Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja and Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged a former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Uche Ogah and other party stakeholders in Abia State to sheathe their swords and unite behind the party’s governorship candidate, Chief Ikechi Emenike, to win the forthcoming election.
This is as the Abia APC governorship candidate, Emenike, has offered an olive branch to his opponents after going through 24 cases at the High Courts, nine cases at Appeal Courts and five cases at the Supreme Court which were consolidated into one.
The Supreme Court had on Thursday put a final stop to several litigations in Abia APC when a five-member panel of the apex court Justices affirmed Emenike’s candidacy in a unanimous judgement delivered on five consolidated appeals.
Ogah and others had gone to court to challenge the candidacy of Emenike for the governorship polls.
Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, APC National Welfare Secretary, Sir Friday Nwosu, appealed to Ogah to put the past behind him.
He said: “This morning, I have written to my brother and young friend Uche Ogah. You have tried, taking your matter to the highest level, to the highest court of the land and the highest court of the land have turned against you.
“Please, sheathe your sword and come with your supporters and let us support our candidate to win. Nobody will lose. Governorship is not one man thing and the party is also in control. If all of us go and work together, we will win.
“I am appealing to my brother, Uche Ogah please don’t be further offended, cool down your temper. Let us work together and we will win. I am not appealing to him alone, the calibre of people appointed by the APC-led federal government in my state is enough to win the governorship race,” Nwosu said.
He also called on the Senate Chief Whip and former governor of Abia, Senator Orji Kalu, whose younger brother was using his structures to run for the state’s governorship election on the platform of another party, to mobilise support for the APC standard bearer.
Nwosu added: “In my state we have a federal commissioner Pencom, representing South-east, he is in our party. We have a federal commissioner with Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) from my state. We have the executive secretary of the National Agricultural Land Development Agency from my state, all appointed by this government.
“We also have Uche Ogah who just resigned as a minister and my humble self in that state. And I am telling you with our supporters, all of us coming together to support Ikechi Emenike, we will win that governorship race. I am not here to say that High Chief Ikechi Emenike is a perfect man, I am not saying so. I am not perfect myself. I may not be good but I am reasonable.
“What we are saying is that the party in its own wisdom has nominated a candidate. I am appealing to my brother, to people of good will to help us appeal to these people, particularly Uche Ogah who went to court and lost, losing today is not losing forever. I am calling on my brothers to come let us go and effect the change our people are yearning for. That is why I called you this morning to address you.
“Not only this, I will go to them, person to person as I have been going. I also include His Excellency Uzor Kalu that we should come and support our party. Like His Excellency, the Senator, his younger brother is running for governor under a different party and he is using the Senator’s and former governor’s structure to run in his different party.
“Is as if my state is cursed and it bleeds my heart that is why I have called to plead with you, say it where it should be heard. And what is making me cry is that these people with this careless attitude are enjoying the appointment and patronage of the federal government of APC and it is not fair.”
But the APC governorship hopeful has decided to be magnanimous in victory by appealing to all those that fought legal battles with him to sheathe their swords and join hands with him to rescue and develop Abia.
Shortly after he emerged victorious in the governorship primary of May 26, 2022, Emenike was buffeted with an avalanche of court cases from within and outside Abia APC, all seeking to invalidate his candidacy.
His opponents, their surrogates and rival political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Peoples Party (APP) instituted a total of 24 cases at various High Courts all of which have been found to be frivolous.
The sheer number of court cases arising from the governorship ticket was staggering and unprecedented in Abia politics and perhaps Nigeria politics in general
From the cases at the courts of first trial nine appeals were filed at the Appeal Courts at Owerri and Abuja while five appeals progressed to the apex court for final determination.
Nonetheless, there was no stopping the APC governorship standard bearer as he kept clearing the legal hurdles along the way. Even after the judgement delivered by Justice Binta Nyako curiously upheld Uche Ogah’s purported “direct primary election” it collapsed at the Appellate Court.
Ogah, who was lauded by Emenike for fighting a tortuous battle against him has not congratulated the triumphant governorship candidate, nor has he decided to collapse the parallel structure he has been operating with his supporters.
The former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development had in a statement after the Supreme Court verdict said he had “submitted to the will of the Almighty God, who rules in the affairs of men”. In the spirit of sportsmanship, I wish my elder brother, Chief Ikechi Emenike good luck.
However, Emenike has specifically stated that he wants Ogah and his supporters as well as other aggrieved Abia APC members to come back to the fold and join the rescue movement.
“I bear no grudges or malice against any individual or group that went to court to ventilate their grievances because they acted within their democratic and constitutional rights,” he said.
According to him, the best way for an Abian to demonstrate love for the state is to join hands with him in the movement to rescue God’s Own State from the perpetrators of bad governance.
“To rescue and develop Abia is a task we must all join hands and accomplish in this 2023 election. Nobody should sit on the fence,” he said.
