Not many people knew why the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi State decided to zone the vacant seat of Ebonyi South Senatorial District at the National Assembly to Onicha Local Government Area of the state.
After the prolonged electoral battle between former Governor Dave Umahi and Lady Anne Agom-Eze as well as the election petition by Labour Party (LP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against APC at the tribunal, Senator Umahi resigned from the Senate. This vacuum gave way to the forthcoming bye-election slated for February 3, 2024 as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Various schools of thought have tried to rationalize Senator Umahi’s sudden resignation from the Senate after the chequered battle for the position. It was believed that the former governor decided to leave the 10h Senate to take up the appointment as Minister for Works in President Tinubu’s federal cabinet.
But, watchers of Ebonyi politics recalled that during the sitting of National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, Umahi allegedly attached a certified INEC Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) report ostensibly to cover the manipulation that took place in the election. INEC disowned the BVAS report as a forgery. And, based on a petition from the Labour Party candidate to the Inspector General of Police to arrest and prosecute him, Umahi was said to have in panic, lobbied to replace his former deputy, Kelechi Igwe, who was earlier penciled by the state chapter of APC for appointment as Minister.
The puzzle was resolved shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) scheduled February 2, 2024 to organize bye-elections in to vacant Assembly seats. Believing that the coast was clear for him to contest the Senate seat, which his elder brother abdicated, Austin Umahi announced his interest to seek the APC ticket.
No sooner had Austin showed interest in the Senatorial contest than the entire residents of Ebonyi State shouted in protest against the continuing attempt by the Umahis to appropriate every political position in the state. Also, the incumbent governor, Hon. Francis Nwifuru, had earlier held that in order to avoid trouble with the former governor, Umahi should recommend a candidate to APC for the Senatorial bye-election.
So, while Ebonyians were expressing disgust, the people of Ebonyi South maintained that the bye-election is a golden opportunity to hand the Senatorial seat to the rightful winner, Hon. Linus Okorie. But, while the electorate in Ebonyi South insisted that the former two-term member of the House of Representatives should begin to shout Emi Lo Kan, the Minister for Works showed up again.
Senator Umahi induced a family meeting where Austin was urged to select a proxy that could serve just one term in the Senate. The Works Minister made it plain that whoever should get the ticket should be prepared to give way for him. Umahi is said to be interested in having another go for the Senate to become the President of Senate in 2027 and from there prepare for the 2031 Presidency.
The convoluted political ambition of the Works Minister has therefore made the contest for Ebonyi South Senatorial seat dicey. The electorate are faced with the challenge of voting for Umahi’s proxy or electing a competent candidate with proven capacity, experience and track record of people-oriented representation.
As all indicators point to the reality that Hon. Linus Okorie, remains the candidate to beat, the Works Minister ensured that a person from Okorie’s Local Government Area, Onicha and political ward was selected.
To achieve that end, the Ebonyi State Working Committee of APC carried out a survey, which found that indeed Onicha Local Government Area of the state was actually the LGA to throw up the next Senator for Ebonyi South District. That discovery unwittingly showed why Hon. Linus Okorie garnered massive votes during the February 25, 2023 National Assembly election before the alleged manipulation in Edda Local Government Area.
On December 26, 2023, at a meeting attended by all the 17 members of the State Working Committee, including Hon. Stanley Okoro Emegha, Chairman, and Charles Chukwudi Ofoke, Secretary; the Ebonyi State chapter of APC resolved that the Senatorial ticket be zoned to Onicha Local Government Area of the state.
The APC SWC declared in a communique that the resolution “is in total alignment with the decisions of the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru in ensuring that equity, justice and fairness is the cornerstone of his administrative principles.”
Part of the communique read: “Whereas, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) pursuant to the relevant provisions of our Laws and the President of the Senate declared the seat of Sen. David Nweze Umahi vacant, owing to his resignation from the 10th Senate for an appointment as the current Minister of Works.
“Nature abhors vacuum, hence, the need to replace the vacant position by the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ebonyi South Senatorial District. That in the interest of justice, equity and fairness characterized in Rt Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru’s APC-led government, the vacant Ebonyi South Senatorial position be zoned to Onicha LGA of Ebonyi State.”
Two days later, precisely on December 28, 2023, former Governor Umahi used the occasion of their usual family meeting to orchestrate the next round of scheming. The choreographed attempt to coral a place holder for the Senate seat followed the growing resentment against the attempt to have his younger brother and the likely implication for his ambition to be President of Senate.
Sources at Uburu disclosed how the family members kicked against the former governor’s insistence on being the only political cock crowing in the family. The family was divided between stopping Austin Umahi to pave the way for Dave and supporting the former Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Zonal Vice Chairman not minding the public outrage against the family’s domineering influence on Ebonyi South politics.
At the end of the meeting, the Umahi family released a statement, which amounted to a lame attempt at face-saving measure to salvage their badly damaged public image. In the statement signed by High Chief Nwaze Umahi, the family referenced the APC zoning arrangement, lamenting that Austin Umahi ought to have been given right of first refusal for the Ebonyi South Senatorial ticket.
Part of the statement read: “The general public is hereby intimated that on the 28th day of December, 2023, the family of late Joseph Umahi Nwaeze of Umunaga Uburu, Ohaozara LGA, Ebonyi State held a meeting whereat we reviewed the developments and utterances with respect to the vacant Ebonyi South Senatorial seat which Austin Umahi had indicated interest in contesting on the APC platform and notes as follows:
“That the Umahi family is not unaware of the resolution purportedly passed by the State Working Committee of the Ebonyi State APC (Ebonyi APC SWC) purportedly zoning the Ebonyi South senatorial seat to Onicha Local Government Area.
“That the family is not unaware that the purported Ebonyi APC SWC resolution has no place in law as it’s the exclusive preserve of the APC National Executive Committee (NEC) or the National Working Committee (NWC) to zone political offices, if need be, and to organize party primaries for all elective offices.
“That contrary to the purported Ebonyi APC SWC resolution, the APC otherwise has a MORAL BURDEN to give Austin Umahi the right of first refusal in the Ebonyi South senatorial rerun election having earlier won the APC senatorial primary of 28th May 2022 which he relinquished on the intervention of the family to H.E Engr. David Umahi, the then Ebonyi State governor and current Minister of Works.”
However, the family disclosed that notwithstanding the facts in Austin Umahi’s favour, it resolved “to passionately appeal to Austin Umahi and his teaming loyal and dogged supporters to kindly shelve his legitimate ambition of contesting for the vacant Senatorial seat for now in order to give peace a chance.”
Working towards a pre-arranged option, the APC Senatorial primary last Saturday, Prof. Anthony Okorie Ani, was returned ‘unopposed’ for the February 3 bye-election.
But, despite the face-saving statement, it was gathered that the desperate effort to ensure that the APC Senatorial candidate for the bye-election comes from the same ward as the LP candidate, APC allegedly rejected Lady Anne Agom-Eze’s nomination form claiming that the woman did not fill and return the forms.
Also, sources disclosed that the ruling party made attempts to displace Linus Okorie as the LP candidate for the Senatorial bye-election. Yet, in spite of the influence of some moles in LP, Okorie garnered 40 votes to defeat two other contenders, Nwabueze Ogo Eze and Fred Okereke, who polled 10 and seven ballots respectively.
While every effort is being made to hide the fact that Engineer Umahi’s ambition to be Senate President is driving the upheaval in the contest for Ebonyi South Senatorial bye-election, the people of Ebonyi State, especially voters in Ebonyi South are pleading with INEC to use the opportunity to assert their independence and abide by the extant regulations and stipulations of the Electoral Act 2022.
Various communities in Ebonyi South Senatorial District maintain that despite the attempt by the SWC of APC, their votes during the February 25 National Assembly zoned victory to Onicha Local Government Area, where Hon. Linus Okorie was the only contender from there.
•Dr. Ikpa writes from Mgbom, Afikpo, Ebonyi State
Credit: Daily Sun