By Rex Emmanuel
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike
The
jubilant mood in one camp of All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers State,
which soared after the Appeal Court halted stay of execution order
disqualifying the APC from the 2019 elections has again diminished.
The
Supreme Court ruling on Friday on the suit filed by Tonye Cole and
others that the judgment given by Justice Chiwendu Nworgu, which nullified
the congresses and primaries of the APC as a consent judgment has placed the
APC in a precarious position.
Senator
Magnus Abe who is seeking a court declaration that he be declared the authentic
governorship candidate said the decision of the Supreme Court, which held that
the Appeal Court ought to have dismissed the appeal by Cole and others, was
victory for justice.
He said by
virtue of the apex court’s decision, the candidates of direct primary election
conducted in Rivers State are the authentic flag bearers of the party in the
2019 general elections.
But the Director Strategic
Communications of Cole campaign organisation, Tonye Princewill said the
apex court ruling was nothing to worry over.
“It was worse when I heard that the
Wike and Magnus camps were celebrating. But after the beating they’ve received
in recent weeks, any news is good news for them I suppose. Our two appeal
court judgments remain valid, no one else has been declared candidate and the
substantive matter has not even been touched. That will be coming up on Monday.
So no cause for alarm,” he said.
While
political parties were preparing to commence their electioneering campaign, a
dark cloud of despondence descended on the APC as a federal high court in Port
Harcourt granted an injunction which restrained the party’s nominees from
parading themselves as governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and House
of Assembly candidates for the 2019 General elections.
The court also restrained the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to allow APC participate
in the election based on a suit filed by the state PDP for the court to
compel election umpire to obey the judgment of the Rivers State High Court
nullifying all Rivers State APC congresses and primaries.
Amid the confusion, whether APC will
participate in the elections or not, the PDP had taken advantage of the main
opposition’s setback by stepping up its campaign, amid warning from Governor
Nyesom Wike to his party’s strategists not to be tempted to get complacent.
By the decision of the appellate
court to halt the disqualification of the APC from the general elections, the
zeal to roll out drums for campaigns was temporarily lifted as the governorship
and legislative candidates of the APC are expected to hit the campaign trail
pending the determination of the substantive case.
There is no
doubt that if the decision of the appellate court was to be sustained before
the February 16 National Assembly and 2nd March 2019, governorship and state
legislative elections, it was bound to dent political calculation of the
contending forces in the state.
Although the APC celebrated halt of
the stay of execution order, the decision never really portend electoral doom
for the Peoples Democratic Party, which is the main and best organised party in
Rivers politics.
But with no prospect of a genuine
reconciliation within the warring factions in Rivers APC in sight following the
bickering that has ensued after the stay of execution order by the appellate
court, a prominent source in the party told The Guardian that the matter at the
Supreme Court between Cole and Senator Magnus Abe’s factions constitutes a snag
to the party’s quest to wrest power from the PDP.
“There is an obstacle to
reconciliation at the moment. Except the Supreme Court set aside the judgment
of the Rivers State High Court, there will still be problem because most things
are tied to the Justice Chiwendu Nworgu of the Rivers State High Court
judgment,” he said.
As Rivers State braces up for the
general elections and the political temperature seems to be on the rise, an APC
chieftain and prominent member of the pro-Cole Rivers Unity House, George
Chinda, has expressed optimism that the PDP will be routed out of power in the
general elections.
“We are ready to replace the current
administration. A change from crass ineptitude to a massive development
anchored on: wealth generation and distribution; agricultural revolution;
quality and affordable healthcare for the people of Rivers State; massive road
infrastructure to connect the Riverine LGAs and those in the hinterlands and as
well as the Urban and City Centres starting with the long awaited ground
breaking of the Trans-Kalabari Road; revamping of the State Civil Service to
meet up with global best practices; Low, medium and high cost houses for the
people of Rivers State. The time may be short but all these we shall begin to
give to Rivers people and make them understand that these things aren’t too
difficult to achieve when mind is put to task,” he said.
But defeating the PDP in a free and
fair contest will likely depend on how united the APC can organise itself.
Besides, its effort is likely to
face an uphill battle given overwhelming disenchantment in the state against
the federal government’s handling of the economy.
Wike, who
has never taken the APC for granted is expected to ramp up the pace of his
campaigning. Interestingly, he has since 2016 literally or better still,
discreetly been on “permanent campaign.”
In an effort to further increase his
vote share, the governor embarked on an aggressive campaign in May 2018 by
inaugurating some infrastructure project and he has been promising more on his
campaign tour across the State.
The prospect of PDP and APC
contending in the general election had heightened security concerns owing to
the fact that all elections conducted by INEC between 2016 and 2018 were
characterised by wanton violence.
In fact, judging from the venomous
political rhetoric by some chieftains of the APC and PDP, there is fear that
the polls may be marred by violence.
The convener, Initiative for
Credible Elections (ICE) Ledum Mitee, regretted that the history of elections
in Rivers State in the recent past has been one characterised by electoral
fraud associated with political tensions, crisis, and violence perpetrated by
some political actors and unprofessional conduct of a few INEC staff and
security agencies.
“The result is that the outcome of
elections has been the subversion of the democratic process rather than its
consolidation.
Indeed the INEC Report into the last
Rivers Legislative Re-run elections indicated that apart from politicians, some
security operatives and INEC officials that were expected to protect the
electoral process, subverted it,” he said.
He said the starting point in
festering these violence is obviously before the elections when violent languages
and hate speeches by political leaders are deployed without regard to the
implications for violent actions by followers.
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