On Sunday, August 2, it was reported that the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia state was razed down by unknown elements. It does appear the new mantra of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state is “If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence and blame it on your opponent.’’
That members of the PDP would attribute the fire to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and its governorship candidate in the April general elections, Dr. Alex Otti, was the most irresponsible and ludicrous accusation I have ever heard. As usual, nothing they did in the past and have continued to do in order to hold on to power surprises me anymore.
These are the same people who accused Otti of sewing military uniforms for a couple of men during the campaigns. They later sent armed men, who invaded his residence at Umuru-Nvosi in Isialangwa South Local Government Area of the state ostensibly to kill him. The same people whose thugs tore up Otti’s billboards, attacked his campaign events in Ikwuano and Ntigha in Isialangwa North Local Government Areas.
Again after the elections, when some unscrupulous officials of INEC in the state were arrested by security agents at the INEC headquarters in Umuahia with Card Readers and other electoral materials, PDP shamelessly said the suspects were working for Otti and APGA, in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Just last week after an unsuccessful assassination attempt was made on Otti in Abuja, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and his media hands characteristically jumped on the matter, accusing Otti of making up the story so as to generate public sympathy even after the police authorities had confirmed the incident.
This is why their recent accusation about the fire at INEC did not come as a surprise.
I think this time they have finally outdone themselves. This time they have actually shot themselves in the foot. Having failed in all their previous efforts to derail the tribunal, the most recent being their failure to get Otti’s petition dismissed, they finally decided to destroy the evidence that was supposed to be brought to the tribunal for forensic examination by Otti’s team.
Let us not forget that both the PDP and INEC previously conspired to refuse Alex Otti’s legal team access to those materials, in spite the tribunal’s order. So far they have got away with almost everything they have done. But let us see if they can get away with this one.
Iam not a lawyer but I know that there is in law, something called the “Theory of spoliation”. In a layman’s language, it says that ‘“when a party destroys evidence, it may be reasonable to infer that the party had “consciousness of guilt” or motivation to avoid the evidence”.
A good example of the application of this concept was a case in Texas, United States in 2013. It was a case named Brookshire brothers Ltd VS Aldridge 2013 . As reported, Jerry Aldridge had taken the bookstore to court for an injury he had sustained in the store when he slipped and fell. Aldridge with the assistance of his attorney discovered that the bookstore which had earlier refused them access to video footage of the incident, destroyed some video footage and withheld some from them.
The judge found that the evidence destruction and the refusal to provide the additional video constituted spoliation and as a consequence the jury awarded Aldridge $1million in damage. Even though not all spoliation inference may be warranted depending on the circumstance, in this particular instance of the burning down of Obingwa INEC office, the issue is whether spoliation cannot be rightfully inferred.
Long before the Abia tribunal started sitting, many in the opposing camp had wondered why Otti would not let bygones be bygones and go on with his life. My answer to that is yes, he could have done that, but it would have been a let down to the hundreds of thousands of Abia electorate who voted for him. The truth also is that even though Otti is the one who filed the petition, the real people behind the petition are Abia citizens. In doing so Dr Otti must have hearkened to the words of Ellie Wiesel, the Jewish holocaust survivor and hunter of German Second World War criminals who once said – “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we must fail to protest”. To which Martin Luther King lent these words, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle, the tireless exercise and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”
Otti is a tireless crusader for justice but let the word go forth, loud and clear that he is not in the struggle alone. There are hundreds of thousands of Abia people both at home and in Diaspora who are with him, who believe in him and his cause because his cause is theirs as well.
Human history has always been shaped from numberless diverse acts of courage as exemplified by Otti and each time a man like him stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope which in time builds a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and injustice.
It is said that the cry of the poor is not always just, but then, the reality is that if we don’t listen to it, we will never know what justice is. There is a reason why hundreds of thousands of Abia citizens are crying and yearning for justice. There is a reason why they agonized and continue to agonize his electoral loss by trooping out to the tribunal venue each time it is sitting.
Ours over the years have been a country where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails and where one class is made to feel it has no chance before our justice system and to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them. Ours is a country where for too long we talk about election rigging. Something whose negative impact we recognize and condemn. An act which those who participate in it enjoy, those in power ignore and we the citizens acknowledge but tolerate.
As the case progresses, we will hope and pray for justice, as justice is the first virtue of social institutions, the same way truth is of a system of thought.As the legal jurist, John Rawls once wrote, “In a just society, there must be liberties of equal citizenship and the rights served by justice are not subject to political bargaining or the calculation of social interest.”
Those who committed the crime of burning down the Obingwa INEC office must be made to pay for this crime. If and when it is proven that this was an act committed by PDP agents, the tribunal justices must apply the theory of spoliation whether or not it is part of Nigeria’s case law.
‘Those who committed the crime of burning down the Obingwa INEC office must be made to pay for this crime. If and when it is proven that this was an act committed by PDP agents, the tribunal justices must apply the theory of spoliation whether or not it is part of Nigeria’s case law’
I would urge for reinforced security for the honorable justices as well as the court premises. These enemies of justice are ruthless and are very determined to hold on to power.
- Ijomah writes from New York
