James Okpara was the Commissioner for Special Services, Legal Matters and Due Process in Abia State during the administration of former Governor Theodore Orji. In that position, he witnessed, as an insider, the last PDP primaries, which is the issue under contention in current Abia political crisis. In this interview, with Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, he explains the legal and political issues. Excerpts
Abia State has been in the news because of what some observers described as power struggle within the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. May you please explain to Nigerians what is really going on?
My view really is that we do not have any power struggle in PDP here in Abia. The laws of the party, the laws of Nigeria, the electoral laws, our principles, procedures of legal practice are there and they provide a guide for anybody who wants to follow that process, but we know that not everybody wants to follow due process. Some people want short cuts or are desperate to achieve their aims. So, because somebody has made a mistake, have jumped the gun or is hasty or impatient; or because he is acting in contempt of the court, doesn’t mean there is a power tussle in Abia. We have a sitting governor in the person of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu.
You were a commissioner in the government of the former governor, Sen. Theodore Orji, when the PDP primaries was held. If, as you said, there was no power struggle in PDP, why did you people not settle whatever differences there were amongst the aspirants before the governorship elections?
We are in a democracy; a democratic contest experiment does not mean power struggle in the sense you are projecting it. In a democracy, everybody has the right to pursue whatever it is that will suit his personal ambition. For me, it is democratic. It was a democratic contest that was conducted in the PDP primaries and Dr. Uche Ogah and Barrister Friday Nwosu lost while Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu won.Nwosu got about 4 or 5 votes,Ogah got over100 while Dr Okezie got more than 400, close to 500 votes. So, there was a contest; a legitimate contest, somebody lost,somebody won. Unfortunately,we live in a state where people believe that wealth is might or wealth is right; where the rich believe that if what they want does not come to fruition, then there is no democracy; but the results of the primaries was a confirmation that Abians want equity. You know that of the three senatorial districts in Abia, Abia North and Abia Central had taken a bite and so the good people of Abia decided that it would be fair to allow Abia South where Nwosu and Okezie come from to produce the governor. Uche Ogah is our brother, he is from Abia North, he is from Old Bende.
Now, let us come to the current legal challenge brought about by Ogah. The situation is that the matter is at the Court of Appeal and some observers are saying that currently, Abia State has two governors or that Abia does not have a governor. The argument is that if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) gives a new person Certificate of Return, it implies that it has withdrawn the Certificate of Return it earlier gave to the governor. Can you explain the correct situation?
We do not have two governors in Abia. The truth is that what INEC did was mischievous; it was fraudulent. It was a local 419 that they did. First of all, INEC gave Certificate of Return to Uche Ogah but the issue at stake is PDP primaries. It is not INEC election that is the issue at stake. The extant law now in Nigeria is that the parties will decide who their candidates would be. That is the law now. Also, the position of the electoral law is that somebody who did not participate in the process of an election cannot be sworn-in. It is the fallout of the Amaechi case. The candidate of PDP in the last governorship election in Abia State was Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, nor Dr. Uche Ogah. Ogah did not contest in the governorship election. Did he? He did not. So, on what basis are you now saying swear him in? You have, in so doing, invalidated your law which states clearly that if you did not contest, you cannot be sworn-in.
Can you compare your position here with the Kogi State governorship matter? I ask this because some observers see similarities and consider Kogi’s matter as precedent for the Abia case?
I don’t really want to go into that but if you look at the Kogi matter, you will notice that the contention of Faleke is that there was even no need for rerun election. He contended that as at the time Prince Audu died, they had already won the governorship election and that as a result, he should automatically step into Audu’s shoes. That was the main bone of contention. Also, you will note that the present governor, Bello, was brought by the party.
That was because he came second after Audu in the party primaries ….
Yes, he reportedly came second but it was the party that brought him. It was not a court that brought him.
The argument is that he was brought in because he came second in the primaries.
No! You don’t know why the party brought him. The important thing here is that it was the party that brought Bello in Kogi. But in the case of Abia, it is not PDP that is bringing Ogah. It is a court. The court is picking a candidate for PDP for an election that has already been concluded. So, if you look at it closely, you will agree that there is a difference between the Kogi and Abia State matter. To me, Kogi State matter is different because I have not seen or heard anybody saying that the present governor, Bello, rejected the primaries. When Bello came second in the primaries, he accepted the result, but when Ogah came second in the primaries, he rejected the result.
So, is Ogah not a member of PDP anymore?
Did Ogah contest the election? Ogah contested the PDP primaries and lost. He rejected it and PDP went ahead to contest in the governorship election. It is a court that is now trying to pick him as the candidate of PDP and as the state governor, forgetting that the law demands that before someone can be sworn-in, he must have participated in the election processes, which Ogah did not do. Even the Certificate of Return that INEC issued to Ogah was issued in bad faith because you cannot issue certificate of return for an election you did not conduct. The owner of PDP primary election is PDP, not INEC and the issue here is PDP primaries, not the governorship election which INEC conducted and yet INEC went and issued a certificate of return to someone who did not participate in the governorship election, contrary to INEC’s law. On what basis did INEC do this? If this is not a coup, tell me what is a coup.
There seems to be some form of confusion on what should be the matter before the appeal since Ogah’s case reportedly accused Ikpeazu of fraudulent claims in his tax records while Friday Nwosu allegedly claimed that the governor presented fake tax clearance or so. As a lawyer, may you explain the actual case?
I don’t think you need to be a lawyer to know that the judgment by Justice Abang is discredited. It is not meritorious. The judge went on a voyage of discovery and he didn’t give Ikpeazu fair hearing at all.
Since Ikpeazu got the stay of execution judgment from an Osisioma High Court, many have commented on the role of the judiciary in the whole political drama. They questioned why the governor had to rush to a state High Court to stop an action granted by a Federal High Court in Abuja. They ask this question because the state High Court is a court of parallel jurisdiction with the Federal High Court in Abuja. Is there anything wrong with Ikpeazu’s action?
Ikpeazu was exercising his legitimate right. It is only a tree that you will want to kill and it will stand there waiting for you. Firstly, Ikpeazu has served a notice of appeal and motion for stay of execution on INEC, yet, INEC still went ahead to issue Certificate of Return. Then, according to Ikpeazu’s legal team, which they have written a petition against the judge, for whatever reason, the judge refused to sign the certified true copy of the judgment to enable them do their appeal expeditiously, but the same judge was very quick in enrolling the judgment. It’s like a situation where two people are fighting, you use rope to tie the hands of one of them and allow the other freedom to fight. So, when it was like that and everybody saw that both Ogah and the court were no longer fighting conventional warfare; when it became obvious that they have resorted to gorilla warfare, Ikpeazu had to adopt gorilla tactics to protect himself from unfair attacks. That was what happened.
The trial court and INEC tried to short-circuit and abort Okezie’s legal rights. Both the constitution and the electoral law have given Okezie an opportunity and right to appeal. The trial court in enrolling her judgment and using snail speed to accede to the request of Okezie for certified true copy of the judgment to enable him prepare and file the motion for stay of execution effectively attempted to prevent Okezie from mounting an appeal against the judgment. INEC in rushing to handover the purported Certificate of Return to Ogah, knowing there is doctrine of Lis Penden effectively attempted coup against Governor Okezie Ikpeazu. Both the action of INEC and that of the court are, in essence, gorilla warfare. To protect his rights under the circumstances, Okezie had to use gorilla tactics.
So, why would a court be against a sitting governor?
You would ask yourself, what is the business of a Registrar of a court taking advertorial in a newspaper to explain or to interpret a judgment given by a court that is currently on appeal? The registrar of Abang’s court took advertorial in a newspaper to interpret and to differentiate the judgments of the Federal High Court, Abuja and the Federal High Court, Owerri. Have you ever heard of such before? It tells you that things have gone wrong.
But that may have been a response to the resultant political pressure that trailed the judgments.
What kind of political pressure? Courts should not dabble into politics.
Given all these, what is the way forward in the Abia political crisis?
May be they should organise a symposium or lecture series for our sons and daughters who have money to know what to do with their money. All these problems can be traced to actions of rich Abians who are not gainfully occupied with their money. You really need to be strong to control money. The problem is that people who have too much money think they can buy power, not minding what it will cause their state. Now, which person from Abia South or Ukwa Ngwa will be happy that after holding power for just a year, power will return to Abia North or Old Bende which held it for 16 years?
Let me add that if a governor is to be removed, it should be done on legitimate grounds and after due process. Ikpeazu is accused of providing false information in his tax clearance forms. We must all bear in mind that for the period involved, he was a staff of Abia State Government whose tax was deducted at source before his salaries were paid to him. So, if the impossible happens and Ikpeazu is removed from office because of tax issues, then, every other civil or public servant or indeed every other person who is employed and whose taxes are deducted before he gets salaries is an endangered specie in politics. If he or she wants to vie for any elective position, a meddlesome interloper will come up one day and claim that he has not paid his tax and therefore cannot hold the public office.
