AS a teacher and research writer, I strongly believe in superior arguments backed with facts, stripped of emotion and sentiment. I am not used to writing frivolities or doing hatchet jobs for people. Before I write on any issue, be it local, national or international, I always get my facts right to avoid libel, defamation of character and being unprofessional.

When I wrote an article titled, “Who is afraid of Senator Alphonsus Igbeke”, which was published on page 18 of Vanguard newspapers of September 21, the contents were based on verifiable and undisputable facts that are in the public domain on the issue of the Anambra North senatorial seat which was won by Senator Igbeke, but who has been denied his swearing-in by the Senate leadership.

My write-up had attracted a rejoinder by one Clem Afam Aguiyi who claimed to be a political-cum-policy analyst. But that piece published on page 19 of the Vanguard newspapers of October 6 titled, “What is Senator Igbeke Afraid Of“ was not only laced with false claims, I found his argument rather pedestrian, petty, watery and misleading. The article exposed the shallowness and deceptiveness of Aguiyi and his principal who probably forgot that Nigerians are well-informed people who don’t easily forget history or events.

Aguiyi started his article by maligning the character of Senator Igbeke instead of addressing, responding or disputing fundamental facts and issues raised in my article. As an acclaimed political and public analyst, ordinarily, there are certain basic and primary things Aguiyi should know or supposed to know about the polity called Nigeria, especially with regard to the constitution of the country, the political parties and the workings of the judiciary.

For record purposes, Aguiyi never disputed that Senator Igbeke is a successful and philanthropic businessman who had touched lives positively at the grassroot within and outside his town Nsugbe, especially the less privileged before venturing into politics. He also never disputed that Igbeke defeated the late Senator Chuba Okadigbo in Anambra North PDP senatorial primaries in 1999 thrice, before he was prevailed upon by former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Chief Solomon lar, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo and other party elders to step down for Okadigbo. An appeal, he hearkened to and stepped down for Okadigbo. Igbeke was a member of the House of Representatives between 2003/2007 representing Anambra East/West Federal constituency.

He won the Anambra North senatorial seat on the platform of the ANPP in 2007, but his certificate of return was wrongly issued to Senator Joy Emodi of the PDP who illegally occupied the seat for three years plus before Igbeke retrieved it at the court. Although the Senate leadership initially refused to swear him in, it later bowed to the agitations from Nigerians to do so. These are verifiable and incontrovertible facts before Nigerians which Aguiyi and his paymasters cannot deny or dispute.

The question is, where was Aguiyi’s principal when Igbeke achieved all these feats? He was busy waiting to ride on the back of his godfathers in the state to become a junior minister without any track-record of achievements to show while in office. Languishing in self-delusion, Aguiyi and his principal thought that contesting and winning election is the same thing with ministerial nomination or appointment where every Dick or Harry could be nominated or recommended without considering their pedigrees. Election is a different ball game where people make choice based on achievements and antecedents. That is why the people of the zone voted for Igbeke and had stood by him all the while.

On the issue of who was the rightful candidate of PDP for Anambra North senatorial zone in the April poll, Aguiyi’s claim that it was Mr. John Emeka without stating how, is pure mischief and deluding. Aguiyi described the Federal High Court judgment of March 17 that affirmed the candidature of Igbeke as the PDP candidate for the seat as frivolous and defective without stating what made it a frivolity. Was it because his principal lost in the case? It is obvious, but why did Aguiyi’s paymaster appeal a frivolous judgment.

For Aguiyi’s and the public’s information, during the last outing in the Appeal Court Abuja on the matter, Aguiyi’s principal was not asking to be declared the candidate of the party, but for a retrial of the case.

How could Aguiyi say that his principal who lost his case in court against Igbeke and was never affirmed the party candidate nor contested any election be now referred to as the rightful candidate of the party whereas the court has declared Igbeke the right candidate and winner of the election and certificate of return issued to him by INEC.

How could somebody who called himself a political analyst describe a judgment of a court as frivolous? May be Aguiyi needs to be invited by the court to come and explain or prove what made the judgment frivolous. Is he trying to say that judges sell justice?

Mr. JOHNSON ANYABA, a  teacher, wrote from Onitsha, Anambra State.