BY- CHARLES CHINEKEZI.
There was widespread celebration all over Abia State and indeed, the South Eastern parts of Nigeria Friday October 6, 2023 when the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Umuahia concluded its work by delivering the judgment on the case brought by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Mr. Okey Ahaiwe, against the victorious Labour Party of Abia State and its popular candidate, Dr. Alex Otti as the Tribunal struck out the case on total lack of merit and the pervading frivolity of it all, stating that the PDP had failed woefully to prove its case to the jury.
In a similar vain, the petition also filed by the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its candidate, Chief Ikechi Emenike, was also thrown out by the Tribunal on the basis of its pointless pleas made by the applicants who seemed to be merely posturing as confussionists only aimed at wasting public time and having no genuine objectives whatsoever.
So, at the end of the judgment delivery exercise, as the PDP and its scanty membership headed home with baskets of utter shame on their heads,the Labour Party and Governor Alex Otti were once again engaged in the celebration of a popular mandate freely given Abia’s earlier this year when Otti trounced all other contestants with over a hundred thousand votes in excess to emerge the winner of that keenly contested governorship election which showed the PDP the way out of power in a State it plundered and pulverized for a longish twenty four years of massive destruction of its economy, politics and social services, including vital endeavours such as education, health, commerce, security and others.
As the visibly shaken Mr. Okey Ahaiwe scampered home in open shame, fear and trepidation, his equally stupified few supporters who escaped in different directions went away to leak their wounds in full view of the Abia public who wore same celebration mood recorded when Professor Nnenna Oti of Federal University of Technology, Owerri, who served as INEC returning officer for the Abia State Governorship Election declared Dr. Alex Otti as the winner and Governor Elect in that election which held earlier in the year.
Immediately after the Tribunal rose from its judgment delivery, there was large crowds in all corners of Umuahia, the capital city of the state and Abia the commercial nerve center of the south east where residents gathered at all merriment locations, beer drinking joints and pepper soup spots to celebrate the much anticipated defeat of the mischievous PDP petition against Dr. Alex Otti and the loved Labour Party of Abia State.
A well-known PDP henchman who lost his father to death recently was heard lamenting his fate as he complained that he had earlier packed the dead body of his late father in the mortuary waiting for the Tribunal to sack Otti and the Labour Party so that the PDP government he expected to take over would come to sponsor the burial of his dead old man amid fun and fanfare for which the PDP is known in the past. However, now that dream has been aborted and he must swallow his pride and look for a way to go and send whatever the rodents has spared of his father’s dead body to mother earth as fast as possible before cockroaches eats up the remaining. A Labour Party faithful who listened to the PDP stalwart, however dismissed him and similar PDP diehards as ordinary clowns and court jesters. A clear case of good riddance to bad rubbish.
Dr. Alex Otti, the governor of Abia State, promised the people of the state that he would serve them with greater fervor and passion as a manner of thanking their display of love and unwavering solidarity after dedicating his victory at the Governorship Tribunal to them.
The governor stated, “Even though we never entertained any atom of fear over the suit filed against us, going by the landslide victory we recorded at the polls, coupled with the sound submissions made by our team of erudite lawyers to defend our victory, I was however moved by the unprecedented show of love, support and solidarity from our people which is a manifestation of their appreciation of the modest achievements we have recorded so far, hence my resolve to serve them with greater zeal and passion” .
Governor Otti congratulated the judges for their sound decisions, which he said accurately reflected the results of the election and what the majority of people actually expected. He also said that giving justice to those who deserve it is the best way to advance legal scholarship and enhance democracy.
Assuring that he would work for the general well-being of all Abians, regardless of political party differences, the state chief executive called on his opponents to accept the verdict with humility and composure and join forces with him to work for the development of the state. He did this while fully aware that he had won the election with a clear majority.