LIYEL IMOKE: THE DAY CROSS RIVER WEPT

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SENATOR LIYEL IMOKE

The Supreme Court spoke and the sun immediately withdrew under folds of clouds to hide its face. The clock stood still in Cross River State. Mama Agbor who was frying Akara on the road to Afokang Primary school clapped her hands in despair and looked up to the heavens for an answer. No, it couldn’t be true. Civil servants looked at one another for answers. The courts were interrupting the political process for the second time in Nigeria’s most peaceful and fastest growing state. A sense of moral outrage filled the air.

The wind of bewilderment blew across the land. Rural dwellers – both old and young – began to meet in clusters to discuss the judgment. Young men and women spontaneously began to protest. Some traders in the markets began to close their shops. Calabar had never seen this before. It was a formidable spectacle.

The news that filtered in every ear was that Governor Liyel Imoke and 4 other Governors had been removed from office through a judgment of the Supreme Court. Everybody wanted to confirm if it was true. Of course, it was true. The anger and disappointment of the people of Cross River State was palpable. This was the second time a court judgment was interrupting Imoke’s government. This was the second time the march of a people towards a democracy of bountiful dividends was being truncated. For many of the people of Cross River State, it was not Imoke who was being victimized; it was Cross River state.

It all began when the Appeal court decided that Imoke did not win the 2007 gubernatorial election. A rerun was conducted and Imoke won even by a wider margin. INEC wanted his tenure to still end at 2011 as if nothing had happened. Imoke didn’t mind, but since he was not the only governor so affected, the matter went to court and the court decided that their tenure should run from the second inauguration date. INEC thought otherwise and challenged this decision in the Supreme Court, maintaining that the governors’ tenure ought to have ended on May 29, 2011. Today, seven months after, the justices headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, have approved the appeal filed by INEC, removing from office, Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wammako, Kogi State governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, Admiral Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State and Senator Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, all of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

So, once again Imoke has been removed from office through a court decision. Of course, those who know Imoke closely know that he doesn’t mind contesting again. In Cross River State, it is common knowledge that if you conduct the gubernatorial elections a dozen times, Imoke will win a dozen times. No politician in the recent history of Cross River State has enjoyed such popularity and goodwill across the three senatorial districts. What bothers most political analysts here is the brutal and cold blooded interruption of governance and the avoidable paroxysms that have continued to characterize Nigeria’s democratic exercise. We all know what this will mean: it will mean another waste of time and money; it will mean another season of jamborees in the name of campaigns, another reckless orgy, another delay in the progress of the state, another theater for extortion and blackmail even from very high quarters. The question is, whose interest is being served here?

Is it the interest of the Nigerian tax payer? Certainly not! If it were, there would have been tangible benefits in the socio-economic calculus. I can’t see any. Is it in the interest of justice? Is it in the interest of truth, or even of logic? This justice was for whom? INEC? I do not want to question the wisdom of the sages of the Supreme Court because on matters of the law, their decision remains impeccable. I will however lament on grounds of justice. Whose injury was being redressed here? What did INEC stand to gain from this victory? Nothing. Something here just doesn’t smell right.

Once again it brings to the fore the role of the judiciary in our politics. It also brings to the fore the contradictions of our political system. In Nigeria, you contest elections first against the opposing party; if they did not defeat you, INEC will; if INEC did not, the lower courts will; and, if the lower courts did not then the Supreme Court will. In any case you remain defeated. If you escaped all of these, you must continue to search your back throughout your tenure, rather than concentrate on governance. Is there no way the judiciary can serve the course of justice rather than serve the letters of the law? Is there no way the learned Justices of the apex court could have decided this matter months ago? If it were a very complicated issue based on the complexity of the provisions of the constitution, is there no way the judiciary could have advised the legislature to smoothen these creases and amend the relevant sections of the constitution? In this way the judiciary will be serving the course of justice in Nigeria in a more elegant and profound manner, than if it remained a genius in the interpretation of vague laws.

Whenever INEC announces a new Time Table, will Imoke run for a 3-year tenure, while his opponent runs for a 4-year tenure? When Imoke contests and wins, will he be sworn in for a 3-year tenure – that is, serve his old tenure as if there was no interruption? If that happens would this not frustrate his 4-year plan for Cross River State? Will Imoke or the people of Cross River State be compensated for these judicially induced political hiccups? Amidst all of this confusion, I am convinced that the real victims of INEC’s victory are the people of Cross River State.

That was why there was bewilderment in the land when the judgment was passed on Friday morning. It is only outsiders, the ignorant and the incurably cynical who cannot understand why Imoke continues to occupy a special place in the minds of his people. The Imoke administration has touched the hearts and minds of the people largely by his character, his humility, humanity and genuine care for the weak and vulnerable. This is an administration that was never given a chance to succeed because of the huge debt burden of the state, added to the monthly wage bill of about 1.7 billion Naira. This is an administration that took full responsibility for the diplomatic faux pas of Nigeria when we lost Bakassi to Cameroun. A significant part of the state’s economy was lost, and in addition, the state lost a weighty chunk of its strategic significance. This was a state that lost 76 oil wells to Akwa Ibom state through what many believe was the political chicanery of a sister state. The result was that overnight Nigeria delisted Cross River State from among the oil producing states and the state thereby lost over 50 per cent of its entire income. This was a state that was bleeding and dying. If anybody else had been governor, Cross River would have returned to its old civil service image and taken the back seat among the states of Nigeria.

It took Imoke’s cool headed maturity, determination, sagacity and dexterity to continue to put Cross River State at the top. The cleanliness and greenness of Calabar remained, Tinapa continued to grow, the Obudu ranch continued to grow and the urban development program continued. But it did not stop here. Imoke now began to open the rural areas. The last time I checked he had constructed 1,000 km of rural roads crisscrossing the length and breadth of the villages and farms of Cross River State. This was accompanied with an electricity program to link every village to the national grid. He did not stop here. All pregnant women and children receive free medical attention. Civil Servants are now driving brand new cars through a loans scheme. Imoke did not stop there. He took his magic touch into the primary and secondary schools in the state. When Imoke chose schools for renovation, it turned out to be a hurricane exercise. He did not just do the usual construction or painting of one or two buildings as many politicians do.

He began from the school gate and tore everything apart, removed every roof, rebuilt the walls, did the doors and windows, the ceiling and the floors of every school building. I visited dozens of these schools. Imoke touched everything from the gates to the toilets. That is the Imoke magic.

Are we therefore surprised that Calabar stood still when the judgment was announced on that fateful Friday? It was because of the person of Imoke. It was because of the interruption of that magic touch. It was because of the interruption of the march of the fastest growing state in Nigeria. It is for this reason that mama Agbor who was frying Akara on the road side looked up to the heavens in search of answers.


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