By Duke Enyia
The over 15 years Nigerian successive democratic process, is still surprisingly and painfully far from being matured. Up till the moment, merit appears irrelevant, thrown to the wind. What thrives in Nigeria’s political circle right now are subservience to Godfather’s who promote sheer mediocrity across the land. Anyone who attempts to be a guiding light or advocates for standard and level-playing ground is marked in some cases and made a scapegoat thereafter.
All of these unpleasant developments played out in the just concluded primaries of some political parties recently. Of particular note is the primaries of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) where some aspirants have been, one way or the other, shortchanged by the resenting interest of over-bearing political leaders and governors in some states of the Federation.
In the PDP fold are the contending cases from disputed primaries in states such as Ebonyi, Enugu, Rivers, Adamawa, Ogun, Lagos and Plateau. Another instance is the dubious manner in which the primary of the Cross River State Central Senatorial District was conducted. The contest was principally between incumbent Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) and fellow federal lawmaker Hon. John Owan Enoh. The Senate Leader reportedly lost to Hon. Enoh who polled 217 votes as against his purported 37 votes.
*Ndoma Egba
So far, the ranking Senator, who made his first appearance in the upper legislative chamber in 2003, is not the only one contesting the manner in which the primary was conducted. The State INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barr. Mike Igini, in a separate petition, not only condemned the primary process, but described it as “far below the standards of 2011 and “not encouraging”.
In order to pursue his case to a logical conclusion, Senator Ndoma-Egba had in a letter dated December 8, 2014, addressed to the ruling PDP’s National Assembly Electoral Appeal Panel demanded for a complete cancellation of the primary, as it was flawed with many irregularities and ran foul of the electoral laws that were supposed to guide the exercise.
He equally accused some prominent government and PDP officials in Etung local Government Council of hijacking the accreditation process.
Senator Ndoma – Egba further alleged that the primary was highly militarized as some “militants were imported from outside the state who in the course of the process killed one person identified as Friday Ajaghe in Obubra Local Government a day before the primary exercise.”
The Lawyer turned politician in his petition indicated that the primary venue was occupied by gunmen who outnumbered the delegates. The situation was so bad to the extent that Ambassador Mark Egbe, who was allegedly absent at the primary still polled 20 votes!
The question now is; who were the veiled dictators of this naked fraud against democracy and people of the Cross River especially in the central senatorial district? The pertinent question to ask at this juncture is this; does this three-term Senator really deserve or merit this type of unkind treatment and injustice?
Senator Ndoma-Egba who was once Chairman, Senate committee on Information and Media, and Deputy Chairman of the Judiciary Committee on record had sponsored bills on: Nigerian Prisons Services Act (Repeal & Re-enactment Bill 2009; The Nigerian Community Services Bill 2009; Criminal Justice (Victim’s Remedies) Bill 2009.
Others include: Abolition of Discrimination against Women Bill 2009; Legal Aid Act Amendment Bill 2008; Legal Practitioners’ Act (Amendment Bill, 2008; Freedom of Information Bill 2008; National Human Rights Commission Act Amendment Bill 2008, aside many motions moved and other bills he co-sponsored on the Senate floor.
The implication of the Senator not returning is that the people of Cross River central senatorial district have been denied of quality representation by a ranking senator, allowing a selfish godfather to impose on them a rookie representative. In all parliaments all over the world, Nigeria inclusive, ranking lawmakers take key legislative positions and important committee chairmanship ahead of new legislators. One sure thing is that in all of these, the people of the state will eventually be the losers if the godfather prefers a rookie senator to a ranking and experienced senator like Senator Ndoma-Egba, who may highly likely return as Senate Leader when PDP wins in 2015.
*Enyia wrote in from Calabar, Cross River State.
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