It was a pathetic scene in court yesterday when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) opened it’s defence of the April governorship charade that saw to the emergence of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu as the governor.
After the petitioners, Otti and APGA closed their case a few days ago, the respondents which are INEC, Ikpeazu and the PDP opened their case on Thursday, 18 July, 2019.
After being badly jolted by the watertight presentation done by Otti’s lawyers led by an iconic Lawyer, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the burden on the respondents, especially the First Respondent, INEC, to prove how they arrived at the atrocious declaration of Ikpeazu as the winner of the election became more cumbersome and frightening.
However, knowing that no matter how smelly a hegoat is, the owner must step out to sell it in the open market, INEC chose to make an audacious attempt to complete its injustice against the suffering Abia masses by defending the election it conducted.
Sadly for them, God took away every knowledge of manipulation and wore the INEC officials and their witnesses deserving caps of confusion as they started in confusion and ended in calamity.
With scattered and untidy documents, the Ikpeazu and PDP team who obviously would be the beneficiaries of whatever success recorded in court by INEC, watched in awe and inexplicable shock as the INEC witnesses messed themselves up with countless contradictions of all that they had sworn on oath.
The climax of the disaster was when the Electoral Officer (EO) in charge of Bende, who may have dreamt of PDP last night an came to the Tribunal with pro-PDP excitement was asked by Otti’s lawyers if he knew the party that won the governorship election in Bende, and he chorused, PDP!
For PDP and the Ikpeazu team, they wished the land could open for them to fall in and run away from that shameful Iberiberism.
How could an electoral Officer not know the winner of an election he conducted and declared just three months ago, in a local government he is still in charge?
It’s high time people entrusted with the responsibility of sanitizing the country through their various institutions, especially in a state like Abia stopped seeing Naira notes in their dreams and start seeing the tears of the suffering masses.
With that devastating own goal scored by the INEC EO, coupled with many others that had been committed, their lawyers knew that bringing more witnesses that yesterday to attempt the defence of the indefensible electoral atrocity, would amount to final burial at the Tribunal, so quickly, and with utmost anger bodly written on their faces, the Lawyers sought for adjournment. But that’s destruction delayed, not destruction averted.
No doubt, they must have gone to do more rehearsals, but we know that no amount of rehearsal can confer legitimacy on that which is obviously illegitimate.
Abia is lying comatose to the admittance of millions of Nigerians, sadly, with the kind of mindset the so called leaders have, if they are left unchallenged, we would wake up one day to hear that our state has been actioned. God forbid!
One undisputed fact is that, the Alex Otti led political struggle in Abia State is not self serving, but people oriented, hence the need for genuine progressives to rally round him and uproot the oppressive system in place.
There have been ups and downs, there have been hitches and setbacks, but such challenges had been associated with people oriented struggles in different parts of the world in the past, thus Abians should have no reason to doubt the possibility of getting to the desired destination.
We must remain resolute, and continue to strategize, reorganise and redouble our individual and collective efforts to herald a state of our collective dream, especially for the sake of the less privileged. Anything short Of this would spell doom for all!
Eastwind Newsonline 
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