Mr. Chike Okeke, a public affaris commentator, writes from Abuja.
THE announcement of Senator Joy Ifeyinwa Emodi as the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters came as a relief and source of delight and satisfaction to the numerous well wishers and admirers of this outstanding politician.

It was the great Zik who, at the height of the electoral heist of 1983 asserted in his now very famous speech that history will vindicate the just.

For many months last year, Senator Joy Emodi, a distinguished daughter of Anambra State who had made outstanding contributions to the social and political development of Nigeria through her chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Education, was engaged in a protracted legal tussle with one Alphonsus Igbeke who was said to have defeated her in the 2007 senatorial election on the platform of the All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP.  This “victorious candidate” from all accounts did not actually contest the said election as he was not seen at any campaign.

It was one of the great surprises and upsets of the then Maurice Iwu – led Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, that the ANPP which did not win a ward election in the entire state since 1999 will suddenly become so popular as to win a senatorial election in Anambra State. This result did not follow the known voting trend in Anambra State.

All attempts to bring this theatre of the absurd to the attention of those who presided over this matter failed and the Anambra North Senatorial seat in the Senate was vacated by Senator Emodi. Alphonsus Igbeke, our brand new candidate who contested on the ANPP platform and had won election through the Court of Appeal was sworn in as the Senator representing Anambra North Senatorial District.

Emodi has had a distinguished career of service to her fatherland and humanity as evident in her many contributions  to the development of the country. She had represented the Federal Government of Nigeria at several fora such as the World Women Conference in Beijing, China (1995) and The Third African-American Summit in Senegal (1995). She also led the National Assembly Study Mission to the US Congress in 2006 and was a member of the National Assembly delegations  to several international organisations, Conferences and Workshops, including the 2008 meeting of the Parliamentarians for Global Action, PGA, in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, CPA, Conference in London, UK. 115th Assembly of the Inter Parliamentary Union (2006) in Geneva, Switzerland, Seventh and Eighth Workshops of Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians at Wroxton College, Oxfordshire, UK (2006 and 2008). ECOWAS Parliament (2006 – 2010), ECOWAS Parliament Election Observer Mission to Sierra Leone (2007), 2008 International Leaders Forum (ILF) and US Democratic Party National Convention in Denver, Colorado, USA. She also led a delegation of the Senate Committee on Education on a study visit to the Cuban Parliament in April, 2008.

In her valedictory speech before vacating her seat in the Senate, Senator Emodi appealed to her electorate of the Senatorial District to remain calm and expect a brighter future.

Although her mandate had been stolen, time which  is the healer of all wounds  would tell who between them, Emodi and Igbeke, was telling the truth, was qualified and  had the credibility to represent the good people of Anambra North Senatorial District.

Observers of the situation then were surprised that Igbeke who was one of the first people to congratulate Senator Emodi on her victory in the 2007 senatorial election had suddenly emerged the candidate who won majority of the votes cast in the same election.

The case between Senators Emodi and Igbeke also threw up issues of forgery, a serious crime in our legal system. The members of the Election Petition Tribunal in their ruling on June 17, 2008 which gave victory of the election to Senator Emodi observed that the duplicate result sheets tendered by the so-called ANPP candidate were “less than authentic”. A victory achieved with a “less than authentic” result sheet is nothing less than a fraud, one obtained under false pretence and a pyrrhic one.   Now the chickens  have come to roost. This fraudulent tendency has continued as  it is  said that a leopard never changes its spots.

Stories are now being told of how the 2011 primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party in the  same Anambra North Senatorial District was won by three different candidates of the party – Senator Alphonus Igbeke, Prince Chinedu Emeka and Mrs. Margery Okadigbo.  One of the winners produced at the party primaries is presently being prosecuted in a Federal High Court, Abuja for forgery of court documents.

When Senator Emodi called attention to this forgery issue in 2010, it was not given serious attention. Now the same crime has been committed in the 2011 senatorial primaries of the PDP and the same ‘man of the people’ who will always win elections without campaigning for and contesting in them has been fingered.

Meanwhile, because a gold fish has no hiding place, Senator Emodi has since moved on to another level of national service.  Her appointment as President Jonathan’s Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters is one which puts a square peg in a square hole.  She has the experience, the decency and appropriate human relations disposition to ensure a smooth relationship between the National Assembly and the Presidency.

At this period of National Transformation, Joy Emodi will definitely assist President Jonathan in realising his objectives of moving our great country forward.

The unfortunate encounter with Senator  Igbeke has become one of the nasty records in our electoral history. As the great Owelle prophesised in 1983, “history will always vindicate the just”.