A pall fell on Douglas House, Owerri, the official residence of Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, after the Court of Appeal in Owerri, last week Thursday, ordered the immediate recall of the sacked local government chairmen and their executives earlier dissolved by the state governor.
Justice Uwani Abaji, who led the three member panel of judges, ruled that Governor Okorocha had no right to sack the democratically elected local government executives and replace them with a transition committee. The council executives were elected for a three-year tenure.
It was good news for many Imo citizens, particularly members of the rival Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the platform on which the reinstated 27 local government chairmen and their executives contested and ‘won’ the council poll in 2010.
Ikedi Ohakim, who was governor of the state at the time of the election, ensured that all the PDP candidates were declared winner, even in council areas where election didn’t take place.
Ohakim was sworn-in as governor of the state on May 29, 2007, after he won the gubernatorial election held in April of that year on the platform of Progressive People’s Alliance, PPA.? He later deserted the party for the PDP – an action that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, said was in conformity with an earlier agreement reached between the PDP and Ohakim.
The 27 PDP council chairmen and their numerous councillors were at the beck and call of Ohakim during the electioneering campaigns that preceded the April 2011 gubernatorial poll in the state.? They campaigned vigorously in every city and hamlets in the state – seeking the votes of the electorate to enable Ohakim do a second term in office.
But Okorocha, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, gubernatorial candidate in the April poll, proved a hard nut to crack. He defeated Ohakim in the hotly contested election, thus leaving the council chairmen and their councillors in the hands of a political foe.
It was payback time.? One of the first actions he took on assumption of office on May 29, 2011, was the sacking of the chairmen and the councillors, on the pretext that they were not competent to drive his ‘rescue agenda’ to the grassroots. He put in place a transition committee in each of the 27 councils in the state.
The sacking of the chairmen and their councillors did not come to many as a surprise, given the fact that they made Okorocha;s journey to Douglas House, Owerri, very tough and tiresome.
Nevertheless, the embattled chairmen felt the governor’s action was an assault on democracy.? They ran to a High Court in Owerri to seek redress.? Delivering judgement in the matter, Justice Benjamin Njemanze, held that the council chairmen were duly elected, and therefore, the governor had no right to dissolve them.? But curiously, the judge added that there was no documentary evidence before him to prove that the chairmen were actually sacked. The implication was that the chairmen voluntarily resigned their offices, and their sack a mere rumour.
The apparently confused plaintiffs (chairmen) subsequently scurried to the Court of Appeal in Owerri, to seek an interpretation of the judgement, and beyond that asked for a declarative judgment.
That judgement came on Thursday, July 5, 2012, when the Appeal Court ordered the immediate reinstatement of the sacked local government chairmen and their executives.??
The Appeal Court ruling elicited widespread jubilation in the state particularly among opposition party members.? Chief Vitalis Orikaeze Ajumbe, state Chairman, All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, hailed the ruling as triumph for democracy and the rule of law. He had earlier described the action of Governor Okorocha as unconstitutional, adding that the governor behaved like a military dictator in dissolving the elected council chairmen
He told LEADERSHIP that there was a distinction between running a personal enterprise and governance, stressing that the governor must as a matter of priority submit himself to the provisions of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and other extant laws in the country, if wants to succeed as governor.
However, it seems Okorocha is not in a hurry to surrender to the opposition.? Counsel to the Imo State government, Soronadi Njoku, said shortly after the judgement that the legal battle was not yet over.? He said his client would proceed to the Supreme Court, where he hoped the appeal court judgement would be upturned.
The state commissioner for information and strategy, Mr. Chinedu Offor, confirmed government’s plan to appeal the ruling.? He urged the people of the state through a press release issued last week, not to take laws into their hands over? the outcome of the court verdict.
Mrs. Ruby Emele, chairman, Association of Local Government Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGON) Imo state chapter, expressed happiness over the Appeal Court ruling, adding that the judiciary has once again proved that it is the last hope of the common man.? She said the ruling symbolised victory for the rule of law, and warned against any attempt to trample on the country’s constitution.
The ALGON boss said she and her colleagues would resume duty this week, adding that they are in a hurry to implement their electoral campaign promises.? But the chairmen may have to wait for the Supreme Court to give its final judgement on the matter.
And if victory finally come their way, Okorocha’s? controversial Fourth Tier System of Government, would certainly be jeopardised, as the PDP-elected chairmen and councillors may not be favourably disposed to implementing a system that is unknown to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria(as amended).
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