The Supreme Court, yesterday, remained steadfast in its judgment. Bayelsa State, initially won by the All Progressives Congress in the previous election, had been awarded to the People’s Democratic Party after a legal battle found the prayer of the PDP substantial. Biobarakuma Degi-Eremieny, the deputy governor-elect, was found guilty of certificate forgery and on that grounds, affected the termination of their victory, in that way sacking both the governor-elect, David Lyon.
After it was found that the PDP does not have the required voters spread as required by the constitution, the insufficiency sparked a fresh wave of arguments, handing a lifeline to the APC and an opportunity to revert its fate. It was this review that ended yesterday, with the unfavourable outcome to the APC, seeing the party lose the state they laboured so hard to win. It was particularly hard to take given the fact that asides Edo State, Bayelsa is the only state in the South-South region that APC has successfully won despite going through excruciating hard work.
This heartbreaking development has the capacity to excite discord within the party, leaving its members fighting and pointing accusing fingers at each other. A defeat after a victory is the most painful type of defeat, and that, exactly, is the type the APC has experienced with the case in Bayelsa State.
This defeat is particularly distressing for the National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole. It belittles the initial effort that his leadership produced to, in the first place, win the state, while unfairly putting him to the spot, his head being called for, for a mistake and defeat that he has no direct responsibility for.
But if an honest sincerity must be brought to this matter, instead of ridicule and in-fighting, what the party should have for Oshiomhole is only admiration, support, and encouragement. This suggestion hinges on two reasons but of a single theme: effort.
First of all, if we must continue being sincere, prior to the elections, it wasn’t within the range of normal expectation that APC will win Bayelsa State. It took the assiduous leadership, intelligent networking, and calculated friendships of the party chairman, and some leaders, to bring the bounty of Bayelsa victory home. Things may not look like it now, with the sadness of this court ruling understandably clouding the hearts of party members, but we should put our memories to use and recall the initial magic-like victory only made possible by the devotion and bravery and hard work of Adams Oshiomhole.
Secondly, it is a known and popular idea that the true test of a man’s courage and bravery is when he is in a position of adversity. This can be likened to the situation Adams Oshiomhole has found himself in. The fair question to ask is: even in this defeat that he almost could do nothing about, what was his reaction? After the Supreme Court initially made its ruling, what did Oshiomhole do? Did he began to whine or point fingers or cry wolf?
Oshiomhole quickly studied the electoral topography of the past election and found that the PDP did not make up the needed spread to claim legitimate victory in the state. At once, he made his case and contested the point, leading to the just concluded review. That the final outcome was a negative one for the party is not a reason to castigate and persecute the ebullient leader. He could have easily began to scapegoat and deride the Deputy Governor-Elect whose certificate is the bone of contention. Rather, in an illustrious display of a great hallmark of leadership, Oshiomhole bonded the party members, uniting them under a common purpose for an uncommon resurgence, challenging the unfavorable court decision.
That the resurgence was not successful no longer matters and should never have mattered. Instead, the APC should take joy in the fact that it has a strong-willed and hard-headed leader who is willing to go any length in protecting the party’s interest and ambition. In Greek mythology, the famed 300 Spartans once fought against impossible odds, fighting a string of battles against large armies and forces. They won too many and at last died, but they remain forever remembered, their bravery serving as everlasting encouragement to men who are up against impossible odds.
Same it is for Oshiomhole, the man who rose against impossible odds, putting in all the available effort and carrying the APC from the brinks of implosion to a ferocious spread across the country such that every geo-political zone has a state under the belt of APC. Against popular thinking, now more than ever is actually the clearest time to see the strength and worthiness of the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and why the party had come so far and become so great under his watch. Success is not the absence of failure, it is the ability to forge ahead after a few experiences of defeat.
