By Chuks Ozoani
In the evening of Monday, I sat with my cousin, who staked his hard-earned fortunes in the ill-fated Enugu governorship project of Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party (LP). He came in from Lagos on Thursday to join other supporters and ‘investors’ to court as LP closed their case against Governor Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday. But he has continued to rue his luck and foolishness since last weekend because what he has been reading on social media was quite different from the reality he saw in court.
Indeed, anyone, who has the faintest knowledge of law, would readily understand that it was an anti-climax on a day LP goofed and committed many unforced errors. Their pigeon could not fly at the parade.
But then, anyone, who has also taken a deeper reflection over the many unforced errors and poor judgment by the Enugu Labour Party would agree that the gods are simply unhappy with Edeoga. Otherwise, how do you explain that the same people, who made so much noise about being rigged out in the governorship election, spent over 90 percent of their allocated time at the tribunal arguing Peter Mbah’s National Youth Service Discharge Certificate?
How do you explain that the same people, who claimed that Nkanu East LGA was massively rigged, got a court order allowing them to inspect the BVAS machines used in the conduct of the election since 29th March, but decided to pocket it and run after Mbah’s NYSC discharge certificate until late in the day, just almost when the time allotted to them to make their case was expiring? Then, instead of calming down to inspect the BVAS, they were alleged to have attempted to tamper with the machines, a move 14 other political parties stoutly resisted.
How do we also explain that in applying for the subpoena for the INEC where they also listed the materials that the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) must bring to court, they misquoted the serial numbers or codes of the BVAS machines used in Owo and Ugbawka in Nkanu East LGA. Yes, LP’s lawyers, for whatever reason, quoted the wrong codes, namely: 14/08/01/003, 14/08/01/002, 14/08/06/005, 14/08/06,003, and 14/08/17/012, which are all for Igboeze North LGA, not Nkanu East. The sixth BVAS code, being 14/08/009, was even incomplete and therefore useless.
When asked why he didn’t come with the BVAS used in Ugbawka and Owo, the REC said INEC BVAS could only be identified by codes and that the electoral body responds only to codes and not names. And he was right. He told the court, “the BVAS machines I have here are the five code numbers contained in the subpoena”. Rather than feel embarrassed at their own ineptitude or find out how they offended the gods, they went on their usual propaganda spree, but the judge told them that the tribunal was not a Father Christmas and could therefore not compel INEC to bring to court BVAS not listed in the subpoena.
Even when they presented the order to the court, the subpoena they filed to compel INEC to appear before the tribunal contained the wrong BVAS serial numbers or codes.
As I wrote the other day, Mbah sent them on a wild goose chase by refusing to immediately refute the allegation that he forged his NYSC discharge certificate. So, even though the APC governorship candidate, Uche Nnaji (Nwakibeya) and his Douglas House ally in Imo State, plotted the Mbah NYSC certificate saga to disqualify him from the gubernatorial race, Edeoga and his fellow Labourers soon took over the baton and sought to benefit from him. Consequently, they built virtually all their hopes in dislodging Mbah at the tribunal through disqualification rather than on the fact that they supposedly won the election.
Unfortunately, after the evidence (Statement on Oath) and appearance of the NYSC through its Director of Corps Certification, Ibrahim Muhammad, their eyes began to clear. Not only was Muhammad unable to prove that the serial number on Mbah’s certificate does not exist or belongs to someone else, his evidence and testimony were essentially in sync with Mbah’s submissions and all that he has been telling the public about his discharge certificate.
He agreed that “Mr. Mbah Peter Ndubuisi was actually mobilised and deployed to Lagos State by the NYSC for the compulsory national service vide a call-up letter dated 7th January, 2002, with Serial No. 0134613 and Reference No. NYSC/FRN/2001/890351”. He agreed he was posted to Udeh and Associates for his primary assignment. He agreed that Mbah applied for a break to go for his Bar Final at the Law School. He agreed that Mbah applied for reabsorption on 3rd April 2003 and that “by letter referenced NYSC/DHQ/CM/M/27/20, dated 7th May, 2003, the DG NYSC wrote to the Lagos Director of the NYSC to reinstate Mbah Peter Ndubuisi to continue his service year from where he had stopped, with effect from May, 2003,to terminate in September, 2003”. Importantly, he stated that “upon return, Mbah Peter Ndubuisi was posted to the Law Firm of Udeh & Associates, Lagos again, for completion of his primary assignment, with probable date of discharge on 15th September, 2003”.
The main point of departure was at paragraph 14 (i) where the NYSC claimed “there was no record of the completion of Mbah Peter Ndubuisi’s primary assignment, because he stopped attending the compulsory weekly community service in Lagos, which is one of the cardinal programmes of the NYSC”. However, that lie pales in the face of the clearances given to Mbah by Udeh & Associates that entitled him to his monthly allowances, which instructively, bank statements show, were paid by the NYSC.
Commonsensically speaking, why would Mbah go through all the rigours and end up forging a certificate for himself? It doesn’t make sense to me, and I guess, to most right-thinking humans. More so when he was already a multimillionaire before going to the university in London. So, it wasn’t as if he needed an NYSC certificate to get a job.
It is also settled in law that one doesn’t need an NYSC discharge certificate to hold a public office. Does it make sense, therefore, to say that a lawyer like Mbah forged an NYSC certificate that he didn’t need in the first place and went ahead to present it to INEC?
It was after that outing by NYSC that Edeoga’s counsels hurriedly dusted the court order compelling INEC to allow them inspect the BVAS with only a few days left for them to close their case.
It is therefore my considered opinion that the gods of Enugu are angry with Edeoga. First, Edeoga broke a covenant he signed before the royal fathers of Enugu East senatorial zone in Nike on 9th May 2022. The pact was among all the PDP governorship aspirants to support any of them endorsed by the then incumbent governor, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. The likes of Igwe Julius Nnaji, Igwe Abel Nwobodo and chairman of the traditional rulers council in the six LGAS of Enugu East equally signed as witnesses.
However, not only did Edeoga break covenant, he and his puppeteers – the Nwodos and company – waged the most divisive and bitter campaign in the history of state in the bid to win an election he was not even supposed to contest in the first place. Although geopolitically from Enugu East senatorial zone, Edeoga left no one in doubt that he was running as a candidate of his cultural zone, Nsukka. He confirmed it in when he picked his running mate from Enugu West Zone. He confirmed it through the LP senatorial candidate, who is now Senator Okey Ezea. Ezea openly declared the governorship election a do-or-die affair between Nsukka and their Nkanu brethren.
So, Edeoga’s calamitous outing at the tribunal did not come as a surprise to deep minds. “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin”, the sign had long been on the wall, but he was so carried away by vainglorious words like “Your Excellency”, “The governor in waiting”, among others. The Daniels and elders of Enugu tried to interpret the forewarning signs to the Belshazzar of Mgbuji, Eha-Amufu: “Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed … and found wanting;”. Regrettably, whom the gods want to kill, they first make mad.
As things stand now, Edeoga’s political neck is firmly positioned in the guillotine, ironically by himself. It’s just for INEC and Mbah’s lawyers to finish him off as they open their defence this week.
Nke Edeoga ekpome!
