In spite of last week’s nullificaton of its petition against Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo by the Gombe State Election Tribunal, Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, reports that the Gombe State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is unrelenting in its quest to oust the Governor from Goovernment House.
It is no longer news that the Gombe State Tribunal charged with reviewing the election petition of Alhaji Inuwa Yahaya, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the last gubernatorial election, has ruled in favor of the incumbent governor of the state, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, but it appears it is not yet Uhuru for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the northeastern state.
Findings by The Nation in the state revealed that the opposition party and its candidate are still very determined to ensure the ouster of the Governor from Government House using the instrumentality of the judiciary. Consequently, fresh legal battles loom at the Appeal Court, according to sources within the APC.
Observers of the politics of the state are of the opinion that the worst is not over yet for Dankwambo and his party. According to one of our sources, the dispute over the last governorship election cannot be trivialized because a good look at the claims of both sides will tell you that there are issues with the election.
“For anybody to say the worst is now over for the Governor and the ruling party is to commit fallacy. The tribunal may have nullified the case of the APC but until the Appeal Court rules on this matter or the APC decides not to go on appeal, nobody can say what will happen next,” our source said.
The Nation also learnt from a reliable party source that the APC and its candidate are already making plans to storm the Appeal Court in continuation of their claims that Dankwambo was wrongly declared the winner of the last governorship election.
According to a member of the State executive committee of the party in the state, “the APC’s governorship candidate in the last governorship election, Inuwa Yahaya, recently expressed his resolve to seek redress at the Court of Appeal, following the victory of Gov. Dankwambo at the election tribunal.
You will recall that Yahaya, in conjunction with our party, had petitioned the tribunal to challenge the result of the April 2015 governorship election in the state, but his petition was recently dismissed through the tribunal’s verdict, while Dankwambo’s victory was upheld.
But, in a stoic display of his readiness to go all the way in search of victory, hour Governorship candidate has maintained that regardless of the tribunal’s judgment, which revalidated PDP’s victory, his faith in the sanctity and integrity of the judiciary remains unshaken. He would therefore proceed to the Court of Appeal.
So, I can tell you confidently that we are not giving up in our struggle to free Gombe state from bad governance. We are proceeding to the Court of Appeal and we have total faith in the higher court to dispense justice in the matter. Though we are not pleased with the earlier judgement, we have taken it in good faith since other avenues of seeking redress are open and being explored.
As a party, we hold the judiciary in high esteem and trust in its ability to dispense justice. And on many occasions, our candidate has expressly stated his abiding faith in the Nigerian judiciary to do justice at all time without fear or favour and the pronouncement of the tribunal though against him, has not shaken that belief, and would not, even if there were no higher courts to review the tribunal’s judgement,” our source said.
Speaking on the role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in its nullified case at the Tribunal, the APC accused the commission of conspiring with the PDP to sabotage its case. The APC state secretary, Alhaji Sallau Manu Pindiga, lamented that INEC, which according to him, should to be fair to both sides, cried more than the bereaved in the matter.
“The activities of INEC in the matter was that of someone crying more than the bereaved. We cannot say with all seriousness that we are pleased with their role in this matter. It is for this reason and many others that we are prepared to exploit other avenues to seek justice,” he said.
He urged members of the party in the state to remain calm, noting that “layers of appeal are still available unto us, which we are currently exploring.”
Aside from nullifying the case against the Governor, the tribunal, presided over by Justice Suraj, charged Mr. Yahaya for “deliberately attempting to defame” the integrity of the tribunal, as a result the APC gubernatorial aspirant was charged the sum of N3500.
The tribunal then threw out the petition brought against the Governor by Yahaya and the APC for lack of merit. Yahaya’s counsel, Niyi Idowu, while submitting his client’s petition to the Election Petition Tribunal in Gombe.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the submission of the petition, Yahaya said his decision to go to the tribunal, had argued that “APC won the election but was denied victory by some elements.”
Sounding very optimistic back then, Idowu had said, “we brought the case to the tribunal to reclaim the mandate given to us by the people of the state. The submission of the petition was in fulfillment of the requirements of the law and the electoral process, which granted aggrieved parties, the right to present their grievances rather than taking the laws into their hands. It is a pointer; it is also a direction to the followers that you can only achieve success by going through the due process. This is what Alhaji Inuwa Yahaya has just done; the battle has just started.”
Yahaya and his party APC have asserted before the tribunal that the Governorship Election of the 11th day of April 2015 in Gombe State conducted by INEC was marred by corrupt practices, fraud and outright rigging.
They also averred that the votes “allegedly credited to Governor Dankwambo and the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the polling units and wards of Gombe State were invalid on the ground of corrupt practices, fraud, multiple voting, ballot snatching, ballot stuffing and outright rigging.
The candidate and its party equally said that the Governorship Election in Gombe State suffered from non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2010 as amended and also averred that Dankwambo and PDP were not duly elected and did not score the lawful majority votes cast at the April 11 Governorship election in Gombe State.APC argued that Dankwambo ought not to have been declared winner of the poll.
Equally, the Also, the APC and its governorship candidate maintained in the petition that some results from 11 Local Government Areas in the state were either inconclusive or marred with malpractices.
Hence The APC as well as its candidate sought “An order declaring him and the APC as the winner of the Governorship Election of 11th April 2015 in Gombe State having scored the highest number of lawful votes of the total cast in the said election.
“An order compelling the 3rd Respondent (the Independent National Electoral Commission) to withdraw from Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the Certificate of Return as the validly elected Governor of Gombe State in the Governorship Election held on 11th April 2015.
“An order compelling INEC to present to APC Governorship candidate, Alh. Mohammed Inuwa Yahaya as the validly elected Governor of Gombe State in the Governorship Election held on 11th April 2015.”
Alternatively APC as well as its candidate pleaded for an “order nullifying the entire governorship election conducted in Gombe State on 11th April 2015 on the grounds of corrupt practices or non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2010.”
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the submission of the petition, Yahaya had explained that his decision to go to the tribunal is to seek for justice.
“APC won the election but was denied victory by some elements. We brought the case to the tribunal to reclaim the mandate given to us by the people of the state,” he said.
At a point during the hearing of the petition by the tribunal, following information that the gate of the Government House in Gombe State was shut against a court bailiff, Mohammed Dawaki who had gone to serve tribunal processes on Dankwambo, the Tribunal ordered service by substituted means of the court summons on the Governor.
“In a matter of motion ex-parte seeking for: an order granting leave to the petitioners/ applicants to serve the 1st Respondent (Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo by substituted means to wit: by delivering the originating process i.e. petition, witness written disposition, list of witnesses, list of documents and all front-loaded process meant for the 1st Respondent (Dankwambo) in the suit to the Peoples Democratic Party state secretariat, Gombe State;
However, in spite of the spirited effort of the opposition party to get the Tribunal to unseat Dankwambo, the Governor’s election was upheld during the week. But the APC in Gombe State is still optimistic that the strength of the evidence assembled for the prosecution of the case is enough for the party to be hopeful.
Speaking with journalists in Gombe, the Secretary of the party, Alhaji Sallau Manu Pindiga, urged supporters to remain confident and steadfast in their quest for justice. He said the party was equally confident that justice would be done to its case in view of the strength of their evidences.
“We have more than enough documents to prove our case that massive election rigging, ranging from ballot box snatching, ballot box stuffing and other electoral malpractices,” said the party stalwart.
