That outrage against Ibori
By
THE highest police investigation has now confirmed our expectation that the court documents regarding Ibori's ex-convict allegation were "pure forgery", as reported by the Daily Independence of February 18, 2003. Other papers also reported the findings. Thus, "Ibori's alleged conviction is not true", and he cannot thus be prevented according to Section 182(1)(d) of our 1999 Constitution, from contesting with others for the position of Delta State Governor in April 2003. This phenomenon of negative political tactics in promoting inordinate selfish political ambitions is just as heinous as the frequent horrible killings of political opponents in some parts of the country. This dimension of political competition is highly condemnable, to say the least. In the case of Ibori, few people took his character assassins seriously, as not more than the jokes of hired political upstarts. It is not a good image for us as Deltans to falsely criminalise Ibori's name.
A regrettable aspect of the alleged ex-convict story is that the reported central dramatis personae are Urhobo people. This intra-ethnic phenomenon is disruptive and unprogressive. It is also a case of ingratitude and insensitivity. It is sore that Ibori's main agents of destruction come from Urhobo, an ethnic group which he almost single-handedly diverted from verging on disintegration through the intervention of his reconciliatory multi-faced role which resulted democratically in the succession of an acceptable Urhobo Progressive Union Executive under Chief B.O. Okumagba as President-General in December 1999. The few of us assembled as some of the key leaders of thought in Sapele in October 1999, attested to Ibori's towering personality, and it behoves all Urhobo and other Deltans to build around him, not to destroy him. Any other Urhobo or Deltan should learn to wait until 2007. This is not to say that I am unaware of the nature of politics and democracy which obviously permit competition and struggle involving interested persons and segments. But common sense and critical unimpressionistic self-assessment should dictate the level or sphere of political participation. Serious minded Deltans will avoid leadership mismatches in the politics of the state.
For being a leading Urhobo, Ibori may even be politically taller still, if he avoids using the biggest iron hammer to kill the condemnable mosquitoes perching on his nose. The most important task for him is the continuity of his development programmes in the state. He may not even need to come out to campaign for votes. It is these good works as evidence that will ensure his overwhelming votes as the Delta State Governor in April.
Professor G.G. Darah has presented an annotated inventory of Ibori's good works in The Guardian issues of February 24 and 25, 2003. Development projects and programmes in Delta State are not abstract or theoretical. Those of us who visit the rural and urban parts of the State's three senatorial districts, those of us who conduct social research and, especially those of us who engage in Social Impact Assessment in the state, can point to vivid evidence of Ibori's rural and urban transformation profiles of the state. After spending four decades of adult life as a Deltan, I have found nothing to compare with Ibori's works since he assumed office in 1999, on the one hand, and the colonial period up to 1998 put together on the other hand. This may sound funny and unreal to many people, but it is a true statement. In one well known case, for instance, where rough roads and bridges built in the 1930s fell into disuse, despite the fact that in successive governments three Commissioners of Works are indigenes of the area, Ibori built the road to connect the rural towns and villages at both ends to other parts of the State. Also, Ibori has healed some, and continues to heal inter-ethnic wounds and resolve inter-ethnic conflicts. The initiators of the ex-convict allegation have not faulted these achievements. Instead, because their arguments would fail in this regard, they chose to engage in criminal acts of forgery. In the process, rather than pull Ibori down, they have inadvertently turned him into a hero in Deltan and national politics.
The forged ex-convict case naturally has implications for us as a nation. It suggests that Nigeria condoned the position and functions of a Governor who signed documents and performed duties illegally in contravention of section 182(1)(b) of the Constitution. What would have been the status of such documents and role of governance? An ex-convict in 1995 was also an ex-convict in 1999, and again an ex-convict in 2003. Why was the false case brought up only now in 2003? Was it the time when the forgery act was completed? Why were the activities and alleged decisions of a local Bwari Court in Abuja presented and reported as if they were those of a court presided over by a legally qualified and trained Nigerian judge?
What of the dastardly act of tampering with court documents at any level? Did those involved in the ex-convict allegation, as agents and as behind-the-scene sponsors, ever consider the foreign investment disincentive created by the forgery? Many Nigerians are hearing of this kind of unpatriotic disservice for the first time. We, like our foreign visitors and investors, should quickly keep this distraction behind us, and watch out for its new dimensions. The societal polluters do not have the capacity to rubbish Ibori and the nation. This is one of those cases where you call a dog a bad name only to end up in promoting the positive image and credibility of an intended victim.
Whatever criticism anyone may have of Chief Ibori in other respects, it should be known that every Governor or aspirant, like the President, has his own "Katanga" in his area of jurisdiction. We must exercise caution in our methods of competition for high political offices. What the national spoilers wanted to prevent is what will happen-Ibori will win the hearts and votes of more Deltans, including convinced sympathisers and those who were sitting on the thin political fence. Similarly, Nigerians and foreigners alike, by establishing the falsehood of the ex-convict allegation, should have an enhanced confidence in investment and business transactions, as well as in judicial activities and legal decisions in Nigeria. An investigation of the ex-convict allegation is mandatorily urgent for appropriate actions on the national evildoers. Finally, thorough investigative journalism and critical mass media presentation would have saved Chief Ibori and all of us as a nation, this unwarranted embarrassment.
April 2003