and tell the world what offence Uche Ogar committed against the party that earned him suspension.


For those alleging that the judgment of Justice Okon Abang in favour of Dr. Ogar is a coup against Dr Ikpeazu I beg to disagree on that assertion, Abia at the moment is going through political definition and redefinition because the ruling party in the state (PDP) has failed to live upto it's constitutionally assigned role by Its inability to conduct a credible primary elections that will leave participants satisfied over the outcome of such a political exercise, since it is an established fact that "when corrections lie in the hands of those that committed the wrongs, to whom shall we then complain to"?

That was why it became very imperative that the judiciary should step in to correct the mess made by the party and that they have done through the federal high courts, and court judgments are bound to be obeyed by every citizen not minding the status or position of such persons concerned.

The outcry by our Abia South brothers that some persons from other geopolitical zones in the state are ganging up to forcefully take the mandate given to them and are therefore spoiling for war and perfecting plans aimed at not allowing such a person to occupy the government house as governor of the state, I find it not only laughable but absurd and lacking in every sense of reasonable logic, What if Barrister Friday Nwosu had gotten a favourable judgment against Dr. Ikpeazu shall we then call it an Obingwa coup against Obingwa? if there is any one trying to take away the mandate given to the Ukwa la Ngwa people it is the Emma Nwaka led PDP who were unable to make up their minds on where the party intends to zone the Abia governorship to, my question on this is if indeed the party actually zoned the governorship to Abia South why bother selling forms to people from other Geo-political zones and allowing them to take part in the party's primaries?

1) Is it that the Emma Nwaka led PDP wanted to humbug the likes of Dr. Ogar and others who are not from Abia South off their hard earned money that they went ahead to sell nomination forms to them knowing fully well that the party have a predestined terminus for the governorship ticket?

2) Why did the party encourage Dr. Ogar and others not from Abia South to embark on a very expensive gubernatorial ticket campaign knowing that the flag bearer must emerge from Abia South?

These are some of the questions that the party must answer and convince the public that their actions during the party's primary elections was not intended to deceive and swindle contestants from other Geo-political zones outside Abia South

My advise to those who are being paid to act as human shields is to note that once an order is given by the courts and the attorney general of the federation happens to fully agree with that order it becomes suicidal to try to stop the enforcement of such an order by sheer brute force because even the pay master you are hired to protect must have found his way outside the legal harms way leaving you to your fate and will ultimately deny knowledge of your activities once you are caught on the wrong side of the law.

For those blaming INEC and Mr Nworuku for issuing a certificate of return to Dr. Ogar on the orders of a high court, as a legal illiterate that I am, I took time to read the submissions of so many legally sound minds including those who do not believe in the justice Abang's judgment and I also consulted some of my lawyer friends, one point they have all chorused in unison is that the case is a pre-election issue that takes it leads majorly on the constitution more than the electoral act and therefore INEC did not act Ultra-Vires in the issuance of the certificate of return to Dr. Ogar.

We all must at this point in the life of our dear state Abia, pray and ask God for his will to be done in Abia and to touch the minds of our political gladiators to be peaceful and ensure that the law takes its course, let them also ensure that judgments are obeyed as they all have expressed confidence in our courts by approaching it in the first instance, but one thing is sure Abia will come out tougher, stronger,straightened, strengthened and above all will attain a better political definition that will ensure that our dear state will no longer go through this political mockery being experienced today in Abia.

Aguoru
Writes from Umuahia