Posted by John Ameh, Awka on
Riot policemen have been deployed in Awka, the Anambra State capital, and neighbouring towns ahead of Friday's (today) judgment by the state election petition tribunal on who between Governor Chris Ngige and his challenger, Mr. Peter Obi, actually won the April 19, 2003 governorship election.
Riot policemen have been deployed in Awka, the Anambra State capital, and neighbouring towns ahead of Friday's (today) judgment by the state election petition tribunal on who between Governor Chris Ngige and his challenger, Mr. Peter Obi, actually won the April 19, 2003 governorship election.
Obi, a candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, had gone to the tribunal to protest the declaration of Ngige as governor.
Ngige who was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party was later expelled.
The case opened on September 1, 2003 and closed on July 16, 2005, after Ngige called 400 witnesses and Obi, 57.
The judgment of the tribunal is vital to the resolution of the lingering political crisis in the state.
As at press time, there was tension in Awka, forcing the police and the State Security Service to beef up security.
Our correspondent on Thursday counted four trucks loaded with heavily armed riot policemen, patrolling some suspected flashpoints like the Aroma Junction, Zik Avenue, Amawbia Roundabout and the Amawbia-Nibo Road, in Awka.
Investigations revealed that the state command of the SSS was also working out a plan to check the influx of people from neighbouring towns into Awka to forestall a breakdown of law and order.
A source at the SSS told our correspondent, 'We are not taking chances. We have to restrict movement around the venue of the tribunal in particular.
'Some men may also have to monitor some of the routes leading to the state capital territory, because it is better to be prepared than to leave everything to speculations."
The security tightening came as a faction of the PDP in the state reportedly placed a potential substitute to Ngige on standby ahead of the verdict.
Sources close to the group, which is loyal to one of the actors in the Anambra crisis, told our correspondent that the camp expected the tribunal to annul Ngige's victory and throw the field open for a repeat poll.
One member of the group said, 'Ngige is no longer a member of the PDP. You know what that means if the tribunal cancels the election.
'He cannot contest on our platform again because the position of the party is that his expulsion is irreversible."
But the governor opened up on Thursday, saying he would not lose sleep over whatever might be the decision of the tribunal.
The state Commissioner for Information and Culture, Chief Charles Amilo, who held brief for the governor in an interview with our correspondent, said Ngige was preoccupied with the planning for the South-East Governors' Forum, which he would host on Friday (today) in Awka.
Amilo said, 'Why should the verdict of the tribunal take over every other government functions? Is it an end-time issue? We are talking about a court of first instance, after which both the petitioner and the governor still have the right of appeal.
'Within the period the appeal lasts, the status quo is maintained. The governor remains the governor until proven otherwise by the appeal court. So, what is all the noise about?"
Amilo acknowledged that anxiety was natural on the part of anybody awaiting a judgment.
He, however, added, 'But that is not to say that we are panicky, afraid or scared of the verdict."
Asked to comment on the rumour that some forces in the PDP were preparing a candidate to replace Ngige, Amilo said, 'It is true. That is what is going on. As a matter of fact, we heard that some of them have just arrived from Abuja.
'But that will not shake us because God has been following this government since July 10, 2003; and we have no reasons to believe that He will abandon us now. We must be civilised about the issues at stake."
The Chairman of Obi's Campaign Organisation, Chief Sylvester Nwobu-Alor, said last week that Obi did not go to the tribunal to seek for a cancellation of the poll, but to demand for a victory that he felt he was robbed of.
He had said, 'Our case is clear. We filed a petition asking the tribunal to grant us victory as the winner of the election; we produced overwhelming evidence to prove that we won.
'It will be a travesty of justice for a court to award you what you did not ask before it."
He also dissociated the Obi camp from any acts of violence.
Meanwhile, the state Police Command has warned parents and guardians against allowing their children and wards to participate in any plot to breach public peace as a result of the tribunal's verdict.
In a statement on Thursday in Awka, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, warned that the command would not hesitate to 'bring the full weight of the law to descend" on anybody caught in any act of civil disturbance.
THE PUNCH, Friday, August 12, 2005