REPORT OF INVESTIGATION CONDUCTED BY THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITEE SET UP BY THE ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS, UHUNMWODE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA CHAPTER TO LOOK INTO THE ALLEGATIONS OF ACTS OF SABOTAGE AGAINST THE PARTY, ANTI-PARTY ACTIVITIES AND OTHER CONDUCTS CALCULATED TO MAKE THE PARTY LOSE THE 2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN UHUNMWODE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA: REJOINDER.
The media especially the social media space (primarily whatsapp group platforms) were awashed on the 26th day of April, 2023 with the report of the Disciplinary Committee empanelled by the All Progressives Congress (APC), Uhunmwode Local Government Area Chapter to investigate allegations of acts of sabotage against the Party, anti-party activities, factionalisation amongst others, leveled against certain members of our great Party in Uhunmwode Local Government Area.
Much as I would have loved to refrain from commenting on the propriety or otherwise of the report of the aforesaid Disciplinary Committee since same has been forwarded to the State Executive Committee for ratification, I find my spirit, mind, intellect and character in consistent fight within me owing to my long established principle never to acquiesce to deliberate falsehood against anyone, especially persons that I was privileged to work with and then in a position to tell the true story about their acts and/or conducts in the course of political engagements giving rise to the allegations leveled against them by their traducers in a desperate but despicable move to score cheap political point.
As I always say, I will never sell anybody to buy my future, and knowing that evil has its retribution and that it is always a matter of when, not whether, I am therefore ever conscious of the fact that whosoever destroys another person in order to become successful will always have destruction awaiting him at the door of his success. So, why should anyone in the guise of politics employ the evil weapon of falsehood to run down another man just to build his own political ambition? God forbid.
I am a firm believer in loyalty to one’s political party. Membership of any political party is voluntary. Therefore, once a person subscribes to the membership of any political party or association, a sacred responsibility and irreversible duty is naturally imposed on him to remain loyal to the creed and commandments of that political party or association until the relationship is divorced. Consequently, there is no middle point or half measure when it comes to giving loyalty to one’s political party or association. The loyalty must be complete, total and absolute. It is likened to the demands of the Nicene creed or the biblical saying that he who puts his hand on a plough and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God.
With all sense of modesty, I have given absolute loyalty to our Party and has fought battles together with other great party faithfuls in the line of duties on behalf of our Party even to the point of putting my life on the line. One may recall the battle we fought against Godwin Obaseki in 2019 leading to the midnight inauguration of the State House of Assembly and the subsequent attack on Honourable Members Elect at Golden Tulip Hotel, as well as other warlike engagements thereafter. All these and more I did predicated on my firm belief that anyone who subscribes to the membership of any political party must be ready to give absolute loyalty and commitment to the Party and a man who believes in his Party fights for his Party and I dare say without a scintilla of regret that these past years of fighting in defence of my belief has been the most challenging yet cherished moments of my life because I believe the true test of a man can sometimes be objectively ascertained or measured only by the battles fought as well as the resilience, courage and tenacity of purpose demonstrated while the trials and tribulations lasted. I am glad to be counted as one of those who went through the dark ordeals yet, to the glory of God, standing confidently, upbeat and unbroken.
I state without equivocation that when some of us put our lives on the line in defence of Godwin Obaseki’s onslaught against our Party in 2019, some of those who have now taken it open themselves to pull down people who have worked unrelentingly for our Party especially in Uhunmwode Local Government Area were nowhere near our great Party. Worthy of mention and commendation is the fact that the shinning spirit of this Party forbid segregation on account of duration of entrants into the party, this noble position must however not be taken by anyone for granted. I am firmly in support and manifestly so that date of entry to the party must be de-emphasis. The doctrine of pull-down syndrome must be rejected in favour of the imbibation and respect for the rules ,regulations and letters of the party. We cannot, must not and should not consider busy body and unholy conducts as a yardstick for measuring contributions to party development and growth. We must be intelligent enough to distinguish between truth and falsehood, while having the courage to state it the way it is, without fear or favour, contradictions or biases. Capacity, competence, progressive and meaningful activities devoid of divisive tendencies and malicious acts must be the determinants for loyalty and commitment, not otherwise. Without bounds, entrants at anytime must do well to understand the vision and mission of political party of their chioce and engage in acts capable of promoting such party or association in heights far beyond the position they met it. To do otherwise will be retrogressive and condemnable.
As a people, we must always remember who we are, what we represent, where we are coming from, what we have been through, what we have endured, what we must overcome and must reasonably tell where we ought to be going to as well as when we must arrive at our destination. It must be noted that we will resist the temptation by anyone to undermine our efforts by promoting acts capable of engendering disunity and derailing our focus at achieving our set goals, agenda and noble objectives. We must resist any attempt by anyone to destabilize our Party in furtherance of their inordinate, self serving and puerile ambitions.
All I have said so far is a prelude to my reaction against the allegations leveled against Mr.William Amadin and our now departed brother, distinguished, Hon. Jolly Iyekerotin (may his soul rest in peace), as well as the subsequent recommendations concerning them as contained in the report of the Disciplinary Committee.
Let me emphatically state at this juncture that I am not against the entire report of the Disciplinary Committee although the modus operandi employed by the Disciplinary Committee in carrying out its assignment violated the clear provision of Article 21 of APC Constitution (March 2022 as Amended) and the rules of natural justice, equity and good conscience which are the most important components of any just adjudication, whether criminal or civil.
While confining myself to my Ward, which is Ward 07, but for my remarks about my departed brother, Hon. Jolly Iyekerotin of Ward 08, on point of facts, I will not speak on the matters of other persons in the report of the Disciplinary Committee because it was not possible for me to be in all the units and wards of Uhunmwode Local Government Area during the elections under review. As for Mr. Gomez Nelson Iserhienrhien who is from my Ward, I will not speak on his matter because I have sufficiently and repeatedly discussed that at several political fora. I was not impressed and no reasonable being should be impressed by his very ungentlemanly, embarrassing and condemnable or reprehensible conduct during the House of Assembly Election to say but the least. I have spoken so much about that within the ranks of members and leadership of APC both at the state and my local charpter of the party. They know how I feel about his conduct as witness to some of his perfidious, odious, disdainful and anemic behaviour at his voting unit ONE, Eguaholor, Ward 007, Isi North, Uhunmwode Constituency on that 25th day of March being the day the House of Assembly Election was held. I dare say again that emotional or otherwise, real or imagined, no good or logical reason could have justified his behaviour on that day.
For the avoidance of doubt, the said William Amadin is the Chairman of Ward 7 (Isi North) in Uhunmwode Local Government Area, a Ward I hail from and I am a foremost leader.
Premised on this fact, leaders and members of APC in that Ward, including Mr. William Amadin and my humble self worked together assiduously, committing our resources to the Party’s project and making tremendous sacrifices to birth our Party’s victories in all elections in that ward. On my honour, I state with all sense of responsibility that Mr. William Amadin, others and I worked ourselves out to secure electoral victories for our Party in our ward. I have on record that there were times especially on the eve of the elections that I was with the said Mr. William Amadin traversing the length and breath of our ward and mobilizing voters till as late as 04:30 AM. I am accustomed to deploying that act during every election circle.
Again, on 25th of March, 2023 – the day of the State House of Assembly Election, having visited earlier, for the second time that night, again, I was in William Amadin’s house at about 02:00AM and our House of Assembly Candidate, Mr. Augustin Rotimi Imafidon was just leaving Mr. William Amadin’s house. I called him back and we reviewed all we had done together. Augustin Rotimi Imafidon left us thereafter. William Amadin and I proceeded to other villages and units and I left him in his house at about 04.30AM. As a foremost leader of the ward, I was on ground monitoring and coordinating elections in all the units of the ward. No where was it said or recorded that William Amadin did anything at variance with the sole objective of the Party which was winning the elections by all legal means possible. For such a man to be maligned and condemned is akin to witchcraft. No doubt, ingratitude is often said to be the bedrock of witchcraft!
I can never be a party to the vilification of anyone I know has done well for our Party or any organisation. For me, those who do so are the worst enemies of our Party and torchlight must be beamed on their activities. How come some persons have so degenerated in character and loyalty to our Party to vilify an innocent man? Where lies their sense of morality and honour? How do we even hope to ensure victories for the Party in subsequent elections when those who toiled for our Party’s victories are rewarded with vilification culminating in removal from office, suspension and in some cases, expulsion?
In the instant case of William Amadin, all those behind the spurious allegations against him are people whose activities in the last elections in Uhunmwode Local Government Area ought to be investigated. Is this not the case of accused becoming the accuser? Or how do we explain the situation where persons who lost their units in the last elections are now the ones calling for the head of an innocent man like William Amadin who although hard as he tried, lost his unit but nevertheless in the overall gave a very spirited fight doing everything within his ability to secure victories for our Party in our ward? Is this not a recipe for members’ disloyalty subsequently? Is this act of deliberate mischief and falsehood labelled against an innocent man not capable of evoking the emotions of pity and fear in the spirit, soul and body of the committed, just, and upright Party faithfuls?
It is pertinent to note that the Disciplinary Committee through the Secretary, Daniel A.N Ogbegie, Esq. reached out to me in the course of their purported investigation. As a leader of that ward, I sufficiently explained to the Disciplinary Committee that William Amadin did not in anyway work against our dear Party. I explained to the Disciplinary Committee the various roles played before, during and after the elections by William Amadin which culminated in the total victories recorded in our ward. I told the Disciplinary Committee that he should be commended rather than be condemned. Instead of hearkening to the voice of reason, the Disciplinary Committee deliberately omitted the contributions it obtained from me during the interview session and without making single reference to my statement in their final reports/ recommendations, decided to embark on the journey of perdition in order to satisfy the whims and caprices of certain individuals. Who does that?
In the allegations against the said William Amadin, he was said to have convened a Ward meeting wherein he told Party members not to work or vote for our Party. That in itself is an indictment of the leadership and membership of APC in our Ward. I am seriously pained by that allegation as one of the foremost leaders of that Ward. Is it possible for William Amadin to convene a meeting of APC in my Ward without my knowledge and invitation extended to me? Or is it possible for him to hold a meeting wherein I am in attendance and he will tell our people not to work or vote for APC without any reaction from me? What an insult on my person!
Let me place it here on record that nobody in the entire Uhunmwode Local Government Area has the kind of opposition I have in my unit (Ward 07, Unit 07) given the calibre of person, his unmatched appetite and determination to always win for his Party at every election circle, the political height he has attained, coupled with the family relationship we both share. Despite all that, because political victories require collective contribution of the majority, by the grace of God and the support of other great members of our Party and the love of wonderful members of my community, the great land of Uvbe Nisi, I have always stood for my Party even when it is not commodious to do so owing to pressure from my family. I refuse to sacrifice my Party on the altar of family or whatever relationship with due respect to my family and the results are that my dear Party, the APC has always emerged victorious. This is attributable to my firm belief in Party loyalty, dedication and commitment. For someone else to insinuate the contrary about anyone who gave it all is most unfortunate.
When the Disciplinary Committee found that allegation unsubstantiated, it proceeded to hold that William Amadin told some persons not to vote for our Party. In all these, it must be noted that the petition against him did not emanate from our Ward and the person who purportedly leveled those allegations against Mr.William Amadin was never stated, nor his identity revealed or made available for Mr. William Amadin to cross examine in order to establish the falsehood of his allegations. What kind of trial is that? By its very nature as seen even on the surface of the reports/recommendations, will any God fearing, progressives, logical and reasonable mind hold that the trial did not violate all known principles of natural justice, fairness, equity and good conscience? To even know that the said Disciplinary Committee was chaired by a Professor is odious to say the least. Although the secretary to the committee being a fine lawyer, a reputable progressive minded and God fearing fellow, by the attestation that I know and proudly can say about him, given the long decades of my knowledge of his person and character content, I am afraid I did not however see much of his mind’s content, character traits, touches and guidance in the final reports/recommendations. Obviously, something went wrong somewhere.
That being said, let me emphatically state this: Mr. William Amadin was democratically elected by the members of our Party in our ward (Ward 7, Isi North) in the Congress of our great Party. We will resist any attempt by people who are not members of our Ward to illegally depose him or truncate his mandate.
It must be further noted that there is no disaffection amongst members of APC in our Ward ( Ward 07,Isi North). What is at play currently is a calculated attempt by fifth columnists outside our Ward to subterraneanly dethrone the established Party structure and leadership in our Ward and enthrone their bootlickers as leaders of our Ward. Anyone involved in this inglorious plot must be reminded that they obviously chose the wrong tuff to play the wrong game. These fifth columnists are hereby warned and sufficiently put on notice to desist from their ignoble and despicable actions as we will not hesitate to expose or unmask them should they continue to embark on an unholy, senseless, wasteful and needless political war against the good, progressive, purposeful and prosperous people of Ward 7 (Isi North), Uhunmwode Local Government Area.
On the issue of Hon. Jolly Iyekerotin (may God bless his soul), he was jealously steadfast in his loyalty, blind in his dedication and unapologetically unrepentant in his commitment to our Party. Despite the state of his health, he provided legendary leadership for his Ward (Ward 8 (Isi South)) and the generality of Uhunmwode youth as the APC Youth Leader until his death. In the course of the electioneering campaigns, he was manifestly visible in all the campaigns in the nooks and crannies of Uhunmwode Local Government Area. He did not miss a single campaign of our Party. Despite his frail body owing to protracted illness, with an uncommon will and unbroken desire, he continued to work for our Party. In fact, he was a committed and distinguished General who never left his post, but died on his post. A true, trusted and worthy soldier he was. As a progressive partner and avatar, he will be greatly missed. In my heart, he lives forever. Adieu our beloved friend, brother and fair hearted comrade. Adieu…
When the news of the spurious allegations against him reached him on his hospital bed at Ovbiose Hospital, he shed bitter tears and all he could muster to say was “upon all I did for my Party?” A recorded video of that incident is available. Instead of the Disciplinary Committee to clearly state in its report that they found the allegations against him as false and proceed to condemn those behind those false allegations, all it could say was ” He should be granted post-mortem pardon by the Party.” That is sardonic, callous, wicked and satanic!
Hon. Jolly Iyekerotin died broken hearted. The memory of ingratitude as a reward in exchange for true service to a Party or Organisation is the least a dying man should take along on a tortuous journey to the world beyond. Such was Jolly’s reward. Such was what made the contents of his luggage as he journeyed home. What a parting gift. Let me pose this question to the Disciplinary Committee and all men of goodwill and conscience: do you pardon a man who has not been declared guilty? Now specifically to the committee, other than exonerate him, where in your report did you establish the guilt of Hon. Jolly Iyekerotin that necessitated his post-mortem pardon? How can you denigrate the memory of the dead who worked tirelessly for the Party and expect loyalty, dedication, commitment and hardwork from the living? Do you not know that something in us dies anytime a man dies? How can you so hate a man and still proceed to show him hatred even after his death? I weep for my Party APC. I weep for Uhunmwode, I weep for humanity and I weep for myself.
Going forward, it is my hope that wisdom to decipher, wise restraints, reasonable caution and good conscience will work together to provide a lead in all our actions, inactions, judgements and conclusions.
As the Cockcrow and events roll by signalling the commencement of a new political calendar that is expected to close the curtains on the current uninspiring government of the Edo cold-blooded administrator, and ursher in a new regime, hopefully to be led by a God fearing, responsible and compassionate servant-leader as Governor come the 12th day of the year 2024, when the time comes, let it not be said that we neither said nor did nothing. May God help us.
Washington Osa Osifo, PhD.