Izunaso: Desperation Of A Senator
By Chika Ugochukwu
The Above Headline aptly captures the desperate desire of the senator representing Orlu Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Osita Izunaso to hold on to the seat despite the overwhelming disapproval by his constituents for his continued representation of their interest in the National Assembly.
Otherwise, what is the logic behind his recent court action against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), asking a High Court in Abuja to restrain the electoral body from conducting the referendum for his recall as demanded by his people whom INEC had fixed March 28, 2009 for the exercise but which has now been shifted?
For the benefit of those who are not abreast with facts of the matter, the people of Orlu Senatorial District after observing with utter dismay the abysmal representation of their senator in the National Assembly, decided on February 12, 2009, to petition INEC over the matter, accompanied with signatures of 80 percent of the voters in the 12 local government areas of the senatorial district.
After verification, INEC fixed March 28, 2009 for a referendum but rather than accept the decision of INEC, the senator last Monday went to an Abuja High Court seeking an order to restrain the electoral body from carrying out the referendum.
Before this however, he is reported to have embarked on forum shopping in other courts in the country. First, he took the matter to an Abuja High Court and when he did not succeed, he proceeded to Umuahia and Makurdi High Courts where the courts insisted he must place INEC on notice and refused to entertain the case.
In desperation, he proceeded to the Owerri High Court which out rightly struck out the case. He then proceeded to the Ideato High Court also in Imo State but like in the previous instances, he was asked to place all the parties on notice before the court could decide on the issue of jurisdiction.
What an absurd and gross abuse of judicial process! So INEC can no longer be allowed to carry out its constitutional responsibility simply because it conflicts with someone’s desperate desire to cling on to power. Beauty of democracy, one may say. But the senator should know that in a practical democracy which Nigeria is aspiring to practice, one’s fundamental human rights or freedom does not infringe on others, especially where people who elected you say they no longer want you and have evolved constitutional means to achieve this.
It is common knowledge that the senator had in the past used the judiciary to scuttle democratic process and this may be another ploy to achieve same purpose.
Recall that it is the same Osita Izunaso who had obtained a court injunction against INEC in a case involving Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s Declan Emelumba in the 2007 Imo State House of Assembly election, leading to the immediate sack of Justice Chudi Nwakorie and while Nigerians and indeed, the judiciary are yet to come to terms with this, he has embarked on yet another action with dire consequences.
He should be told in clear terms that the devastating effect of his antics on the judiciary is still fresh in the minds of the learned justices that this time around, they may be skeptical to handle his case because like the popular saying, “once beaten, twice shy”, implying that with the punishment meted out to Justice Chudi Nwokorie, the justices would thread softly to handle his present case.
After all, this time around, it is not for an individual but the majority of his constituents, who are no longer satisfied with his continued stay in the National Assembly and thus, want him out.
A word, they say, is enough for the wise; the senator should stop using the judiciary to achieve personal gains.
Ugochukwu, Lives in Mgidi, Owerri
