Above Ikpeazu’s controversial mandate
I CAN understand the pains that descended on Dr. Alex
Otti, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives
Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia State during the 2016
general elections. It has nothing to do with the vast
personal fortune he sank into the venture. After all, he
knew what he was going into and yet went into it,
knowing he could win or lose.
It has little to do with not having the opportunity to
govern the state. He always emphasised that he wanted
to serve and bring good governance. I believed him, and I
know that if Governor Okezie Ikpeazu (whom the system
favoured to win) continues along the path of promise
which has been manifest in the past eight months, Otti
will throw his full support behind him (subject to the
vagaries of politics).
The pain comes from two main sources. One of them is
that he lost his valuable friend who was also my valuable
friend and valuable friend to countless people – Prince
Otisi Kalu (Abbott) who died of cancer in October, 2015.
Abbott threw himself wholly into the Otti political project
and probably (unlike his usual self) neglected his health.
The second was the fact that the electorate of Abia State
gave majority of their valid and genuine votes to Otti but
the system, as I noted before, gave it to someone else.
Both Otti and Ikpeazu, the flag bearer of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), went into the race as political
dark horses and neophytes. Otti came from the banking
industry, being only savvy at boardroom politics. He was
never quite the politician throughout the entire process.
He believed that one plus one was two. For instance, he
had great faith in Professor Attahiru Jega’s Card Reader
and Permanent Voter’s Card as foolproof deciders of
winners and losers. The APGA campaign lacked the grit
and deviousness of experienced politicians, as the few
who were around were regarded with distrust.
Ikpeazu
On the other hand, Ikpeazu, a former Deputy Director in a
state parastatal, was backed by an entrenched and
vicious election-“winning” machine whose reputation for
achieving power even after losing at the theatre of voting
dates back to 1998 when Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, the
founder of this hardened political platform, first
assembled the machine.
It is my considered opinion that the Abia voter did not
know (or even care) who Otti and Ikpeazu’s persons
were. They simply transferred their frustration at the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) track record of poor
governance to Ikpeazu and gave their mandate to APGA’s
Otti – whoever he was.
Much of the process happened live on radio, television
and the Internet. PDP spent a fortune of the state’s
money to depict Otti as not qualified to benefit from the
privilege of zoning the governorship to the Ukwa and
Ngwa areas of the State. They said he was an Aro man,
despite the fact that 140 Ngwa traditional rulers came
together to let the world know he was a bona fide son of
Ngwaland.
You will recall those coffins in Aba street corners on
which were inscribed: “VOTE AGAINST PDP AND DIE”.
You will recall the invasion of the INEC collation centre in
Umuahia by PDP chiefs led by former Governor (now
Senator) TA Orji (Ochendo Global) and the subsequent
volte-face by the Abia Chief Returning Officer, Professor
Ben Ozurumba. It happened on live TV. You may also
recall the burning of the INEC office in Obingwa to
prevent forensic experts from ascertaining the genuine
votes from the ones thumb-printed to steal the vote. You
will recall far much more than I can put in this limited
space.
At the end, INEC (even INEC) and the courts agreed that
what PDP did was correct and gave victory to Dr Ikpeazu.
So, the Card Reader and PVCs were brought by Jega to
muscle believers in credible elections out of the
contention? When the electoral and judicial systems
support the rigging and violent stealing of mandates, who
will ever want to submit himself to credible elections?
As it stands now, the election has been won and lost. End
of story. The electioneering process is one thing.
Governing with the mandate given is yet another.
Elections are merely the means through which one
obtains the mandate to govern. There are those who say
that when a person emerges through a flawed process, it
automatically results in flawed governance. A snake can
only give birth to a long object, they say. Again, in the
game of politics (in which one plus one equals two) this
is a simplistic deduction.
We have seen flawed mandates that brought people who
changed the template of governance for good. In the case
of Dr. Chris Ngige’s Anambra State, this assumption was
proved wrong. Ngige went into power, shook off his
godfathers, braved abduction by the police and triggered
off the good governance that has now become a part of
the Anambra political expectation. Once you drive into
Anambra State from Imo and Abia States, no one will tell
you that you are now in the theatre of good governance.
I am greatly encouraged by testimonies I receive of
efforts by Governor Ikpeazu to give, not just Aba, his
hometown and the commonwealth of all a new face but
all parts of the state (including Abiriba my own
hometown). We hope Governor Ikpeazu will continue and
not stop along the way like his predecessors. We hope he
will not create an idol (such as Orji Kalu’s “Mother
Excellency” and TA’s son, “Ikuku”) for his government
and the people of the state to worship. I hope BCA Radio
of Abia State will start, for once, to broadcast responsible
programmes that will inform, educate and entertain the
people, rather than praise-singing the governor and his
family round the clock.
Our people are very easy to please. They are also very
easy to deceive. I believe that if Ikpeazu is able to
provide good governance the people will easily forgive
and forget what happened to their mandate.
Abia cannot afford to spend another day in darkness.
Otti, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives
Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia State during the 2016
general elections. It has nothing to do with the vast
personal fortune he sank into the venture. After all, he
knew what he was going into and yet went into it,
knowing he could win or lose.
It has little to do with not having the opportunity to
govern the state. He always emphasised that he wanted
to serve and bring good governance. I believed him, and I
know that if Governor Okezie Ikpeazu (whom the system
favoured to win) continues along the path of promise
which has been manifest in the past eight months, Otti
will throw his full support behind him (subject to the
vagaries of politics).
The pain comes from two main sources. One of them is
that he lost his valuable friend who was also my valuable
friend and valuable friend to countless people – Prince
Otisi Kalu (Abbott) who died of cancer in October, 2015.
Abbott threw himself wholly into the Otti political project
and probably (unlike his usual self) neglected his health.
The second was the fact that the electorate of Abia State
gave majority of their valid and genuine votes to Otti but
the system, as I noted before, gave it to someone else.
Both Otti and Ikpeazu, the flag bearer of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), went into the race as political
dark horses and neophytes. Otti came from the banking
industry, being only savvy at boardroom politics. He was
never quite the politician throughout the entire process.
He believed that one plus one was two. For instance, he
had great faith in Professor Attahiru Jega’s Card Reader
and Permanent Voter’s Card as foolproof deciders of
winners and losers. The APGA campaign lacked the grit
and deviousness of experienced politicians, as the few
who were around were regarded with distrust.
Ikpeazu
On the other hand, Ikpeazu, a former Deputy Director in a
state parastatal, was backed by an entrenched and
vicious election-“winning” machine whose reputation for
achieving power even after losing at the theatre of voting
dates back to 1998 when Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, the
founder of this hardened political platform, first
assembled the machine.
It is my considered opinion that the Abia voter did not
know (or even care) who Otti and Ikpeazu’s persons
were. They simply transferred their frustration at the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) track record of poor
governance to Ikpeazu and gave their mandate to APGA’s
Otti – whoever he was.
Much of the process happened live on radio, television
and the Internet. PDP spent a fortune of the state’s
money to depict Otti as not qualified to benefit from the
privilege of zoning the governorship to the Ukwa and
Ngwa areas of the State. They said he was an Aro man,
despite the fact that 140 Ngwa traditional rulers came
together to let the world know he was a bona fide son of
Ngwaland.
You will recall those coffins in Aba street corners on
which were inscribed: “VOTE AGAINST PDP AND DIE”.
You will recall the invasion of the INEC collation centre in
Umuahia by PDP chiefs led by former Governor (now
Senator) TA Orji (Ochendo Global) and the subsequent
volte-face by the Abia Chief Returning Officer, Professor
Ben Ozurumba. It happened on live TV. You may also
recall the burning of the INEC office in Obingwa to
prevent forensic experts from ascertaining the genuine
votes from the ones thumb-printed to steal the vote. You
will recall far much more than I can put in this limited
space.
At the end, INEC (even INEC) and the courts agreed that
what PDP did was correct and gave victory to Dr Ikpeazu.
So, the Card Reader and PVCs were brought by Jega to
muscle believers in credible elections out of the
contention? When the electoral and judicial systems
support the rigging and violent stealing of mandates, who
will ever want to submit himself to credible elections?
As it stands now, the election has been won and lost. End
of story. The electioneering process is one thing.
Governing with the mandate given is yet another.
Elections are merely the means through which one
obtains the mandate to govern. There are those who say
that when a person emerges through a flawed process, it
automatically results in flawed governance. A snake can
only give birth to a long object, they say. Again, in the
game of politics (in which one plus one equals two) this
is a simplistic deduction.
We have seen flawed mandates that brought people who
changed the template of governance for good. In the case
of Dr. Chris Ngige’s Anambra State, this assumption was
proved wrong. Ngige went into power, shook off his
godfathers, braved abduction by the police and triggered
off the good governance that has now become a part of
the Anambra political expectation. Once you drive into
Anambra State from Imo and Abia States, no one will tell
you that you are now in the theatre of good governance.
I am greatly encouraged by testimonies I receive of
efforts by Governor Ikpeazu to give, not just Aba, his
hometown and the commonwealth of all a new face but
all parts of the state (including Abiriba my own
hometown). We hope Governor Ikpeazu will continue and
not stop along the way like his predecessors. We hope he
will not create an idol (such as Orji Kalu’s “Mother
Excellency” and TA’s son, “Ikuku”) for his government
and the people of the state to worship. I hope BCA Radio
of Abia State will start, for once, to broadcast responsible
programmes that will inform, educate and entertain the
people, rather than praise-singing the governor and his
family round the clock.
Our people are very easy to please. They are also very
easy to deceive. I believe that if Ikpeazu is able to
provide good governance the people will easily forgive
and forget what happened to their mandate.
Abia cannot afford to spend another day in darkness.