Ebonyi: From PDP to APC-controlled state

The All Progressives Congress (APC) ended over 12 years reign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State during the 2023 general election with the incumbent governor, Dave producing his successor without much hitches. Since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democratic rule, no governor in Ebonyi State has ever produced his successor except Umahi.

The first executive governor of the state, Dr. Sam Egwu could not produce a successor and Chief Martin Elechi, who succeeded Egwu also failed to influ- ence the emergence of his successor (Umahi) who was his deputy during his second tenure. Egwu had a serious challenge when he was leaving office, he couldn’t take a stand on a particular person he wanted to succeed him. There were many who jostled to succeed him.

The senator representing Ebonyi Central, Obinna Ogba; Senator Julius Ucha and former Commissioner for Health, Dr. Henry Aloh, among other political heavyweights were contenders in that 2007 gubernatorial election. Egwu was tilting towards Aloh but Elechi, who was not even in the race, emerged from no- where. What was described as order from above came few days to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary election, compel- ling Egwu to ensure that Elechi emerged as the candidate of the party. As planned, Elechi emerged unopposed at the primary after the contenders were prevailed upon to step down for him.

In 2015, when another general election was held, Umahi was PDP chairman in the state and later deputy governor. He was Elechi’s deputy in 2011. Elechi made him his Deputy because of his contribution in building PDP and support- ing his administration. Elechi promised Umahi that he will hand over to him. But in 2014, when the process of the 2015 gen- eral election began, Elechi reneged and settled for the then Minister of Health, Prof. Christian Onyebuchi Chukwu.

All Elechi’s appointees ad- opted Chukwu and went on air in the two radio stations in the state to make the adoption public. Umahi was left alone. He almost discontinued his ambition of governing the state that year but he summoned courage and started consultation. He was able to get the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim and Senator Sam Egwu to his side and a titanic battle ensured. Elechi prevailed on the then state chairman of PDP, Chief Ugorji Amaoti to resign his position.

Amaoti was promised a House of Representatives position. He later re- signed the PDP chairmanship position and didn’t even get the House of Representatives ticket. Immediately Amaoti resigned from his position, Elechi went and picked Ben Akpa, who was not a member of the then State Working Committee of the PDP and made him the chairman of the party. This was the begging of Elechi’s mistake in his quest to install his successor and Umahi’s fortune in the governorship race as he was able to get the then deputy chairman of PDP in the state, Chief Joseph Onwe, to his side.

The struggle for the 2015 PDP governor- ship ticket in the state began fully as the party was divided into three factions; one loyal to Ben Akpa (Elechi), the other loyal to Joseph Onwe (Umahi) and the other to one Mike Awo(also Umahi). The Elechi faction seized the PDP secretariat in the state. The secretariat was built by Umahi, when he was the state chairman of the party. Elechi’s faction operated from the party secretariat, while the Umahi faction operated from a hotel in Abakaliki. The factions during delegate elections for the party’s primaries, held their different delegate elections but only the list of the Umahi’s faction was recognised by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP.

This paved the way for Umahi to take over the party’s struc- ture in the state. On the day of the governorship pri- mary election at the Abakaliki Township Stadium, all the governorship aspirants came for the primaries except Prof. Chukwu. The then governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose was the chairman of the governorship primary committee sent by the PDP NWC to conduct the Eb- onyi 2015 governorship primary election. Umahi was elected as the candidate of the party for the 2015 general election. Elechi kept fighting to install his suc- cessor. He moved his structure into Labour Party (LP) and the platform which was hitherto unpopular in the state at that time became popular.

He also ensured that his in-law, Chief Edward Nkwegu picked the governorship ticket of Labour Party and the 2015 governorship election be- came very interesting. Umahi, however, began serious con- sultations. He consulted very widely. He even consulted his enemies and was able to woo many stakeholders in the state to his side. He later won the election and will be through as governor of the state next month. Apparently drawing lessons from what happened to his predecessors, Umahi made public his preferred choice of suc- cessor about 10 months to the just con- cluded 2023 elections.

He announced the speaker of the state House of Assembly, Chief Francis Nwifuru as his anointed. It was dur- ing the burial of the father of the state Com- missioner for Trade and Investment, Chioma Nweze, that the governor announced Nwifuru as his successor. The choice of Nwifuru was not accepted by those who are regarded as Old APC in the state. Umahi and his loyalists, including the speaker defected to APC about three years ago and we’re tagged New APC by the founding members of the party in the state. As the Old APC kicked against the choice of Nwifuru by Umahi, a battle ensued between them and the New APC.

The two APC groups had their candidates for the 2023 general elec- tion during their separate primaries. The New APC produced Nwifuru as its own governorship candidate, while the old APC produced a former chairman of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Chief Elias Mbam as its own governorship candidate. But the NWC of the APC recognised only the candidates of the New APC and forwarded their names to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The Old APC retreated while the New APC celebrated their victory. While the electioneering process for the 2023 polls commenced, the main opposition party in the state (PDP) had its own crisis and produced two governorship candidates too; Senator Obinna Ogba who had the support of Anyim and Chief Ifeanyi Odii, who had the backing of Egwu.

The battle over who is the authentic can- didate of the PDP for the 2023 governorship election shifted to the courts and reached the nation’s apex court, Supreme Court, which de- clared Odii as the authentic candidate of the PDP in Ebonyi State. After that the campaign for the general elec- tion began. Governor Umahi through his politi- cal sagacity wooed the Anyim faction of the PDP to his side for his choice of successor, Nwifuru. Both Umahi and Anyim started consulting all the stakeholders of PDP and other opposition parties in the state and got many of them. This made the governorship election very easy for APC in the state as it won the election by landslide. It was the easiest governorship election in Ebonyi State since 1999, while the state witnessed the toughest National Assembly elections in its electoral history. Nwifuru, the candidate of the APC, was declared winner of the governorship election.

The state Returning Officer of INEC for the gov- ernorship election, Prof. Charles Igwe, who is the Vice Chancellor of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said Nwifuru polled a total of 199,131 votes to beat his main challengers, Odii of PDP and Prof. Bernard Odoh of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) who garnered 80,191 and 52,198 votes, respectively. APC also won the three senatorial seats in the state and three out of the six House or Rep- resentatives seats in the state.

The party won Ebonyi South where Umahi was the candidate of the party. Its candidates for Ebonyi North and Central, Ken Eze and Onyekachi Nwebonyi also won their elections. The Ebonyi South senatorial elec- tion, which Umahi won, was the tough- est senatorial poll in the state as LP, PDP and APGA also had good presence in the senatorial district. The governor, who was written off by his critics ahead of the poll battled the likes of Linus Okorie (LP); Senator Michael Ama Nna- chi, who currently represents the zone (PDP) and Chief Ifeanyi Eleje (APGA). Declaring Umahi winner of the election, the INEC Returning Officer, Egwu Ogugua of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, said the governor polled a total of 28,378 votes, while Okorie scored 25,496 votes. Nnachi and Eleje came third and fourth respectively. The federal constituencies won by the APC are Ezza South/ Ikwo, Abakaliki/Izzi and Ebonyi/ Ohaukwu.

The party also won 95 per cent House of Assembly seats in the state, while LP, PDP and APGA shared the remaining seats. The three opposition parties also won National Assembly seats in the state. Labour Partry won Ohaozara/ Onicha/Ivo federal constituency, PDP won Afikpo North/South federal con- stituency, while APGA won Ezza North/ Ishielu federal constituency. Nwifuru, who was elected the gov- ernor, has been in the state political system since 16 years now. He was in the state PDP as one of its leaders from where he contested House of Assembly election for Izzi West State constituency and won. He has been in House of As- sembly since 12 years. During his first tenure, he was deputy chief whip of the Assembly. He was elected the speaker of the Assembly during his second tenure. He was also elected speaker for the second time during his third tenure from where he contested the 2023 governor- ship election. The Governor-elect, who is in his 40s, is expected to bring leadership ex- perience which he acquired from his master, Umahi to bear. But his rivals at the poll, Odii and Odoh have dragged him the State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

The PDP and its governorship candidate, Odii, have asked the tribunal sitting in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, to mandate INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Nwifuru on the ground of non-qualification. They also asked the tribunal to declare Odii the winner of the election and return him as the elected governor of Ebonyi State in the March 18, governorship election. These were some of the prayers in Peti- tion Number: EPT/EB/02/2023 dated 6th April, 2023 and filed on April 7, by Odii and the PDP against the INEC, Nwifuru and the APC. The petitioners, Odii and the PDP, argued that Nwifuru was not quali- fied to contest the election on the platform of the APC as he was still a bonafide member of the PDP and had not officially defected to any other political party including the APC.

The second petitioner, the PDP further averred that Nwifuru, being a serving lawmaker elected on the platform of the party to the state House of Assembly, and who had not defected officially on the floor of the House as the law requires, could not have contested election in another party outside the PDP. The PDP asked the tribunal to declare that Nwifuru was not qualified to stand for the 2023 governorship election on the platform of the APC as he remained a member of the party and the party never sponsored him for any election in the just concluded 2023 general election. The petitioners also cited a subsisting judgement by Justice Henry Njoku of the Ebonyi State High Court, which ruled that Nwifuru and other lawmakers of Ebonyi State House of Assembly, who purportedly defected to the APC are still members of the PDP.

The petitioners also alleged noncompli- ance with the Electoral Act, 2022, by INEC as well as electoral malpractices, among other infractions. The petitioners’ legal team of 12 lawyers, including six Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) is led by Chief Chris Uche (SAN). Odoh of APGA, who also dragged Nwifuru before the tribunal, hinged his petition on alleged certificate forgery and ineligibility to contest the governorship election. Odoh, in his petition, urged the tribunal to disqualify Nwifuru who was declared winner of the Ebonyi State governorship election and nullify the Certificate of Return issued to him. The APGA candidate is of the opinion that Nwifuru, at the time of the election was still a member of the PDP and as such was not eligible to be sponsored for the election by the APC.

He averred that Nwifuru therefore was not qualified to contest the election to the office of the Governor of Ebony State as he belonged to two political parties, which he according to him is unconstitutional He further alleged that Nwifuru was not qualified to stand for the election as he allegedly submitted a fake certificate to INEC. Odoh therefore prayed the tribunal to nullify the said election to the office of the Governor of Ebony State held on March 18, 2023. He also prayed the tribunal to order for a second election pursuant to section 179(3) and (4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) into the office of the Governor of Ebonyi State.

Odoh asked the tribunal to declare that the said fresh election should be held be- tween the two candidates who scored the highest number of votes at the election held on March 18. Reacting to the petitions by the PDP and APGA governorship candidates, Governor Umahi mocked both parties, saying their action, seeking Nwifuru’s removal are in vain as according to him, the APC will still win the election if it is cancelled and reconducted. Umahi, who stated this when Nwifuru came to present his certificate of return to him, said PDP was able to get the votes it got at the governorship election because the election was local. His words: “When people say they are going to tribunal over the governorship election, I just laugh.

The PDP got the number of votes it got because the election became local in the sense that the party had House of Assembly members from various localities, who were making efforts to also win and you can’t undermine the fact that election is local and that’s why they got 80,000 against our 199,000 votes. So, there is a clear different of almost about 120,000 votes. So, what are they going to court for?

“If you repeat the election, God forbid, the PDP cannot score more than 5,000 votes if the governorship candidate is isolated and he is standing. I don’t want to talk about him, he is my brother and naturally I don’t talk about people. But when you are fighting for what doesn’t belong to you, God is not fighting for you. “It is despicable for anybody from the South to succeed the governor from the South. When I was in PDP, some governors tried it and they lost their state. So, it is an act of stupidity for anybody from the South to think of taking another slot, that is crazy and it is not acceptable to any normal human being. “I also find it extremely very sorry the level of bitter politics in Ebonyi State. After election, people who know that they failed woefully will drag you to tribunal, to Court of Appeal and playing all sorts of politics.”