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The Abuja dimension
THOMAS IMONIKHE, Deputy Political Editor
"THE Federal Government should not fan the embers of anarchy by declaring a state of emergency in Anambra
State because it has deliberately stimulated the crisis that is non-existent." With these words Lagos-based
constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Mike Ozekhome criticised what he perceives as government�s
poor handling of the political crisis in Anambra State which erupted on July 10 last year.
Although his view point is debatable, there is a groundswell of public opinion that the no love lost situation
between Governor Chris Nwabueze Ngige and his political godfather Chief Chris Uba�s camp would have been resolved
by now and the latest orgy of violence averted if the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Presidency and
the National Assembly had intervened decisively.
According to such school of thought, the failed abduction of Dr. Ngige 16 months ago would not have been executed
in the first instance if Nigeria Police Force (NPF) personnel led by the late Assistant Inspector-General of Police
(AIG) in charge of Zone 9, Mr. Raphael Ige did not allow themselves to be used as pawns in the hands of masterminds
of the incident.
Similarly, analysts believe that the crisis would have been nipped in the bud even after it broke out if the Presidency
had moved in decisively to bring those implicated in the abduction saga to book.
Rather than address the face-off frontally, then, the Federal Government ignored the clarion call from many quarters
that perpetrators of the act be prosecuted and punished thus giving the notion that the suspected masterminds were
sacred cows.
This notion of President Olusegun Obasanjo�s bias in handling the issue was further reinforced by the speed with
which the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mr. Tafa Balogun enforced a judgement of Justice Stanley Nnaji formerly
of the Enugu High Court ordering the removal of security agents then attached to the governor.
Justice Nnaji was ruling on a suit filed by a suspended member of the Anambra State House of Assembly Hon. Nelson
Achukwu. That controversial ruling later earned the judge the wrath of the National Judicial Council (NJC) which
sent him on compulsory retirement.
Prior to that and contrary to a strong public clamour that the late AIG Ige and his fellow plotters be made to
face treasonable felony, the Federal authorities through the Police Service Commission approved that Ige be retired
from the force amid protests from many Nigerians.
Government�s seeming bias for the Uba camp again became very glaring when the police high command which swiftly
moved to enforce the ruling of Justice Nnaji and dispossessed Dr. Ngige of his security details refused to comply
with the judgement of a court of superior jurisdiction, the Court of Appeal which ordered a reinstatement of the
governor�s guards.
In other words, Dr. Ngige, since January 2, this year has been governing the state without security details despite
the toga of being the Chief Security Officer of the state.
Indeed, the governor remains the first and only state chief executive in Nigeria�s 36 states without official security
even though he was elected on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Consequently, the governor had no choice than to engage the services of the Anambra Vigilante Services (AVS) an
outfit legalized by the State House of Assembly under the administration of ex-Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju for
his security.
Again analysts say Federal Government�s neutrality in the lingering political logjam was called to question last
Tuesday when the police authorities over which the governor has no control reportedly disarmed members of AVS ahead
of the latest hostilities which allegedly claimed public property worth billions of naira.
This recent measure by the police drew instant condemnation from Chief Ozekhome and some of other Nigerians who
accused the Presidency and the police command of complicity in the orgy of violence.
While the Presidency appears to have maintained a biased stance on the long drawn crisis, the South East caucus
in the National Assembly led by Senate President Chief Adolphus Wabara had taken the bull by the horns and intervened.
For instance, after a fact finding mission to Anambra State, Chief Wabara convened an all-embracing stakeholders
meeting at Owerri, Imo State capital. The peace conference which had in attendance prominent Igbo politicians including
some governors and federal lawmakers and representatives of apex pan-Igbo organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo culminated
in the Owerri Accord that was to serve as the basis for the enthronement of lasting peace in the state.
Specifically, the agreement underscored the need for both camps to shift grounds which they held onto tenaciously
then, for the state to move forward. Besides, Dr. Ngige was asked to extend an olive branch to the Uba faction
by reviewing the fate of some of the political appointees who he fired in the wake of the abduction saga.
Although the Owerri Accord offered the best prospect for genuine reconciliation among the warring parties, it soon
collapsed like a pack of cards after both camps accused each other of insincerity in implementing the agreement.
Specifically, Gov. Ngige did not show willingness to concede ground by appointing people from the Uba group.
Like the fate which befell the peace mission by the South East zonal caucus of the National Assembly, the intervention
of the PDP national leadership in the crisis did not yield the desired fruit, and has been very controversial.
It would be recalled that in the wake of the failed abduction of Governor Ngige, PDP National Chairman, Chief Audu
Ogbeh had condemned the incident in the strongest terms. To underscore its aversion to the saga, the PDP leadership
subsequently met and expelled some ring leaders implicated in the act.
Signals that PDP National leadership was going to adopt a kid glove approach in resolving the crisis emerged when
an official of the party reportedly described the incident as "a family affair."
His pronouncement, which elicited mixed reactions from Nigerians came barely after the PDP National Working Committee
(NWC) dissolved the Anambra State branch of the party headed then by Chief Ifeatu Obi-Okoye. It also appointed
a caretaker committee chaired by Chief Dan Ulasi to oversee the party affairs.
But about four months after its disbandment, the executive committee of the state PDP was reinstated by the NWC
in line with a court ruling on the issue. Also, the party set up a high powered committee then headed by the Deputy
National Chairman (North), Alhaji Ibrahim Safana to seek reconciliation among the aggrieved parties.
Rather than sheathe their swords, the combatants have dug deeper into their trenches with accusations and counter
accusations.
That was the scenario until a new chairman was elected for the state chapter of the party at a meeting room at
the NICON Hilton Hotel, Abuja on August 30. He is Chief Uchenna Emordi who belongs to the pro-Uba faction.
Expectedly the election was boycotted by the Ngige camp including the governor, his deputy, Chief Ugochukwu Nwankwo,
and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Mike Belonwu. Second Republic Vice President and founding
chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Dr. Alex Ekwueme also stayed away from the Abuja election.
Six days to the election in Abuja, an Ogidi High Court in Anambra State presided over by Justice J.O. Ernest Egbuna
had granted an injunction stopping the PDP from going ahead with the exercise. His ruling was in pursuance to an
application brought before the court by three former executive members of the state PDP, Princess Chinwe Onyeso,
Chief Ogugua Nwosu and Mr. Emma Obele.
But the Senator Azuta-Mbata-led committee went ahead with the election on the ground that it was not served with
the court order. When eventually the PDP was served, the party�s National Chairman, Chief Ogbeh purportedly referred
it to the Attorney-General and Justice Minister Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN) for advice.
Based on the said advice by the nation�s number one law officer, Chief Ogbeh went ahead to swear-in Chief Emordi
as the new chairman of the state PDP.
The Ogidi High Court which had earlier barred the PDP from holding the election again voided the outcome of the
exercise to the chagrin of the PDP leadership.
The NWC of the party, in a swift response to the suit by the trio suspended them for taking the party to court
without exhausting avenues to redress their grievances.
© 2004 @ Champion Newspapers Limited (All Right Reserved).
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