Obinna Odogwu, Abakaliki
For now, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State and its governor-elect, Chief David Umahi, who is also the governor of the state, appears to have a brief space to draw some breath of fresh air.
This is as a result of the momentary stoppage of their seemingly endless media war with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate in the just concluded Governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji.
Before, during, and shortly after the elections, the two political parties, their leaderships, candidates at all levels in the state, and their supporters had clinched tightly on each others’ jugular over sundry issues that bother on political interests.
In series of press conferences held by both camps, there were lots of accusations and counter-accusations over the political violence, crimes, and other political misnomers that were perpetuated in the state.
Also, campaign grounds equally provided the opportunities for these parties and their leaders to throw tirades at each other.
While the main political gladiators in the persons of Chief David Umahi and Senator Sonni Ogbuoji who incidentally is the current representative of Ebonyi South senatorial zone in the National Assembly were slugging it out at that level, their subordinates also trashed out matters and threw punches.
For example, during one of the stakeholders’ meetings involving political parties and their candidates which was organised by the state Police command in conjunction with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state, held at Police Officers’ Mess, the chairmen of APC and PDP accused each other’s political party of orchestrating violence.
Also, in different press statements issued to newsmen in Abakaliki, the PDP and the APC through their state chairmen rolled out lists of their members who were attacked and inflicted with bodily harm allegedly by their opponents before the governorship election.
Chairman of the PDP in the state, Chief Onyekachi Nwebonyi, a lawyer, lamented that selfish politicians were instigating political killings and violence in order to pave way for the perpetuation of electoral malpractice during the poll.
His counterpart in the APC, Eze Nwachukwu Eze, in a statement issued to newsmen in Abakaliki, the state capital alleged that there had been litany of violence meted to the party faithful in the state.
Aside these, the state governor, Umahi, had raised the alarm over the alleged plot by some hired thugs to bomb some public facilities including the INEC offices in some councils in order to pave way for electoral fraud in the state.
True to Umahi’s claims, two hoodlums were later apprehended in Idembia community in Ezza South Local Government Area of the state by the members of the state’s Neighbourhood Watch while trying to blow up Idembia Bridge.
The suspected criminals, it was gathered, had already planted the explosives and were about blowing it up when the local vigilance men swooped in on them, apprehended them and handed them over to the security agents.
The lists of these incidences were endless. And as they occur, there were usually exchange of accusations and counter-accusations by the leaderships of the two political parties in the state.
With the election gone and the winners and losers unveiled, the battle coiled back; this time, into the house of the APC where the camps of the party’s governorship candidate, Ogbuoji, and that of the minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, have started a war.
At first, Ogbuoji who lost the election to the PDP’s candidate, Umahi, reportedly addressed a press conference in Enugu where he reportedly rejected the outcome of the election.
He reportedly sought for the cancellation of the poll and demanded for a fresh election to be conducted. He was said to have cited alleged irregularities, which according to him were perpetuated in some polling units.
The APC governorship candidate reportedly said that he would be approaching the court to right the wrongs.
Ogbuoji was quoted as saying: “We have assessed the conduct of the governorship and the House of Assembly elections in our state and the experiences our people went through.
“We were not in a hurry to make our position known until we have got all the facts, consulted widely, and taken accounts and discoveries from our members, candidates, and supporters.
“We have decided to make some facts public and clarify impressions about what happened on that fateful day in the state”, he reportedly said.
But the lawmaker was a lone voice. About 24 hours after he reportedly addressed the press, governorship candidates from 26 political parties and their state chairmen held a press conference where they certified Umahi’s victory as the reflection of the wishes of the majority of the people.
They cautioned any candidate who intends to go to court to perish such idea. They also advised that the resources which such a candidate would spend on litigations should be deployed to the development of the state.
But sensing that the legal battle on the outcome of the election might be a futile venture, the camp of the governorship candidate was said to have devised a new means to position for the state’s ministerial slot.
At the moment, one of the national leaders of the APC who hails from the state, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, is occupying the seat of Ebonyi State in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet.
Recently, House of Assembly candidates of the APC in the state held a press conference in Enugu where they condemned the minister for allegedly not imitating his counterpart from the South West, Bola Tinubu, who was said to have wielded his influence to advance the fortunes of the party in the zone.
On the occasion, 17 out of 24 House of Assembly candidates of the APC wondered why Dr. Onu did not take the lead in Ebonyi as Tinubu reportedly did in the South West.
The APC candidates led by Mr. Jude Okpor, an engineer, who contested for Ezza North East constituency, further disclosed that many federal appointees from the state played little or no role towards the electoral fortunes of the party in the state.
The group said: “It is public knowledge that APC National Leader, who is from the South West, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, along with cabinet members and other party leaders played major roles that led to APC’s successes in their zone.
“In the South South, Rotimi Amaechi’s impact cannot be over-stretched. Similarly, Lai Mohammed led the liberation of Kwara State in the North Central. We are constrained to ask, where was our leader, Ogbonnaya Onu, throughout the struggle to liberate Ebonyi during the election?
“We also learnt that some fifth columnist within and outside our great party in the state are doing everything humanly possible to smear, and denigrate the image of our governorship candidate, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji, with the intention of causing disaffection, disunity, and crisis amongst party faithful and Ebonyi citizens to pave way for Dave Umahi to join APC. We condemn this in the strongest terms”, the group added.
But rather than a genuine concern, many political commentators in the state viewed the action of the Assembly candidates as one designed to discredit the minister and pave way for their master, Ogbuoji, for consideration in the yet to be constituted new cabinet of President Buhari.
Displeased by the action of the Assembly candidates, a group of aggrieved APC aspirants in the state took a swipe on the governorship candidate and blamed him for the woes recorded by the party at the 2019 polls.
Leader of the aggrieved persons, Mazi Ogbonnia Joseph, described the party’s governorship candidate, Ogbuoji, as a mole in the APC who was merely interested in the campaign funds rather than lead the party to victory.
Ogbonnia said: “We therefore urge the national leadership of APC, led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to immediately probe the utilisation of Election Support Fund released for the purpose of elections in Ebonyi State, because our party candidates and APC were starved of funds to mobilise our teeming members to vote for our candidates, which led to the very abysmal performance of APC in the state.”
He also alleged that the governorship candidate was deploying new tactics to discredit other stakeholders and members of the party to lobby for ministerial position and therefore urged President Buhari and the national leadership of the party to discountenance all the “crocodile tactics” of Senator Ogbuoji.
“We urge President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of APC to discountenance all the ‘crocodile tactics’ of Senator Ogbuoji by trying to illuminate his relevance in APC, as we are aware of his new tactics to discredit other stakeholders and members to lobby for ministerial position”, Ogbonnia said.
Piqued by these allegations, the governorship candidate, Ogbuoji, fired back at the aggrieved aspirants represented by the said Ogbonnia Onu Joseph, saying that the allegations on the campaign funds were the figments of his imagination.
In a statement issued by the Director of Media and Publicity of Ogbuoji Campaign Organisation, Mr. Ikenna Emewu, the lawmaker challenged Ogbonnia to go ahead with his announced probe of him.
Ogbuoji described Ogbonnia as a character playing the script written for him by some people to lay the ground work against the announcement by the APC and himself to challenge the outcome of the March 9 election.