Akwa Ibom: A Judgement that May Change the Course of History
With the cancellation of the results of the last governorship election in 18 of the 31 local government areas of Akwa Ibom State by the election tribunal, and the ordering of a rerun, the state is on the verge of an important addition to Nigeria’s electio
Wednesday, October 21, 2015 will remain an important date in the history of Akwa Ibom State for a long time to come. The governorship election petition tribunal on this date delivered its judgement in a legal tussle instituted by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, against the declaration of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, as winner of the April 11, 2015 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The Council Areas
The three-man tribunal in its ruling nullified the governorship election in 18 of the 31 local government areas of the state. The election was cancelled and a rerun was ordered in three local government areas in Akwa Ibom North West (Ikot Ekpene) senatorial district, namely, Etim Ekpo, Oruk Anam, and Ikono; nine local government in Akwa Ibom North East (Uyo) senatorial district, namely, Nsit Ubium, Etinan, Ibiono Ibom, Itu, Uyo, Nsit Ibom, Nsit Atai, Ibesikpo, and Uran; and six local governments in Akwa Ibom South (Eket) senatorial district, namely, Udung Uko, Eket, Ikot Abasi, Oron, Onna, and Ibeno.
Tough Contest
Whether there is appeal or not by either of the parties over the ruling by the governorship election petition tribunal, one thing that has been established is that for the first time in the history of the state, the opposition party gave the ruling party a good run for their money in the 2015 governorship race. For the past 16 years that the PDP came to power in the state, opposition parties never generated serious impact until the 2015 election.
Many things came to play in the contest among the stakeholders, such as personality clash, ethnicity, senatorial and elders’ interests as well as the issue of money
Those that contested the governorship election in the state under the four major political parties were Emmanuel of PDP, Umana of APC, Senator Helen Esuene of the Labour Party, and Bishop Samuel Akpan of the Accord Party.
Incidentally, all the opposition governorship candidates were former stakeholders of the PDP. Umana served in the previous administrations of the PDP as Commissioner for Finance and Secretary to the State Government, Esuene was the senator for Akwa Ibom South (Eket) senatorial district on the platform of PDP, Akpan was deputy state chairman of PDP and was given political appointment in the last administration. They broke out from the PDP to pick the governorship tickets of other parties following alleged lack of internal democracy in the ruling party. All of them campaigned vigorously during the governorship poll.
The Results
But when INEC announced the results of the election, the PDP governorship candidate scored 996,071; his closed rival, the governorship candidate of APC, had 89,865 votes; the candidate of LP scored 8, 600 votes, while that of AP was had 10,598 votes.
Reacting to the results, the 16 registered political parties in the state under the umbrella of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, Akwa Ibom State, called for total cancellation of the April 11 governorship poll, describing it as a sham that cannot stand legal scrutiny. The opposition parties alleged widespread irregularities, violence, seizure and hijacking of election materials. They maintained that the PDP collaborated with the police and INEC to perpetrate the rigging of the election.
The Akwa Ibom State CNPP stated, “The election did not hold at the units except at residences of the leaders of PDP, where materials were diverted to and protected by the police.” It alleged that fake result sheets and ballot papers were extensively used in the conduct of the election.
According to the opposition parties, “There were instances where our agents were brutalised, maimed and killed. The voters/ electorate were deprived of their right to cast their votes freely and, therefore, there could never be a result from where there was no voting.
“All through the state the story was the same. Akwa Ibom people are yearning for change as the era of impunity in the country was over.”
Enter the Tribunal!
Without taking laws into their hands, the opposition candidates embraced the governorship election tribunal to protest the outcome of the election.
When the election petition tribunal commenced sitting in Uyo, all the parties filed their protests. However, the tribunal was compelled to relocate to Abuja for continuation of sitting following alleged insecurity and threat to live.
In the course of the sitting, the petitions of the candidates of the LP and AP were struck out while that of the APC candidate against the PDP stood as the principal case in the tribunal.
Umana had described the victory of Emmanuel as a coup against the wish of the people of the state. He decided to take the necessary steps to seek justice in the tribunal and expressed disappointment at the fact that despite the widespread hijack of voting materials across the 31 local government areas and non-collation of results at the local government centres, INEC went ahead to announce the result.
The APC candidate stated, “Udom Emmanuel’s declaration is a coup against the people of Akwa Ibom State. So we will take the necessary steps to seek justice in the court of law for the people of Akwa Ibom State.
“We did not have an election. Electoral materials were hijacked everywhere and there was widespread violence. Above all, there was no collation taking place anywhere. At the local government level, there was no collation.
“So where are the results coming from? From the houses of people and from Government House? It is a travesty of justice. It is a crime against the people of Akwa Ibom State. We will seek justice in the court of law.”
Optimism
Umana was optimistic that the judiciary, being the last hope of the common man, would deliver justice to the people. He sought for calm among the people and assured that their desire to be free from the era of impunity, recklessness and lawlessness, which he called the hallmarks of the PDP government, would soon be a thing of the past.
The entry of the APC candidate into the race was seen by many as the beginning of the liberation of the people. While the case in the tribunal lasted, there was apprehension among the elite in the state, as the opposition kept building strong hope that the election would be cancelled for a rerun.
Apprehension
As the October 21 date fixed by the tribunal in Abuja for ruling in the electoral litigation between Umana and Emmanuel approached, there was palpable tension back in Akwa Ibom. On the day of the ruling, interested people gathered in small groups and discussed while waiting for the ruling.
For fear of possible breakdown of law and order, shops were closed before the actual time. Armed policemen were seen patrolling the streets of Uyo, the state capital, ahead of the ruling. However, when the news of the judgement was eventually received, disquiet developed the state.
Some residents who spoke with THISDAY said the disquiet observed in the state showed the tribunal ruling was not expected. Many expected a clear pronouncement nullifying the election or upholding it. They felt the cancellation of the election in 18 out of 31 local government areas showed that the entire election was not free and fair. Many who spoke on condition of anonymity maintained that with the position of the tribunal the APC governorship candidate still had the upper hand.
Reaction
Reacting to the judgement, the state chairman of PDP, Obong Paul Ekpo, and the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, said Emmanuel would challenge the judgement at the Court of Appeal. The PDP chairman said the judgement was confusing. “The judgement is very confusing except that my governor, who had won the election overwhelmingly in the state, still remains the governor,” Ekpo said.
On its part, the APC said it would appeal the judgement. The state chairman of APC, Amadu Atai, said his party had expected outright cancellation of the election since the results were nullified in 18 out of 31 local government areas. “The tribunal has cancelled the governorship in 18 local government areas and ordered the INEC to conduct elections in the affected areas. But we are going to file an appeal because we expected cancellation in more local government areas where discrepancies were pervasive.”
Also speaking on the issue, an APC chieftain, Mr Etim Etime, described Emmanuel as an illegitimate governor in the state.
“Udom is an illegitimate governor with no constitutional authority to govern. To be a governor in our dear state, the candidate must win in at least 21 local government areas. Udom won in 10, according to the verdict. He is clearly an illegitimate governor, and so does not command the respect and loyalty of our people. It is unfortunate that the tribunal lacked the courage to make this categorical pronouncement,” Etime said.
He added, “By ordering the cancellation of the elections in 18 local government areas, the tribunal has paved the way for the eventual removal of the illegitimate governor from office. I am very happy that Mr Umana has already given his assurance that he would appeal the verdict.”