FESTUS OKOYE: THE WOLF IN INEC, MAY SOON CEASE TO BE A LAWYER
By Nnamdi Ossai
The Legal Practitioners Act 1975 is a law which regulates the practice of law in Nigeria. It prescribes punishments for wide ranging offences including that of passing off, among other infractions to which a legal practitioner himself could be liable. Also in force is a code of professional ethics applicable to all legal practitioners enrolled in the Supreme Court of Nigeria and which they are expected to observe in their day to day legal practice.
Some non lawyers acquainted with these legislations, appreciate the fact that it is by far more effective to drag an erring lawyer before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee LPDC ( a body charged with the discipline of legal practitioners in Nigeria) than a conventional court of law. There, erring lawyers petitioned against, get summary sanctions unlike in the conventional court, where, owing to congestion of cases, matters take much longer time to resolve.
It was probably for this reason that one Barr. Alloy Ejimkeonye of OEMERAD CHAMBERS Abuja, a couple of days ago, petitioned the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee LPDC alleging bribery and corruption against one Festus Okoye, the INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of information. The petition, a copy of which has since gone viral, demanded the immediate striking off of Mr Okoye’s name in the roll of legal practitioners in the country for his involvement in the Enugu State governorship election bribery scandal which has attracted nationwide condemnation and outrage and which has further rubbished the already battered image of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
It would be recalled that Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State has been in the eye of the storm since the March 18th governorship election, for discarding the use of BVAS in the election and manufacturing fantastic results for the Peoples Democratic Party. That sparked off controversy as other political party agents at the state collation centre, rejected the fake results which ought to have been cancelled in accordance with the new Electoral Act but which were duly collated by a dubious lecturer from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and fed into the INEC’s IREV portal.
To resolve the logjam and for which collation was halted for nearly four days, the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, set up a committee headed by Mr Festus Okoye to deal with the matter. Instead of getting to the root of the problem, the dubious lawyer accepted a bribe of #1bilion from Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on behalf of his committee to allocate figures to the PDP and thereafter, arm twist the Electoral Officer Prof. Iwe, to announce the candidate of the PDP as winner of the gubernatorial election.
Aside from the issue of non use of the BVAS in Nkanu East Local Government Area, election did not hold in several polling units across the state and whose registered voters far exceeded the margin of victory between the purported winner and the runner up. It is on record that ‘PVCs’ collected in the affected polling units are above 20,000 whereas the margin of victory, after all the manipulations, was a little above 3,000 votes. Also on record is the fact that the heavily compromised Festus Okoye’s committee refused to review the Enugu East Local Government Area gubernatorial election result with a view to recovering 3000 votes accruing to the Labour Party and which was wrongfully credited to the PDP. Luckily, the returning officer while making his return, made it clear that he was merely carrying out an instruction from his employer.
Mr Festus Okoye would always appear in a clean suit on a number of national televisions, to elucidate on various aspects of the newly amended Electoral Act. In fact, he was before now seen as the symbol and repository of the new image and confidence inspired by INEC under Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, prior to the 2023 general elections. This was largely due to his mastery of the electoral law as shown in the articulate answers he effortlessly provided to questions put to him by journalists and other persons requesting enlightenment on the new Electoral Act.
The ever smiling Festus had therefore easily come across as a truly remarkable image maker for an organization battling legitimacy crisis and which many Nigerians had totally dismissed as a mortally irredeemable fraud, before they were convinced to trust it one more time.
Due to the rekindled interest, everyone looked forward to watching Festus Okoye on the Channels Television’s flagship programme ‘Politics Today’ as well as other broadcast outfits, doing a job he understood so well.
Not so, as the hood has once again been found not to make a Monk. The shameful manipulation of the 2023 elections are now history but the scares may not go away anytime soon. Whereas Mahmud Yakubu reneged on his signature promise of making sure that results of the presidential election were contemporaneously transmitted to INEC’s portal, in order to please his ally Bola Tinubu, who allegedly nominated him, Festus Okoye served as the conduit pipe and hatchet man through whom fabulous illicit funds and hush monies from politicians were effectively laundered to rig elections at all levels.
What a disappointment for a nation whose citizens strongly banked on the year 2023 as a one which held out special hope for them. To make matters worse, these wolves in gentlemen clothing, are still championing the establishment of Electoral Offences Commission to punish election thugs and result sheet snatchers, whereas they are the real offenders the law should go after.
One interesting thing about Alloy Ejimkeonye’s petition is that he claims to have documented evidence of the illicit transaction between Okoye and the Enugu State governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. If he truly does, there is no reason Festus Okoye could go free with a ‘not guilty’ verdict before the highly rated LPDC.
Many analysts are of the opinion that striking the name of Mr Okoye off the roll of legal practitioners, is nothing compared to the monumental damage and embarrassment he has caused Enugu State and the nation at large. He should thus in addition to having his name stuck off the roll of legal practitioners, face normal criminal trial for felony against the state.
Nonetheless, it is one thing to push a letter to an office of interest, and quite another to follow it up until justice is served. In saner climes, Mr Ejimkeonye has done all he needs to do to set the machinery of justice against Mr Festus Okoye but certainly not in Nigeria. He needs to spend further time to ensure that the petition reaches the appropriate table before Mr Okoye’s scavengers shreds it into the dustbin. That is the Nigerian standard.
