Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu's Supreme Court victory and the duty of the opposition.

By Uche Aguoru

Victory they say is a friend to many and failure an orphan, the victory of Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu may not have come as a surprise to many who followed the 2015 general elections given the enormous amount of support he received from his senatorial zone, Abia South, Abia central and even Abia North.

One will also not be saying the truth if I say he did not have challenges in the race for the governorship of Gods Own state, Abia. The politics of Abia state witnessed for the first time since 1999 a very vibrant and challenging opposition from a rival political party, though the party APGA has been in existence in all South East state but has hardly made impact in Abia state, Abia witnessed for the first time an election the peoples Democratic Party PDP which is the dominant party in Abia and indeed the South East and South South geopolitical zones of Nigeria was struggling to give a clear lead in the election, we saw an election which resulted in having to go for a run-off in some local governments, wards and units across the state and when some of us thought it will end in the run-off it dragged on from the tribunal all through to the appeal court and finally the Supreme Court where the matter was finally settled in favour of Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu of the PDP.

There is no gain restating the obvious fact that Dr. Ikpeazu and the PDP will be luxuriating in victory right now but I also want to salute the courage of the opposition led by Dr. Alex Otti and his APGA team in their bravery during the 2015 general elections in Abia, never in the history of Abia state have we had such a fierce opposition that produced the number of house of assembly members in favour of an opposition party as we have them today, never in the history of Abia state have we seen Abians come out without fear to defend what he/she believed in, never in Abia have we seen a mother and a son belonging to different political parties, with each and every one of them having to air his/her view and stand by his/her belief, never in Abia state have we seen Abians belonging to a particular political party and going to the poling booth to vote a candidate of his choice not necessarily from his political party, never in the history of Abia have we seen an entire ethnic group including children,women, royal fathers, priests etc. stand up in unitary defence of their own, never in the history of Abia have we seen such a well contested election that did not produce a winner before going to the polls and never in the history of Abia state have we seen such a staunch political opposition.

The elections have come and gone, the legal battle having been finally settled, a true winner has emerged, it is expected of the opposition to pertinaciously and constructively criticise the leadership of the state to enable Dr. Ikpeazu, his team and the PDP to give the leadership Abians deserve and to form people oriented policies that will benefit the state and the citizenry, it is now time to give the ruling party bias free criticism with the intention to redirecting the government where it is veering off its campaign promises, it is now the duty of the opposition to let the people know that all the fight they gave was not for selfish purposes but in the interest of the state by making sure that they didn't let the platform upon which they fought from to die only to come back in 4 years time with first aid kit and resurrection pills as it had been the case in the past. It is the duty of the opposition not to position itself as a bad loser but to show sportsmanship, while it is the duty of the ruling party to show magnanimity in victory and for both the winner and the loser to accept that it was Abia state that is the ultimate winner.

It is important to note that opposition is key in every successful democracy and every government that wants to deliver will have to be tolerant to opposition, while opposition on its own must endeavour to be responsible and to ensure that its aim is not to bring the government, it's agencies or officers to ridicule but will rather be constructive and direct their criticism on issues and not on personalities.

It's important the opposition conducts its affairs responsibly and make their criticism constructively progressive, the ruling party on its own should allow the opposition to survive so as to attract a more progressive Abia while the government will ensure that it lives up to its contract with the people and in that light Abians will be expecting a more interesting 2019.

Aguoru

Writes from Umuahia