Mr. James Okpara is the Senior Special Assistant to Abia State Governor, Chief T A Orji on legal matters. The governor recently got the nod of the court to contest the April elections. In this interview in Lagos, Okpara evaluates series of litigations, even before the elections proper, saying Nigerian politicians are bad losers.

He believes the governor will be re-elected based on his performance. Laja Thomas was there for Saturday Vanguard. EXCERPTS:

Okpara...Nigerian politicians do not accept defeat

There is the fear in many quarters that the spate of litigations may adversely affect the April 2011 Elections. And your principal had a taste of it?
It depends on the perspective from which one looks at the matter: Firstly, it is the constitutional right of any person who feels aggrieved over any matter to go to court if he or she so chooses. Therefore, it would be very unconstitutional for any body to attempt to proscribe or infringe on this right even in electoral matters. Dissent and disagreement is one of the hallmarks of democracy. Therefore, in the event of dispute, the court has to be the arbiter; hence the spate of law suits in virtually every party in Nigeria.
Having said that, the problem is that Nigerian politicians do not accept defeat and they do not play by the rules. Whenever a politician loses a contest, no matter how free and fair, the next thing is that he shouts, I have been cheated and I have been rigged out and he rushes to court and tries everything in his/her power to destroy the victor. This is where the problem is coming from.
Are you saying that the fear about possible disruption of the elections by numerous litigations is unfounded?
What am saying is that the Electoral Act is clear and unambiguous. The deadline for submission and substitution of candidates is clear and that to the best of my knowledge, our courts are conscious of the fact that they have to help Nigeria to have a smooth, free and fair election. Are the courts going to shut their doors against a litigant or refuse to hear a case before it? The answer is no. The problem we have, in my opinion, is the fact that our politicians put their personal interest above and beyond that of their party and the people that they claim that they want to rule.
Let me give you an example, yesterday (last Monday) an Abuja Federal High Court presided by his Justice Gabriel Kolawole cleared the Governor of Abia State Chief T. A Orji to contest the April elections as the validly nominated and elected governorship candidate of the PDP. The fact of this case is that the plaintiff who did not have the waiver of the party to contest elections, having not been a member of the party for two years, purportedly conducted primaries in his village town hall. The primaries were conducted by some members of the PDP state executives who had been validly dissolved by the PDP national headquarters.
This same plaintiff did not even go for the mandatory screening of the candidates by the party and he now went to court to ask court to declare him as the lawful PDP candidate. The PDP national headquarters organized and supervised the primaries in which Chief T. A Orji was elected as the candidate and INEC was fully represented in this primary.
On the side of the plaintiff, both INEC and PDP were not present at the primaries where he was purportedly elected. In such a case that had no chance of flying, he was still entitled to be heard by the court. It is our attitude that must change. Our politicians must understand that you cannot have more than one president or governor at a time.
As a lawyer, shouldn’t your colleagues advise their clients against such actions?
I know as a fact that lawyers do advise their clients but clients have the prerogative on whether to accept or refuse to accept advice. However, if a man is insistent on going on a voyage of discovery, he would do so no matter what you tell him. Furthermore, I think our legal system is being seriously enriched by these litigations. In the judgment by Honourable Justice Kolawole, there were some issues which he said were occurring for the first time and had to be resolved in one way or the other.
There is a war of words between the present administration in Abia State and the former governor, Orji Kalu on the amount of debts or otherwise inherited by Chief T. A Orji in May 2007. What is the true picture of things?
The simple truth is that on May 29th, 2007 Chief T. A Orji inherited debts of N29.9 billion from the previous administration. As stated in the advertorial by the Abia State Government, it is only the Accountant General of the State that can state with verifiable authority the amount of indebtedness or otherwise of the state. It was from the records of the office of the Accountant General of the State that the sum of N29.9billion was gotten.

There is no amount of lies, false propaganda, misinformation and disinformation that can change this fact. In actuality, a forensic examination and auditing of the accounts of Abia State Government from 1999 to 2007 reveals that more than N100 billion belonging to Abia State Government and her people were misappropriated.. All monies collected from markets and motor parks in Abia State were paid to cronies, proxies..
What are the chances of Governor T A Orji in the April elections?
First, I tell you with all emphasis at my disposal that advertorials in newspapers combined cannot challenge the popularity and love for Chief T. A. Orji by Abians.
The PPA as a party is dead. Most importantly, Abians know the harm and havoc wrought upon them in time past and know that it is suicidal to go back to PPA from which Chief T. A Orji liberated them. Chief T. A Orji is contesting elections on the basis of his performance in office. The peace, security, employment, roads construction, provisions of quality health service, rural electrification, transparency and accountability of Chief T. A Orji speak for him.. Under Chief T. A Orji, there is nothing like stealing and looting of public treasury, there is nothing like political assassinations and rituals. These are things of the past.

File: Abia March 15, 2011

Photo aide March 15, 2011