By Emmanuel Jonathan
In the game of sports, Teams are always encouraged to accept the outcome of the game in good faith and in the spirit of sportsmanship. Though it is always difficult to exhibit the maturity of conceding defeat when you feel your efforts were much more than that of your opponent, but the rule of the game stipulates that while the loser accepts the outcome of the election, the winner is to show empathy and respect to the loser in the spirit of sportsmanship.
However, before progressing in this article, it is pertinent to define the word Sportsmanship. Sportsmanship is an understanding of and commitment to fair play, ethical behavior and integrity, and general goodwill towards an opponent. It is an affirmation that an athlete is disciplined enough to have perspective, maintain poise and do what is best for his or her teammates. Being able to make appropriate behavioral choices at the “moment of truth” and in a pressure situation will often reveal a player’s character and his or her ability to be a good sportsman. Simply put, sportsmanship is a choice.
According to Wikipedia, Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, and with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one’s competitors. A “sore loser” refers to one who does not take defeat well, whereas a “good sport” means being a “good winner” as well as being a “good loser”.
Just like sports, in politics, there’s no time the civic importance of good sportsmanship is more on display than during a post election transfer of powers. During this period it is expected that politicians and political parties, like athletes and athletic teams, play by the rules. It is expected that the losing candidates in political contest abide by the outcome, no matter how distasteful it can be, rather than resort to violence or make the victory stressful for the winner via instituting legal battles. It is even expected that losers should lead in congratulating the winners while the winners reciprocate by showing high sense of respect and magnanimous in victory.
Rivalry is expected to resume only within carefully contained and structured arenas of engagement or next political season. These democratic values all find corollaries in principles of good sportsmanship.
The Duke of Wellington is famously reported to have said that “the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.” The battle for civil society is also being won and lost in part on our playing fields. American democracy succeeds in no small part owing to lessons learned on baseball, soccer, and football fields across the land. At their best, sports can inculcate crucial democratic values including deference to the rule of law; the ideal of fair play; practical experience with rivalries constrained by time, place, and impartial arbitrators and the peaceful acceptance of defeat.
It is equally important to note that winning doesn’t mean you were perfect or that you will win again. Celebrate your win, but celebrate your win with grace. Have empathy for the candidate or team you defeated, win with humility and class. Acknowledge your opponents’ efforts and that they were worthy competitors.
The North Carolina basketball Coach Dean Smith after a fierce competition once said that, “A lion never roars after a kill.” This quote is highly instructive and the parallel to what good winning should look like.
The above analogy was made to give a background understanding of the subject matter this piece is intended to address. The strong character displayed by two revered stakeholders of Nsukka zone after the announcement of the winners of both the Senate seat of Enugu North Senatorial District and Nsukka/Igbo-Eze South Federal Constituency seat is worthy of commendation and emulation. While Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (PDP), the immediate past Governor of Enugu State lost the Senate seat to Senator Okey Ezea (LP), a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Engr. Vita Abba (PDP), lost the House of Representatives seat to Hon. Chidi Obetta (LP).
These two strong characters in the 2023 general elections in Enugu state showed high degree of sportsmanship after the announcement of the winners of the seat they contested. Their acceptance of the result of that election in good faith and respect for the wish of the majority of electorates whose votes decided the winners of the seats in question was unprecedented.
Both Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Vita Abba refused all entreaties to use their strength and wealth to arm twist the winners of that election of their victories through our weak and compromised judiciary where money decides another winner after election. Ugwuanyi and Vita choose to respect the wish of the electorates and moved on with their lives. They showed an uncommon spirit of sportsmanship.
The later outcome of our judiciary blowing cold and hot at the same time in electoral cases are a testament of the fact that once you have the financial weight, the pendulum will swing to your side and the losers become automatically the winners through the instrumentality of the courts. The courts were abusively used to rub winners of their victories.
Plateau state national and state assembly election petition tribunal is a good case study of how the courts were abusively used to rub winners of their victories. In Abia State, Senator Darlington Nwokeocha was equally rubbed of his victory and many others that time will not allow to enumerate here.
In Enugu state, the election petitions tribunal dealt a fatal blow to the strength and wishes of the electorates in a majority of the election cases. Winners were rubbed of their victories in broad daylight. They used the instrumentalities of the court to weaken the electoral act as amended and made the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to become a vehicle for rigging as it played out in the rerun election that took place on February 3, 2024 across the country. The court through application of technicalities having being compromised, took Nigeria back to the dark election days of 1999, 2007, 2003, etc where results were written and winners emerge ahead of the very election day. What a country?
Based on the above experience, it is, therefore pertinent to state that the possibilities of Ugwuanyi and Vita using the court to arm twist the winners of the Senate seat for Enugu North Senatorial District and Nsukka Igbo-Eze South Federal Constituency seat would have been very high considering the fact that they were loaded with financial strength and impeccable contacts that will give them whatever they seek for.
Though Ugwuanyi and Vita may be regretting why they did not use the window of our weak judicial system to find themselves at the national assembly, It is however important to inform them that they remain the true heroes of the 2023 general election in Enugu state for their singular exhibition of spirit of sportsmanship. They deserve high commendation and respect for their strong character.
Like former President Goodluck Jonathan who is celebrated world wide for conceding defeat after 2015 Presidential election that earned him a place in the hearts of democrats, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Vita Abba, have shown to be true democrats. Even though they might have had reservations from the outcome of the election which they both lost, they refused to challenge the outcome in court. They truly deserve honors and appreciation.
The action of both Ugwuanyi and Vita refusing to challenge the outcome of the election, to a great extent gave Ezea and Obetta, a strong sense of focus at the national assembly. They were not distracted or exposed to financial waste as was the case of Senator Osita Ngwu, Senator Kelvin Chukwu, Hon. Cyriacus Umeha, Prof. Paul Nnamchi, Rt. Hon. Dennis Agbo, Hon. Obinna Ijere, Hon. Stainless Nwodo, Hon. Chijioke Okereke and a host of others who cannot be mentioned here for want of time.
Some netizans may be of the opinion that Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Vita Abba have nothing to challenge in the outcome of the elections that they lost but that is just a figment of their imagination because when an opponent chooses to challenge the outcome of an election in court, he/she would explore all windows available to arm twist the hitherto winner of his/her victory. The weak judicial system in our country is a ready tool to be used in actualizing this unpopular act.
Based on this development and in a show of reciprocation, it would be germane if Okey Ezea and Chidi Obetta make it a point of duty to be magnanimous in victory and appreciate the uncommon spirit of sportsmanship exhibited by Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Vita Abba. They are the true heroes of 2023 elections in Enugu state judging from the outcome of all that transpired in the different election petitions tribunal where money influenced judgements.
Emmanuel Jonathan, JP, Esq, writes from Alor-Agu in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State.
