If historical and political considerations are to be used as yardstick to measure what will become the fate of O.K. Chinda amidst last week’s Supreme Court verdict that appears to have sealed the fate of the APC gubernatorial candidate in Rivers State, then the man may have no reason to fret: he is very likely to have his head above the waters.
Analysts have said that Chinda was not a member of the APC and did not get his name on the party’s register as at the day the party submitted the register to INEC.
Apart from contesting the election under the same APC, Chinda is also very likely to win. But this is regardless of the verdict of the Supreme Court judgement which technically knocked him out of contention.
From available records, Chinda joined the APC on April 27 as indicated on his membership card, even though he left the PDP on April 23, the same day the APC announced that it had updated and submitted its membership register to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
What that means is that as at the day the register was submitted, Chinda’s name could not have been on the APC register 21 days before the primaries that produced him as the party’s candidate.
Many analysts have expressed the concern as to Chinda’s fate. One of them is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Oba Maduabuchi, who bared his mind on the development on Monday.
He had said that “Chinda is not on the ballot.” But almost immediately, he corrected himself and said “no, I cannot say that because one, I don’t know when he joined the political party.
“Two, I don’t know when they sent the register to INEC. These are two very important things. Actually, I don’t know whether the name of Chinda is in the register of political parties submitted by APC. I cannot now get up and say Chinda is no longer, will not be on the ballot.”
But there are others who believe that Chinda may be on the ballot, even though the Supreme Court judgement does not seem to have been in his favour. They anchor their belief on the corrupt judicial system as well as the fact that since INEC cannot disqualify any candidate, it is only the court that can take him off the ballot.
Those who belong to this school of thought believe that it is either the court would rely on technicalities and clear the road for Chinda, or at best, none of those who bought the APC governorship forms would be willing to challenge Chinda’s membership of the party 21 days before the primary took place.
Apart from Chinda, the others who bought the party’s nomination forms were the governor, Sim Fubara, Tonye Cole and then Dax George Kelly, a former works commissioner under Nyesom Wike and Fubara.
As it stands today, the trio of Fubara, Cole and George are Wike’s followers and belong to the Rainbow Coalition. It is very unlikely that they would be ready to take any legal action against Wike’s interest.
It is not clear if the law allows others outside the trio to challenge the matter in court. But analysts say that INEC on its own lack the powers to drop Chinda’s name on the basis of the Supreme Court judgement.
Comrade Solomon Lenu, who examined the development in a post he made on social media asked a rhetorical question: Do you think Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who is already an O.K Chinda fan-boy, or A Dax-George Kelly, an astute Nyesom Wike worshipper would be the ones to go to court to demand for the replacement of O.K Chinda?
“Or people are celebrating because they think that, the opposition would go to court to stop Chinda and get anything positive from the court? The court will simply say it’s an internal party matter, and it is only the APC and those within the APC who were vying for the same position that has the right to challenge it. And that would be the end. So I ask again, what is the reason for all this exhilaration?
“O.K Chinda will contest next year’s election. So, Rivers people and the opposition should rather begin to think of ways of stopping him at the poll. Wike and his goons are not coming to contest an election like you are thinking.
“They are coming to grab power and run away with it. They’ve done it before, and now they’re planning to do it again. The onus is now on you and me, whether or not we let them succeed after knowing all of these lies on us.”
