The dissonance in Delta state PDP was bound to come to a sorry pass. It has now been made worse by the judgement of the Court of Appeal. Instead of bringing salving balm to injury, the judgement poured salt to raw wounds. And the party, again drifts further apart. We are not yet at the midway point in the running conflict shaking PDP and threatening to turn it to irrelevance in Delta state.
The words (and absence of it) in the judgement of the Court of Appeal created fresh openings for other contestants in the PDP primaries to join in the fray and file new cases in court to challenge Sherriff Oborevwori as the duly nominated candidate of the PDP in the governorship primaries in Delta State.
The Court of Appeal did not deal with the justice of the case brought by David Edevbie but dwelt on and founded its entire judgement on the technicalities of case presentation and method of filing in court. According to the rulings of the Court of Appeal, the case failed because technical issues relating to the filing and procedure of presentation of the case in court, was more vital, more foundational than the substance of the matter before the judges:
1. Are the credentials presented by Sherriff Oborevwori for the PDP governorship primaries forgeries or genuine records and testaments of his academic qualifications?
2. Do the academic credentials presented by Sherriff Oborevwori qualify him for the governorship contest in 2023 and to become governor of Delta State thereafter?
Reading the judgement of the Appeal Court, there was no serious mention whether the credentials presented by Sherriff Oborevwori was forged or not, whether those credentials qualifies him to be governor of Delta state or not.
What mattered more to the judges and which was counted crucial was that the case was not properly filed in the lower court. So Delta state will be condemned to accept the rule of a possibly unqualified person because three non-state judges refused to make pronouncements on the core issue placed before it, which are on the qualifying credentials of the prospective governor of Delta state.
It should be of deep concern to the judicial establishment in Nigeria how an epochal judgement such as this impacts on the democratic development of our state and country. The courts must be seen to support by actions and judicial pronouncements, the growth of democracy and its supporting institutions and not subvert it by thoughtless judgements.
This judgement clearly does nothing to enhance or enrich the growth of jurisprudence and democracy in our country. It does appear that lawyers of both the bar and the bench, in the pursuit of interests other than the public good, fail to rise to the challenge thrust on them by their profession to build and sustain democratic traditions and institutions. Learning must take responsibility for the public good.
This judgement of the court of Appeal in its far reaching implication, failed to meet professional and public standards and expectations of jurisprudence and legal interpretation, proving once again that the Court of Appeal remains the weak link in jurisprudential competence in Nigeria.
As a contest of wills and supremacy between men who seek power and control over others, the battle between James Ibori and Ifeanyi Okowa, enacted through their proxies David Edevbie and Sherriff Oborevwori, will see to the end of PDP in Delta State, no matter how their followers present a façade of unity and calmness to the Delta public. The gangrene in PDP is already inside the PDP.
The lessons of history teaches us that conflict within a ruling class must end in the dismantling of that order, bringing forth a new one. It is easy for any student of history to know therefore that there cannot be a winner in this conflict which is so deeply and implacably embedded in the ambitions and pride of two men who are locked in a turf fight over Delta state as pecuniary empire. It’s the same as animals in the jungle holding on to and protecting their hunting turfs and watering holes. The contending parties will lose to the forces of change and the abiding lessons of history.
As things presently stand and reading the words of the Court of Appeal correctly, any other contestant in the primaries can take up the fight all over again, correcting the faults which the Court of Appeal relied on to shoot down the case of David Edevbie. And the fight will begin all over again for the Okowa and Sherriff Oborevwori faction. This will not happen if the court had made a definite pronouncement on the authenticity of the credentials.
The former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Mr. Peter Mrakpor SAN, is already on the roll for another fight to the finish with Okowa and Sherriff Oborevwori. So also is Senator James Manager making preparations. He believes that he and the Ijaw people were betrayed and stabbed from behind by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on the matter of governorship succession.
There is no question of Okowa’s growing rejection even among the original cast of PDP pioneers. He has been accused of betraying everyone and broken the unwritten code of loyalty, respect for hierarchy and friendship among the fold.
Former Speaker, Monday Igbuya, a known member of the Ibori faction in a television interview recently, tried to hold on to the myth of PDP unity in Delta state by claiming that “Delta is PDP and PDP is Delta”. It is easy to be so self assured when you are a partaker on the buffet table.
The narcissistic commitment to self and family, unending subterfuge, treachery, the betrayal of friend and foe alike, is the reason his followers adulate Ifeanyi Okowa as “political master” and for which he has been recognized as traitor and now stand condemned and ostracized by the leaders of the entire Southern and Middle Belt Nigeria.
The PDP elite core group believe that Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has put a knife on the very things that held PDP together, which were trust and fidelity to group interests and that PDP can now no longer act as one. PDP is broken and no one can put Humpty Dumpty back together. The dinner table is broken and everyone must find their way home.
It is the belief of Ibori/Edevbie faction that Okowa will weaponize the offices of governor and vice president to hit out at perceived enemies and rivals in Delta state. This is why an ever growing number of members of his own party PDP in Delta state are determined that Okowa should not ascend the office of vice president and are reaching out to other South-South states to deny PDP the vote in the presidential election.
It is the truth that Okowa has been advised by many prominent Deltans and non-Deltan alike to let go of the governorship squabbles and build loyalties across the state for his vice presidential bid but he has rejected all entreaties and insist on winning all the fights. So his story of back stabbings and betrayals is been spread all over the south to amplify his rejection by the elders and people of the south and middle Belt region.
The judgement of the Court of Appeal did not mediate the crisis but put a bigger wedge between the combatants and opened new frontiers of warfare. It did not make any pronouncement on the core issue brought for arbitration and the credentials presented by Sherriff Oborevwori remain in dispute.
Are the academic certificates brought by Sherriff to the governorship contest credible and do they qualify him to be the governor of Delta state? The Court of Appeal did not answer. We hopefully believe that the Supreme Court will give us an answer to this troubling question. If in the end the question is left unanswered at the end of the judicial process, the people of Delta State will have to provide an answer with our votes.
