It takes courage, absolute loyalty and faithfulness to remain in a political party on whose platform one was elected into office when others elected on the same platform decide, and actually defect to another party, citing indefensible reasons.
The above scenario is not a figment of imagination, rather it is the situation on the ground at the Enugu State House of Assembly.
During the 2023 general elections, 14 candidates of the opposition Labour Party(LP), got elected into the Enugu state House of Assembly, while the then ruling People’s Democratic Party(PDP), produced 10 members of that Legislative house.
Also, the candidate of the PDP Barrister Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, was elected governor of the state.
The 2023 general elections marked a turning-point in the history of politics in Enugu state. It was the first time since the advent of the current democratic dispensation in 1999, that an opposition political party will win
majority seats in the legislature, as well as come very close to winning the governorship election.
However, few months after the current members of the Enugu state House of Assembly were sworn-in, 12 legislators elected on LP’s platform defected to the PDP – conferring the PDP with an unmerited majority status.
These defectors later joined the All Progressives Congress(APC), following Governor Mbah’s defection to that same party.
SummitNews recalls that Bright Emeka Ngene, also elected on LP platform to represent Enugu South 1 Constituency, was at the time facing criminal charges, and so was unavailable in the House, and has remained so even as the country inches towards another election cycle.
However, Hon. Harrison Ogara(LP), representing the good people of Igboeze South Constituency stoutly stood his ground – refusing to join the club of defectors.
In this CONVERSATION with MIKE UBANI, Hon. Ogara, an outstanding journalist, spanning over 28 years, advances reasons why he decided to swim and sink with LP or his Principal Mr. Peter Obi.
On how he felt when members elected on the platform of LP, decamped to PDP, Hon. Ogara said: “I felt bad. But I considered some of the things that made them move to PDP in the first place. Yes, one is in power, and also in government, but he is not sure of tomorrow. And then largely our governorship candidate Chijioke Edeoga, lost in the courts, and so the tendency for people to gravitate towards the person that is the governor, but not in the same party with you becomes very obvious.
“There is this understanding that when you join the governor everything will go smoothly for you in terms of resources, patronage, and in terms of coming back for a second tenure. If I look at those who defected – yes they come under the canopy of those who joined the governor so that they can support his policies because they are good policies. I am telling you what they said on the floor of the House before they defected, and that is that the governor is doing well, and they want to join him.
“I didn’t join them, and that was not because I wasn’t ready to support the governor, but I considered those who voted for me and my party. We may have done our best to win election, but there is no way we can deny the obvious fact that Peter Obi’s factor played a significant role in our emergence
“At least for the first time, we formed a viable and credible opposition in the state after about 24 years of PDP leadership in the state. A lot of people were fed up with the activities of PDP, and there style of politics. The moment you join PDP, someone stays somewhere to say you are the one to go for this elective political position, and automatically you see yourself in that elective position. And that reduces accountability from that person. He says, after all you didn’t vote for me. He won the election by merely submitting his name to INEC, and so he has no regard for the voters, and also his supporters. Rather he focusses his attention on Government House.
“And so, for those 24 years of PDP rule, nobody was doing anything, yet they were in power. And that caused some measure of despondency in the minds of our people, and they started asking the question: ‘For how long are we going to continue like this?. And so, during the 2023 general elections, the votes counted, and that was how some of us emerged.
“After casting my vote on the day of election, I went back to my house. By 3.30 pm that day, I heard that some thugs carted away electoral materials in three polling booths in my Constituency; bundled INEC staff inside a. bus, and drove them to a private house to go and write results for the Governorship and House of Assembly elections, which were held the same day. But it didn’t work for them. There was a suggestion that a re-run election should be held in the three polling units where election materials were carted away, but INEC in their wisdom said that if you conduct election in those three polling units something unpleasant might happen.
“I must thank my supporters who stormed INEC office to demand that since results from 210 polling units had arrived INEC office, those results should be declared, instead of waiting for results from the three polling units where election materials were carted away by thugs. And when INEC announced the results, I scored nine thousand, seven hundred and something votes, to defeat the PDP candidate who came second with about four thousand votes.
“If you look at the electoral support my constituents gave me, why should I come to the House of Assembly and begin to contemplate switching party? You can be in opposition, and still support the policies of government if those policies are good as well as meet the interests and aspirations of the people. But more importantly, one should resist bad policies even if you are in the minority party. So, let history capture you of being supportive of good policies
“If my colleagues defected to another party because they had their eyes fixed on second tenure, I refused to go along with them. It’s only God that made me to come to the House of Assembly, and so if it’s the will of that same God for me to do a second term, He will still do it in his own way.
Despite occupying a minority status, Hon. Ogara has moved several motions on the floor of the House, and even sponsored a bill on public safety
He said: There are several motions that I co-sponsored. But the one that I personally moved is the one that has to do with the terrible practices of communication companies operating in Enugu state. Many telephone users here experience drop in their calls without getting adequate compensation from these telecommunication companies. I personally moved that motion in the House to bring all the telecoms companies to the House to explain why they should not reimburse such subscribers. They should also tell us how many people in the state use their respective lines. You know as your call drops, your money goes, and nobody queries the telecoms company. I also moved the motion on landlord/tenant relationship and co-sponsored the motion (Hon. Dr Okey Aneke, moved the motion) on safety of motorists plying the ‘Ugwu Onyeama.’. Recall we had in the past witnessed several accidents in that place due to multiple checkpoints mounted by soldiers and policemen. The bill on public safety has to do with putting adequate security in public places such as hotels to monitor those who come in, and those who go out in this era where Yahoo-Yahoo boys take people to hotel rooms, murder them and escape. I had packaged everything and sent to officials of the House to do the needful, but because I am in the opposition, the bill has not seen the light of the day.
“It may interest you to know that the laws operated by the Federal Fire Service has not been domesticated. It is still a federal law, and that bill would have taken care of operations of Enugu state Fire Service.
Hon. Ogara describes himself as a lone ranger in the Enugu state House of Assembly since the other members originally elected on the platforms of PDP and LP have all congregated in APC. But does being in a minority party make him a minority leader of the House?
He says that going by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria(as amended), he is the Minority Leader of House, but regrettably that is not the situation in that Legislative body.
“When we had 14 LP members in the House, we produced the majority positions, while the PDP produced the minority positions. But those of us who decided to move to PDP first, moved with those positions. Even when they moved to APC they still moved with their positions. So, today you see the APC lawmakers holding both the majority and minority positions in the House, whereas I should have been the House minority leader. In one of our sessions, I referred the lawmakers to a provision in the BIble which says that bread stolen tastes sweet to a man, but later his mouth shall be filled with gravel(Proverbs 20:17). I told them that the day of reckoning is coming for anybody who steal a position, or occupy a position that he is not supposed to occupy, and they shouted me down. That is politics. But certainly those who steal votes, and switch results, will certainly face the judgment day. During the 2023 general elections, I told my supporters not to rig election for me – that if I win, I win, but if I lose, I go back home quietly. There is no difference between one who steal votes, and a bandit or kidnapper. They are all criminals. I told my supporters that I am a professional journalist, and so they should not harass anybody to vote against his or her conscience.
And as 2027 general elections draw closer, is Hon. Ogara still going to contest on the platform of LP?
He says: “No. You know the situation in LP as much as I do. LP has consistently had problems at the National level essentially because of our principal Peter Obi, whom the ruling party doesn’t want to see on the ballot, and so, they had to create confusion and crisis in that party as long as they needed. After Obi left, there was respite in LP. But what I said at that time was wherever Peter Obi goes, we will all go there.”
Ahead of the 2027 general elections, what’s is Hon. O’Gara’s message to his constituents”
“I have the confidence that Nigerians are determined this time around to do the unthinkable. And so, I appeal to my constituents to get their permanent voters card ready, cast their votes on the election day, and remain to watch over their votes. They should get their camera ready to capture everything that goes on in their respective areas – Recording during election is not a crime. And so, they should be ready to capture what goes on in their polling units because elections are won and lost at the polling units.
ENDS.
