By Ike Ume-Atuana

TRUTH  is gradually emerging on how the Anambra governorship election was won and lost. The upshot from the tribunal shows that some of the candidates currently seeking redress there have neither the reputation nor the competence needed to lead a state like Anambra.

For a state that is still smarting from undisciplined leaderships of the past, care must be taken to avoid a quick relapse.

Some characters should be discouraged from aspiring to the office. A state that is today exiting the stage of cavalier politics should be particular on who should be entrusted with its affairs.

In the beginning were 25 candidates that contested the February 6 governorship election in the state. Out of this, about five is in the tribunal today challenging the victory of the winner of that election adjudged by many as free and fair. The five differed with the 19 others who conceded victory and congratulated the winner. And not until they have exhausted all opportunities availed them by the constitution of the land, we shall not begrudge them this line of action. After all, they are not the first and may likely not be the last.

However, history will be unkind to them if in the end, it is found out that the driving motive behind their course of action is not altruistic as claimed, but a clear case of selfishness. It would seem attractive to suggest to these men to cut cost and embrace the winner as did the other 19 candidates in the spirit of sportsmanship, but this option is belated and far-fetched, especially since the vision of reward and vengeance has entered the calculations of the appellants goading their minds to hasty actions.

The determination to make the winner’s victory a pyrrhic one began to manifest when one of the applicants, Mr. Mike Okoye, running mate to Mr. Nicholas Ukachukwu, the Hope Democratic Party candidate in the election, disagreed with his principal on post- election course and went to court. Okoye still carries on with the case regardless of a disclaimer placed by Ukachukwu in the Sun Newspaper of February 28, 2010, repudiating the suit.

Okoye claims he is in the tribunal because negotiations with the respondent failed. If this is true, then his mission in the tribunal is suspect. His subsequent actions will give credence to that. A journalist with The Source magazine was reportedly beaten by Okoye and his army of political thugs when he went to verify Okoye’s claim that his vehicle was razed in an inferno.

At Nsugbe Monastery where the said vehicle parked, Okoye and his thugs descended on the journalist under the pretext that he came to spy on him. This action, quite unbecoming of one aspiring to lead the state
, has all the trappings of recklessness of the past which the state is not in a hurry to re-live.

It is also a clear case of desperation to a discerning mind that Okoye is apprehensive that the verdict of the tribunal may not go in his favour. Otherwise, why beat a harmless journalist whose identity was never lost to him. Taking out his frustrations on the reporter manifests an uncommon trait of brutish behaviour, repellent to the new order in the state.

We are not unaware that some of them at the tribunal are unserious and only hope to be invited for an out-of-court settlement. This line of thinking is made possible by the curious presence of some of the candidates in the tribunal with very low performance in the election. Unless they are some kind of fronts, representing certain interests that are yet to be made public, their presence in the tribunal is still strange. Take for example the candidate of National Solidarity Democratic Party, Chief Victor Anigbata whose polling  of 261 cannot justify his prancing around at the tribunal.

Note, the case at the tribunal recently suffered a major set-back when the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Josiah Uwazuronye, a lawyer, admitted under cross examination by Anigbata’s council, George Enekwechi, that Chris Ngige’s total votes were inflated by 10,000 votes. He admitted that it was the fault of the Electoral Officer for Idemili South Local Government Area.

It is one thing to admit to a mistake and a different thing to be truly repentant of that error. The inflated 10,000 which is being admitted to today had re-echoed since the election was concluded. Of course, nobody accepted responsibility; none apologised until it became an issue in the tribunal. We may be hardly in error if it is said that some of the aspirants had intentions to rig but were frustrated by the vigilance of party agents.

The failed negotiation, burnt vehicle, beating of  The Source magazine reporter,  the inflated votes, are all desperate acts which are signals that some of them at the tribunal do not have what it takes to lead the state.  Don’t forget that none of the five is asking the tribunal to declare them winner. The basis of disagreement is that Mr. Peter Obi did not score 25 per cent in 2/3 of the 21 local council areas with the inclusion of invalid votes.  In arguing this ground Dr. Ngige appears to forget that there have been precedents here and elsewhere.

It is difficult to accept that votes not properly cast would be used to determine results of elections that will have a force of law. Obi’s argument that only valid votes should count is being re-echoed by three dons from University of Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe University respectively. Making his appearance in the tribunal under subpoena, Professor Chika Muo, Head of Department of Mathematics, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, said that void vote is foreign to mathematical analysis. This position was also upheld by Professor Ray Okafor, Head of Department of Mathematics, Universty of Lagos and Professor S. I Onyeagu, Statistics Department, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Their contribution to solving the logjam is professional and done with no political motive. This opinion is also being canvassed by majority of Anambrarians.

In the final analysis, the action and comportment of some of those at the tribunal are quite unbecoming of the office they aspire to occupy. If the candidate of Action Congress is privy to the inflated figures and still carries on with a plea of either re-run or outright cancellation, then his reputation is suspect. Ditto, for the one who is trying to re-enact the beaten path of violence by aggressing a journalist in the course of duty. Anambra is no longer disposed to men with questionable bent. The state has exited that borderline and does not wish a return by indulging some of these men.

Mr. Ume-Atuana , a commentator on national issues, writes from Awka, Anambra State.