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By Ehichioya EzomonThe other day, a chieftain of the Rivers chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, boasted that Governor Nyesom Wike would be “the easiest to beat” in the 2019 general election, being that by his alleged actions or inactions, the governor has bolstered the chances of the party at the poll.But recent untoward happenings in the chapter may prevent it from fielding candidates for the various elective positions. So, how would the party dislodge Governor Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if it’s not participating in the franchise?The case of the Rivers APC finds expression in some or all of the following maxims: “You can’t build something on nothing.” “Those who’re too clever sometimes overreach themselves.” “Don’t cut your nose to spite your face.” “A child doest know when sleep takes food from his mouth.” “The fly that doesn’t listen to advice will follow the dead body into the grave.”Two factions of the party, respectively led by the Transportation Minister and former governor of the state, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abe, have shunned all counsel for restraint, reconciliation and accommodation, and instead waged a supremacy battle over who controls the Rivers chapter.To outwit each other, they deployed all known antics, including dragging their party’s internal affairs to the courts, with the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt ruling that the Rivers APC’s ineligible to field candidates for governorship, and national and state legislative positions in the March 2, 2019 election, and ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to enrol any candidates presented by the party.Abe is angling to be governor – an aspiration fiercely opposed by Amaechi, who is backing a business magnate, Pastor Tonye Cole, also endorsed by the national headquarters of the APC, which has sent his name to INEC as the governorship candidate of the party in Rivers.Abe, once a soul mate of Amaechi dating back to their days in the Rivers House of Assembly, has been in court, praying to be recognised as the “authentic” candidate. But the court refused, and slammed the doors against both “candidates,” Abe and Cole, who, by the court’s ruling, ought to be very concerned, and sober.But watching them on live television interviews, holding on to their individual fine points, gave the impression that they have (or one of them has) not realised the magnitude of the impasse their actions have created for the APC.To the uninformed, though, Abe and Cole, and not Amaechi, have a lot to lose in the unwarranted and avoidable stalemate fuelled by ego and “bigmanism” that’s the bane of Nigerian politicians.However, recall that the APC, on Amaechi’s watch as the state governor and Director General (same for the 2019 polls) of the Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO), lost Rivers in the 2015 elections to the PDP. Thus, the instant court verdict is a severe blow to Amaechi’s hope of reversing the party’s fortunes.As things stand, the APC and its Rivers candidates (for all elective positions) are not only running out of options, but also out of time, with only 47 days from today, January 14, to the governorship and state legislative balloting that begins at 8 a.m. on March 2.And yet, the political combatants are digging in. They’re talking about appealing and cross-appealing the judgment of the Federal High Court that barred Cole and Abe, and other candidates from contesting in the poll.Can the Appeal and Supreme Courts resolve the plethora of cases within the 47 days before the election? An impossibility in the Nigerian slow judicial system that’s virtually defied the reforms in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) of 2015!But, perchance the impossible becomes possible, won’t the appellate courts come to the same conclusion of “disobedience of lawful order,” which was found against the Amaechi camp by the lower courts in Port Harcourt?The Rivers APC logjam that’s has gone from the lower court to the apex court in Nigeria, and back to the court of first instance, is predicated on the May 2018 ward and local government congresses that the Abe faction alleged its members were excluded.Consequently, 23 of the aggrieved members went to court, which granted a restraining order on the Amaechi camp, to maintain the status quo until the determination of the substantive suit.Rather than comply with the injunction, the group conducted the state congress that produced the Ojukaye Flag-Amakree-headed state executive council of the party. It’s this disobedience of the lawful order of court that’s become the Achilles heel of the APC in Rivers.A High Court and the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, and the Supreme Court have separately ruled that because the Amaechi faction didn’t come to equity with clean hands – having flouted the order of the high court, it would not get the prayers to quash the case(s).Besides, the courts held that any action taken therefrom, including the conduct of the party primaries, would be vitiated. Hence, the order that all candidates nominated for the governorship and legislative positions are precluded from the March 2 poll.While pursuing all legal options that appear shut against them, a remote alternative the Rivers APC members haven’t genuinely explored is reconciliation, which can turn the tables in their favour.In my serialisation of the “APC and countdown to 2019 polls,” I devoted some parts to the issues in the Rivers chapter, and how to resolve them. I also had personal contacts with some of the political combatants.So, it’s not a question of appealing the judgment of the court; it’s whether, in the face of the various rulings, the APC Rivers, and its gladiators can embrace peace, such as was demonstrated at the weekend by Senator Buruji Kashamu (PDP, Ogun East), who though listed by INEC as the governorship candidate, chose to respect his party’s choice of Oladipupo Adebutu for the position.Racing against time, a few days before INEC publishes the final list of candidates for the election, can the “big men,” Rotimi Amaechi and Magnus Abe, agree to a truce, and cause the withdrawal all matters in the courts, to enable the APC to field candidates for the elections in Rivers? It’s the last and final card, and act, to avoid the inviting immolation!* Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
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