Imo North and the non-declaration of any APC candidate as senator-elect
The framers of our Constitution and our Electoral Laws may not have envisaged the very unusual situation in Imo at the moment, when determining that votes cast in an election are the propriety of a political Party rather than an individual candidate. Before now, the issue of who really owns a vote among contending candidates of a political Party had always been resolved either before or long after an election has been conducted. But, in this situation, the people of Imo North found themselves in a situation where, less than 24 hours to election, two court judgements were given; one restoring Frank Ibezim as candidate, while another, in a purely unrelated case, also affirmed him as the winner of the APC primaries, but disqualified him on the grounds that he supplied false information to the Party and INEC.
The PDP took to the media to declare that with these judgements, APC shouldn’t have a candidate going into the election, and whatever votes cast for the APC would be a waste. The snag however with this media claim, is that while it was necessary that it was put in the media, it would have been more official, if the INEC was formally communicated on this, especially, by the Party’s legal adviser, either at the national or State. I do not know if this was done.
As a member of the All Progressives Congress in Imo State and its authentic spokesman, I would be deceiving myself and members of my Party if I make them think that everything is in order in our Party. It is embarrassing enough that my Party won the election, yet, walked home, in anxiety after the election result has been announced.
As a Party, we are placed in a very precarious legal situation as a result of the reluctance of our leaders to resolve the Party’s internal crisis. The national leadership of the Party has been more inclined towards playing the ostrich than coming out plain before Party members and leaders to uphold justice and rule of law. The truth is that, should the APC eventually lose this mandate, the Party leadership at the national level would take the blame.
While other national Assembly members elected during last weekend’s elections may be sworn in by this week, constituents in Imo North may have to wait for longer before getting to know who their real Senator is. While the Party owns the votes, the people of Okigwe zone deserve to know who their Senator really is. They need to have one of their own, whom they voted for, to take up their vacant seat in the Senate. The longer that seat remains unoccupied, the more the people of Okigwe lose.
No matter what happens, it bears repeating that my Party’s national leadership is responsible for the confusion in my Party, and we shouldn’t look further for the solution to the problem. This is not the kind of problem, we will have to continue covering up. If this is not quickly and fairly resolved, this may haunt us even beyond 2023. Because, even though, tenure of the present exco will elapse by 2022, it is the same that should prepare the grounds for the conduct of fresh congresses. Going outside this exco to conduct new congresses would still leave the Party with many legal troubles to contend with, going forward.
