Author: Dr. Adebisi Adewole PhD
Dr Bisi adewole is Senior Lecturer at London Metropolitan University
He is also the Leader of Nigerian Forum Abroad (NIFAB) UK
Oshiohmole – A symbolic victory
The symbolic declaration of Mr Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole as the rightful winner of Edo State governorship election is a welcome decision to all true democrats in Nigeria. I join all democrats in Nigeria and around the world to congratulate Mr Oshiomhole as we celebrate this declaration. It is clearly a watershed in the litany of electoral litigations since the 2007 elections. This Appeal Court’s declaration has once again demonstrated that the Judiciary is truly the last hope of the common man. This significant declaration has somehow rekindled our hope that Nigeria can eventually be delivered from the shackles of the ruling cabals that the People’s Democratic Party represents.
The Justices Umaru Abdullahi and his team’s judgement will help to restore the hope and faith of Nigerians in the Nigerian legal system and in the sanctity of the ballot box. This verdict on the other hand is a blow to PDP who believe in the sanctity of do-or-die elections under the watchful management of Maurice Iwu’s ‘Independent Electoral Commission’. Iwu’s INEC, in April 2006, sharked its responsibility to declare true election results but chose to serve its PDP Lords.
Ultimately, the divine hands of God came down, through Justice Umaru Abdullahi, to deliver the people of Nigeria, particularly the people of Edo state. Although justice was slow to come, it could not be denied. That the Justice Abdullahi’s Court unanimously upheld the March 20 election petition Tribunal’s ruling, which declared Oshiomhole the rightful winner of that election, is a milestone. It is an important step forward in the stepladder of our maturing democracy.
The verdict is not only a victory for Oshiomhole, it is especially a resounding victory to the people of Edo state, and particularly to Nigeria as a country. This victory calls for the PDP and its electoral machines called INEC to go to hiding and cover their faces in shame. This judicial victory has demonstrated to the people of the world, whose minds might have been abused toward Nigeria, that our country is a land flowing with good and honest people. The verdict has clearly demonstrated that we have a courageous judicial system led by courageous people. With this, the Nigerian Judicial System has show that it is on its path to maturity, even in the face of pressing challenges.
The decision of Justice Umaru Abdullahi and his team is worth being emulated by any law officer who is worth his/her salt. The courts must act together to uphold the rule of law in our beloved country. They must wake up from their slumber and not allow themselves to be bamboozled by the ruling political clBI33P who is bent on rubbishing the rule of law. The rights of every Nigerians must be guaranteed and protected (in practice) under the law. The rule of law is not supposed to be a tool for political propaganda. It is must be fundamental and not just to promised as a privilege. The Nigerian electorates must be awakened. Far away America are fully awake and their recent resolve to kick out the people who use the instruments of the state to threaten and dehumanise them is a model for Nigerians to adopt. It may take a long walk, but we shall get there. The journey must start now. A journey that starts on a good note will end well no matter how long it takes.
The exhibit (the chart) from the lower tribunal (Chart A-O), that the justice of the Appeal Court upholds to deliver judgement is not just an ordinary chart. It is a chart of hope, a chart of life for the people of Edo state and a chart of deliverance from the shackles of the oppressors. Chart A-O, through the government of Oshiomhole, is a chart that we all hope will provide access to good education, improved health care delivery, social and legal justice and to good governance.
Appeal Courts in Oyo, Ondo, Kwara and Imo and other states where judgements on electoral cases are pending should take a lesson from the courageous decision of Justice Abdullahi, who revalidates Oshiomhle as the rightful winner of the April 2006 governorship election in Edo state. That the incorruptible legal juggernaut has allowed the votes of the people to count is a clear demonstration of selfless service to the ordinary people of Nigeria.
To the people of Edo state, I say “YES YOU CAN”, and yes, you have done it. For the first time in the electoral annals of Edo state, the universal suffrage of the electorates in the state – men and women, young and old, have been handed back to them, and for the first time, they can stand up and beat their chest to claim that they have elected a government of their own choice for the their own good.
As part of the demand for change in Nigeria, the challenges of this historic victory rests squarely on the People’s Democratic Party’s dominated Edo State House of BI33Pembly. All eyes across the world are on them. The whole world is watching to see, after conceding defeat to Action Congress Party of the state, how they will close ranks and work together with Governor Oshiomhole in order to ensure that the state is governable with peace. We BI33Pume they know that sustainable development is possible only where peace reigns. It is gratifying to see how the governor extends a hand of fellowship to all sections of political parties in the state, and his preparedness to deploy the skills at his disposal, to work with the BI33Pembly members for the socio-economic development of the state.
It will be in the interest of the PDP dominated BI33Pembly to work with governor Oshiomhle to move the wheel of progress of Edo state forward. This earned victory is clearly indicative of the fact that the people of Edo know what they want and how to get it. It simply means - you cannot mess them about. The courage with which the deposed governor, Professor Oserheimen Osunbor has accepted defeat and congratulated the rightful winner of the seat he was regent to shows he has a good spirit, but found himself in a political camp that is not acceptable to Edo state electorates. It is a shame that he planted his political seeds in the wrong field. The seeds germinate but failed to grow to produce their own seedlings. In Edo state, PDP now comes across not just as a party of “do-or-die” but a party of “do-and-die”. It is time the professor of law joined the true democrats who have only one thing in their minds – to serve the electorates who gave the mandate.
This verdict, we hope will deter the army of corruptible politicians in our country. We encourage them to desist from electoral gerrymandering, which has become their stock-in-trade and allow true electoral result to be counted and returned in order to allow the true winner to take control of state machines for good governance.
This victory, coming on the heels of Barrak Obama’s election victory in the United States of America, is a clear victory for pure and stainless democracy in Nigeria. Surely, Oshiomhole’s election victory, delivered to him by our courageous judiciary, will rekindle the hopes of the hopeless in Edo, and reBI33Pure the cynics that justice can always prevail in Nigeria, although it may be delayed.
The will of Edo electorates was subverted before our very eyes, but, at the end, Justice Abdullahi and his team handed the people’s electoral birthright back to them.
As Comrade Adams Oshiomhole settles down to governance, I rejoice with him for his fortitude and I congratulate the people of Edo state for refusing to allow their votes to be permanently stolen away from them. God bless you all, and God bless Nigeria.