The elixir of hope

For Imo North, the waiting game continues. We have watched in trepidation and disappointment, as other senators that emerged from the December 5 by-elections collect their Certificates of Return and subsequently sworn Imo North’s still hangs in the air.

However, we wait with hope for the best.

Nobody should give in to despair, as I remember a short poem I was wrote on hope. ‘Life dies not except hope first dies’, I had concluded. So, for Imo North, hope is alive; it pays to hang in there and never say it is over until justice is done. Hope is a healing balm for the weary soul; it restores jagged nerves. More significantly, hope inspires optimism that despite all odds, que sera sera; whatever will be, will be. Obviously, that is the anchor of Sir Frank Ibezim’s Divine project.

Ibezim was the official candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in that December 5 senatorial by-election before a gatecrashing judgment of an Owerri High Court, favouring a rival ‘candidate’, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, almost torpedoed the titanic ship from sailing safely to shore. However, the Court of Appeal brought resuscitated hope, as, indeed, hope does not die a minion’s death.

The Appeal Court had faulted the decision of the Federal High Court, which it said was made without jurisdiction. It upheld the constitutional and non-justiciable right of political party over its primaries and the choice of a candidate to fly its flag in an election. It also blasted the lower court for making orders against Ibezim, who was neither a party in the suit the said orders were made nor was he joined before making the orders.

Expectedly, Imo North exploded in rapturous joy over the news of the Appeal Court’s ruling set rapturous joy regardless of an earlier ruling from the Federal High Court, Abuja, in an entirely different case, disqualifying Ibezim from the race.

At the end of the poll, confused by the ‘conflicting court rulings’, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, instead of announcing Ibezim, a former commissioner for agriculture and natural resources in Imo State, the deserved winner, toed a novel path, bizarrely  announcing APC as winner without a candidate, passing the buck to the courts to determine who APC’s candidate was despite the party’s unequivocal stance that Ibezim remained their candidate.

Methinks INEC Commissioner, Festus Okoye, missed the mark by pegging INEC’s baloney on Ararume’s notice of appeal since this is neither a stay of execution nor order reinstating his candidature. The failure of INEC to return Ibezim as the winner of that election is disappointing, especially so because even though an Abuja High Court had disqualified Ibezim, a superior court had reinstated him in a latter ruling, which ought to resolve issues in his favour. So, in the tangle Imo North has found itself today is an avoidable creation of INEC, and has heightened the maze of confusion.

Yes, the APC screening committee purportedly disqualified Ibezim, a decision affirmed by its appeal committee. It is also irrefutable that both committees are ad-hoc and their recommendations are not sacrosanct but subject to the decision of the party’s National Working Committee, NWC. Of course, the NWC rejected the questionable decisions of both committees and cleared all contestants to go into the race. Yes, Ibezim actually contested in the APC primaries and beat Araraume to a distant third place. Even INEC acknowledged that the candidate of the party submitted to it by the party’s relevant authority, as prescribed by law is Ibezim and that hasn’t changed till date. Its latter-day derailment and how it became a victim of abracadabra remains a mystery.

In fact, following INEC’s faux pas, Araraume was even seen on AIT gloating over his supposed victory. This is quite funny because the truth of the matter is that Araraume and his cheerleaders are in for a shocker of their lives. In the worst scenario Ibezim fails to quash the ruling of the Abuja High Court, the PDP candidate, Okewulonu, is a more likely beneficiary, having come second in the election since, going by the Appeal Court ruling, Araraume was nowhere in the contest.

It is this that has buoyed the hope of Okewulonu, and he is laying claim o the victory. In fact, he is crying foul that there are moves to deny him of his ‘victory’, as, according to him, going by the court judgment; APC had no candidate in the election. Truly, in view of the foregoing, Okewulonu could not be dismissed flippantly. The electoral umpire further complicated matters by its novel decision and thus raised his hope to reap where he did not sow.

However, the most likely outcome is that Ibezim shall succeed in his bid to quash the High Court ruling and move on to succeed the late Ben Uwajumogu, whose first death anniversary was marked last week, in the Red Chamber. But for INEC’s suspicious prevarication, Ibezim would have been issued with his CoR and sworn in by now. Hopefully. this delay shall not be denial but a reprieve to make the victory sweeter.

Ibezim was not just the most preferred of the contestants; he is easily the best – accessible, humble, ideas-packed and a man of vision and integrity. There was nothing his opponents did not do to pocket him or shoot him out of the race but he remained indomitable to the last. The rest is history.

Having had his lollipop pulled out his mouth at the point of near celebration, sulking Araraume may consider quitting politics for good, as it seems he was jinxed. There is this unfortunate element that almost snatches victory from him at the time all seem set for good. That is why he is fighting. Perhaps, his last political battle with vehemence, and, sadly, the law being an ass, and goaded by INEC, is helping to keep his hopes alive.

I must confess that I lost grip of my faith at some point, especially after that curious ruling of the Owerri High Court in favour of Araraume. However, I hoped for a miracle, which has come, causing those who hitherto wept to grin from cheek to cheek at the last moment.