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Tag: KOGI

  • Bello and Kogi’s unending drama

    Bello and Kogi’s unending drama

    The seemingly unending political drama in Kogi State opened a new scene during the week as the crisis rocking the state House of Assembly worsened with the sealing off of the assembly complex by the police.

    The crisis worsened because the Speaker, Momohjimoh Lawal, who was impeached on Tuesday, dismissed the alleged impeachment as “a huge joke,” threatening that he and other 15 legislators, out of the 20 members House, would resume sitting on Thursday.

    Perhaps to avert any untoward development, armed policemen, allegedly acting on ‘order from above’, barricaded the complex that Thursday and chased out the workers before sealing off the premises.

    Meanwhile, Governor Yahaya Bello, who has been accused by the embattled Speaker of masterminding the police action, has denied having anything to do with the matter. In a statement signed by the governor’s Special adviser, Media and Strategy, Abdulkarim Abdulmalik, the governor denied being behind the crisis in the House and the impeachment of the Speaker.

    It would be recalled that the embattled Speaker had earlier in the week led other 14 members to Abuja to lodge a petition with the House of Representative over the crisis.

    Lawal also accused the governor, Yahaya Bello of withdrawing his security attaché, thereby exposing him and other members to danger of possible attacks.

    As observers ponder on the solution to the political crisis in the state, Bello seems entangled with the challenge of resolving the many troubles of the state.

  • Kogi rerun: one shot in Idah

    One person was reportedly shot at Ogegele ward in Idah, Idah Local Government Area of Kogi State during Saturday’s rerun election for the state assembly constituency seat.
    Ogegele is the only ward where the rerun election took place in the area.
    Apathy and low voters turnout however marred the rerun in Kogi Central and Kogi East senatorial districts.
    Electoral materials and INEC officials arrived polling units where the process started as early as 8am.
    While election was on there was no restriction of movement as usual during elections.
    At polling units in Okene, the logo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was conspicuously missing on the ballot papers, indicating that the party’s candidate, Senator Mohammed Salami Ohiare was not part of the rerun election.
    The APC logo was likewise missing on the ballot papers for the House of Representatives rerun for Okene/Ogori/Magongo Federal constituency making it an unopposed contest for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Tijani Damisa.
    There was also low voters turnout in Kogi East, which might not be unconnected with the exclusion of some candidates from contesting the election.
    Senator Abubakar Abdulrahman’s election was annulled and the Court of Appeal barred him from contesting in the rerun.

  • Kogi ‘ousted’ speaker threatens to impeach new deputy governor

    Kogi ‘ousted’ speaker threatens to impeach new deputy governor

    The ‘ousted’  Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Honourable Momoh Jimoh , Friday announced plan   to serve an impeachment notice on the Deputy Governor of the state, Mr Simon Achuba.

    Addressing newsmen in Abuja, Jimoh who   was ‘impeached’ by five members of the assembly on Tuesday  said Achuba has questions to answer over the crisis in the legislature.

    He denounced his impeachment by the five legislators and insinuated that they were sponsored by vested interests.

    Jimoh also announced the suspension of the five members who announced his impeachment saying their action violated the rules of the House as the five members failed to form a quorum before announcing his impeachment.

    The five lawmakers in a 20-member House sat on Tuesday and purportedly removed the Speaker.

    The lawmakers also chose Umar Imam as the new Speaker of the House.

    Friday Sanni, who briefed reporters about the impeachment, said the Speaker was impeached for not carrying other members of the House along in the affairs of the House.

    He also claimed that since the new Governor, Yahaya Bello and the Speaker are both from the same senatorial district; the Speaker should vacate the seat.

    Meanwhile, 15 members of the House who were seen at Hon. Jimoh’s residence insisted Hon. Jimoh remains the Speaker and that their signatures were forged to perfect the impeachment.

  • Unknown persons shut Kogi Assembly

    Unknown persons shut Kogi Assembly

    The leadership crisis rocking the Kogi State House of Assembly worsened yesterday, as the camp of ‘Speaker’ Momohjimoh Lawal alleged that Governor Yahaya Bello was responsible for shutting the chamber.

    Unknown persons yesterday locked the Assembly.

    Lawal was, on Tuesday, removed by lawmakers, who were alleged to be acting the script of the executive.

    The governor has, however, washed his hands of the crisis, which has seen the emergence of three Speakers in less than three months.

    Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy Abdulkarim Abdumalik said Bello had no hand in the crisis.

    He described the allegation by legislators as spurious.

    Abdumalik said: “The crisis in the Assembly predated this administration. Before the advent of the administration, the crisis assumed a violent dimension when vehicles belonging to caucuses were vandalised.”

    Lawal was removed by some of his former supporters, including Friday Sani, who emerged as the new Majority leader.

    Sani said the new Speaker, Imam Umar, representing Lokoja 1, was elected by ’15 members’, although only four were seen coming out of the chamber.

    Lawal said he remains the Speaker, declaring his removal as null and void.

  • Kogi varsity denies sacking staff

    The management of Kogi State University (KSU) in Anyigba has denied sacking its members of staff, who were employed by the immediate past Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof Hassan Isah.

    Reacting to a CAMPUSLIFE story published last Thursday, the management said it had not issued termination letter to anyone since the VC, Prof Mohammed Sani Abdulkadir, assumed office.

    The VC, who confirmed that management investigated the last-minute employment by Prof Isah, refuted story of the sack, saying only a few  whose appointment did not pass through normal procedure would be disengaged.

    Prof Abdulkadir said the university had nothing to hide on the matter, urging the reporter always cross check information before going to the press.

    Reacting to allegation of illegal recruitment of staff, Prof Isah, who spoke to our reporter on telephone, denied employing 340 staff in the twilight of his administration.

  • Kogi: It’s no retreat, no surrender

    Kogi: It’s no retreat, no surrender

    Although Alhaji Yahaya Bello has been sworn in as the governor of Kogi State, Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, reports that the state’s political theatre is still very hot as many stakeholders have returned to the courts to resolve the controversy

    Following the inauguration of a new government in Kogi State last week, all eyes are on the politics of the North-Central state as many express mixed reactions ranging from concern to anxiety over certain post-inauguration expectations.

    The state last Wednesday introduced an unusual history into the political records of the country as its fourth democratically elected governor, Yahaya Bello, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was sworn in without a deputy.

    James Faleke, a serving member of the House of Representatives, who was nominated by the new ruling party to run in the last supplementary governorship election as Bello’s deputy, made real his earlier threats by failing to present himself for swearing in with the governor.

    And in spite of the fact that his absence was expected by both the party and the new governor, given the severity of his refusal to toe the party’s line after the sudden death of the initial governorship candidate of the APC, the late Abubakar Audu, no replacement was announced at the event.

    Last Wednesday’s swearing-in in Kogi is a curious antecedent as it is the first time in the country’s democratic sojourn that an elected governor would be inaugurated without a deputy. And although the development had been widely discussed before now, the legal implication of that arrangement remains a controversy.

    Legal tango

    Expectedly, the battleground has shifted to the Election Petitions Tribunals as the PDP and Faleke have vowed to challenge Bello’s stay in office as the Governor of Kogi State in spite of the judicial clearance given him by the judiciary ahead of his swearing in.

    On Monday, January 25, 2016, the Kogi Election Petitions Tribunal struck out the two motions brought by the PDP and the Labour Party seeking an interlocutory injunction to stop Bello’s inauguration. The dismissal of the suits paved the way for Bello’s entrance into Lugard House as the new governor.

    But apart from challenging the election of the new governor, the defeated PDP, according to party sources, is also in court to challenge the swearing in of Bello without a deputy governor-elect.

    “Yes, we are challenging the strange development. Our constitution has been soiled by the swearing in of a governor without a deputy. It is a development that should force all good people of Nigeria to speak out. As a party, the PDP will fight the development to a standstill legally.

    “We want explanations and legal interpretations of the decision of the court that Bello can be sworn in without a deputy. We want the law courts to tell what the constitution says about this scenario. It is new and strange,” a chieftain of the PDP told The Nation.

    The PDP Publicity Secretary in Kogi State, Mr. Bode Ogunmola, had said that the result of the election was unacceptable to the party and could not stand the test of time. According to him, the death of Audu made it inevitable for INEC to declare Wada as the winner of the governorship poll.

     Also, Faleke, in spite of effort by his party to convince him, has asked the Election Petitions Tribunal to declare him governor-elect. In documents filed before the tribunal by his counsel, Hon. James Abiodun, Faleke is seeking 12 reliefs, including four orders compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reverse itself on several decisions concerning the November 21 polls as from the day Audu died.

    Among the reliefs being sought is a declaration that the election to the office of governor of Kogi State of November 21 was valid and that he should be presented with a Certificate of Return as the lawful winner of the election.

    Faleke argued that the supplementary election of December 5, upon which Alhaji Yahaya Bello was declared as governor-elect, was unnecessary. He argued that Bello was not qualified to contest in the first place.

    Other political parties already at the tribunal over the last election include the African Democratic Party, Labour Party, Progressives People Alliance and the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.

    During the week, proceedings at the tribunal continued as the chairman, Halima S. Mohammed, granted the prayers of all the parties for substituted service on the All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Alh. Yahaya Bello.

    Mixed reactions

    Although the new governor has taken office already, observers of the politics of the state remain divided over the circumstances of his election and inauguration as the state’s new helmsman.

    A Non Governmental Organisation, Human Right Agenda Network, has faulted his emergence as the APC flag bearer in the last governorship election ahead of James Faleke, who was Audu’s deputy in the initial election.

    The NGO described the emergence of Bello as winner of the governorship election as injustice, compromising and electoral fraud. The spokesman of the group, Taiwo Otitoloju, condemned the act and accused the party’s leadership of sentiment and not being guided by the Nigerian Constitution in decision making.

    According to him, the Nigerian Constitution has provided that the ticket that late Abubakar Audu clinched was a joint ticket which includes Falake, therefore, in the death of Audu, Faleke should have been declared as governor-elect. Otitoloju is optimistic that Faleke will get the nod of the tribunal in the long run.

    But the Coalition of APC support groups in the state said the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, in approving Bello as the replacement for the late Prince Audu, as the governorship candidate of the party, was well guided by the constitution.

    According to its chairman, Dr. Yakubu Ugwolawo, Bello deserved the position, having scored the second highest votes of 709 at the party primary. It added that in view of the rating of party primaries as key element of elections in Nigeria, Bello’s nomination is well merited and deserved.

    Speaking on the issue, the APC National Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire, stated that there is no law that says a governor must be sworn in with a deputy governor, adding that what the law provided for is that a governorship candidate must contest with running mate and Yahaya Bello fulfilled the condition.

    According to him, “The governor contested with a deputy. Secondly, no law says that a governor cannot be sworn in, in the absence of a deputy. Hence, the requirement of the law for valid nomination has been met.”

  • Kogi deputy governorship nomination foreshadows more illegalities

    Kogi deputy governorship nomination foreshadows more illegalities

    With a petition on his legitimacy to have inherited the votes of the Audu/Faleke ticket still pending before the Kogi State Election Petitions’ Tribunal, Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello may have found a suitable deputy, whose names may be forwarded to the House of Assembly for consideration any moment from now. But, relying on Section 187(1) of the Constitution, OLARINDE YESUFU, a legal analyst with The Nation newspaper, says the Bello erred by going into the election without a running mate.

    Kogi State found itself on the brink of history on January 27, when Alhaji Yahaya Bello was sworn in as its fourth governor under a democratic dispensation. His inauguration marked the culmination of some electoral manipulations that preceded the tragic demise of Prince Abubakar Audu shortly after the November 2, last year governorship election in the state. They were engineered by Mr. Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), engendered by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and accomplished by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Kogi State, like many states in the federation, is a multi-ethnic state where everyone is conscious of his or her ethnic or tribal origin. The main ethnic groups are Igala, Ebira and Okun-Yoruba, Nupe, Bassa, Egbura-Koto, Kakanda and Ogori among others. The ethnic cleavage in the state and sentiments associated with it played out clearly at the inauguration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello on January 27. The Ebira saw the occasion as one in which one of their own was “divinely elected” (not democratically elected) governor of Kogi State. They were duly mobilized to celebrate him at the inauguration. They filled the Confluence Stadium in Lokoja to the brim. It was indeed a day that can rightly be described as Ebira Day. For the Igala, it was a moody day that reminded them of the loss of their son and political leader (Prince Abubakar Audu) in tragic and cloudy circumstances. To the Okun-Yoruba, January 27 was a day of mourning, in which they ruminated over their plight in a state they call their own, but are brutally oppressed and repressed. Their son, James Abiodun Faleke, had held a joint ticket with the late Prince Abubakar Audu at the November 21, 2015 election on the platform of APC and constitutionally entitled to succeed him upon his demise but was denied the right.

    On November 21, last year, INEC organised the Kogi State governorship election. The election was a straight contest between the APC and People’s Democratic Party (PDP). APC featured Prince Audu and Faleke as governorship and deputy governorship candidates respectively. On the other hand, PDP fielded Capt. Idris Wada and Abayomi Awoniyi, an architect. The name of Alhaji Yahaya Bello did not feature at any stage of the election. It only came up at a later stage, upon a declaration by INEC that the November 21 election was inconclusive. The electoral body, thereafter, arranged for the conduct of a “supplementary election” that held on December 5. The spurious reason given by INEC for the inconclusiveness of the November 21 election was that there were 49,000 voters in the registers of some 91 polling units, which figure exceeded the 41,000 votes with which the late Prince Audu and Faleke defeated Capt. Wada and Awoniyi. Significantly, INEC did not specify the number of votes cancelled in each of the 91 units or the total sum of the votes from those units that necessitated the supplementary election. It erroneously reckoned with the number of registered voters in the 91 units. At the end of the so-called supplementary election, less than 13,000 votes were recorded, out of which Alhaji Bello scored only 6,000. INEC, shockingly, announced him the winner and returned him elected as governor of Kogi State. He was inaugurated on January.

    The legitimacy question

    Alhaji Bello now bears the mark of illegitimacy as he scored only 6,000 votes to become a governor. The implication is that he did not receive the votes of the majority of the electorate in the state. Article 21 (3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifically provides that the will of the people shall be the basis of authority of government. This is a straight forward statement of principle of representative democracy, which is seen as an essential element of legitimisation of governments implying that whoever desires to govern the people must be legitimately elected.

    This internationally recognised principle finds expression in the electoral jurisprudence of Nigeria. First, section 179 (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria requires that a person shall only be considered as duly elected to the Office of a State Governor  if he satisfies two conditions: (a) he must have scored majority of the votes cast at the election, and (b) such votes must spread over the state in such a way that he has not less than one quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the state. Second, section 141 of the Electoral Act 2010 also stipulates, in an unambiguous language, that a person shall not, under any circumstance, be declared a winner at an election in which such a person has not fully participated in all the stages of the said election. The essence of these provisions is to ensure that the candidate elected in a gubernatorial electoral process emerges by popular votes.

    An electoral process necessarily consists of the following stages: selection and nomination of candidates; sponsorship by a political party; campaign for votes from the electorate; casting of the ballots; declaration and return of the winner. In simple terms, a candidate is required to be nominated and sponsored by a political party. Such a candidate is further required to canvass for votes of the electorate and stand for the election. At the end, a declaration of the winner is made by the electoral body, based on relevant provisions of the constitution.

    When not to emerge

    a party’s candidate

    Selection and nomination of candidates take place at the preliminary stage of an election. They are often referred to as pre-election matters as they must necessarily take place before the commencement of an election. In Okonkwo v. INEC, nomination at an election is defined as the act of proposing a person to an electoral body as a candidate for an elective body. Under the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, no candidate can contest an election unless he is nominated and sponsored by a political party. There is no room for independent candidacy.

    It was in exercise of this prerogative or exclusive power of political parties to nominate and sponsor candidates that the APC organised a primary election last year in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010. At the said primaries, the late Prince Audu emerged the nominated candidate of the party. Alhaji Bello contested the primary election along with other aspirants but failed. A primary election is not valid for all purposes and at all times. It is circumscribed in scope and purpose. The Supreme Court was categorical on this point when it held in CPC v. Ombugadu that “the sole purpose of a party’s primary election is the emergence of one of the contestants as the party’s candidate at the election.” It follows that once the primary election of a political party has produced a candidate, its purpose is served.  There is no law that permits a political party, under any guise or circumstance, (death of a candidate inclusive) to revert back to the result of a primary election that had produced a candidate, in order to produce a supplementary candidate at a later stage.  It is jurisprudentially unthinkable that a party primary election would be made to produce two candidates at different times in an election. An election is not a military exercise in which officers and men are kept as reserves for future use. Aspirants who flunk out at primaries are dropped and remain so, for all practical purposes.  While political parties are allowed to substitute their candidates, this right is exercisable before the commencement of an election and not after.

    Upon being nominated as his party’s candidate, the late Prince Audu, in compliance with the provision of Section 187(1) of the constitution presented Faleke as his running mate. Their political party (APC), subsequently presented their names to INEC for the governorship election conducted on November 21, 2015, thereby creating a joint ticket of Audu/ Faleke, sponsored by the APC. At the said election, Alhaji Bello’s name did not feature as the party’s candidate. And of course, since he did not participate at the election, he scored no vote.

    Audu’s death not reason for INEC’s declaration

     The claim of INEC that the November 21 election was inconclusive is not only spurious and deceptive but a bastardisation of the whole electoral process. Significantly, INEC did not use Prince Audu’s death as the basis for the inconclusiveness of the election. The only situation where INEC can hold an election inconclusive is contained in Section 53 (2) of the Electoral Act 2010; that is, where the cancelled votes announced by INEC would affect the overall election in the constituency. For the avoidance of doubts the said section is quoted hereunder:

    “Where the votes cast in any polling unit exceed the number of registered voters in that polling unit, the result of that polling unit shall be declared void by the Commission and another election may be conducted at a date to be fixed by the Commission where the result at the polling unit may affect the overall result in the constituency, (underlining for emphasis).

     Section 178 (4) of the 1999 Constitution clarifies the point that for the purpose of a governorship election, a state shall be regarded as one constituency. INEC, therefore, was wrong to have held the election of November 21, 2015 inconclusive without proof that the votes cancelled in the 91 polling units affected the overall result of the governorship election in Kogi State.

    Another cogent reason why the November 21, last year election cannot be said to be inconclusive, as erroneously asserted by INEC, is the fact that Prince Audu and Faleke, at the end of the polls, met the constitutional requirements stipulated under Section 179 (2), by scoring majority of the votes cast at the election and having not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in all the local government areas in the state. Consequently, the constitution already deemed Prince Audu duly elected. And what is more, by the time INEC declared the result inconclusive, all the results in all the wards and local government areas had been announced by the commission.  The failure of INEC to declare Prince Audu elected, therefore, was a clear breach of the provisions of Section 179 (2) of the Constitution.  On the part of the late Prince Audu and  Faleke, there was nothing the constitution required of them that had not been accomplished. It was just that someone somewhere was derelict in his constitutional responsibilities for some contrived extra-legal reasons.

    It is clear that the basic reason why the constitution does not permit the substitution of a gubernatorial candidate after the commencement of an election is the contingent arrangement the constitution provides for a running mate as a necessity for a governorship election. Section 187 (1) of the Constitution makes it mandatory for a governorship candidate to nominate another candidate as his associate, who will be his running mate and would be the deputy governor upon being duly elected as governor.

    Running without

    a running mate

    unconstitutional

    As a matter of fact, the same section 187 (1) of the Constitution treats the nomination of a candidate without a running mate as invalid. It is also obvious that a governorship candidate cannot deem another candidate as his running mate. In so far as INEC announced to the whole world that the late Prince Audu died after the announcement of the inconclusiveness of the November 21 election, and since the said Prince Audu satisfied the conditions stipulated under Section 179 (2) of the Constitution, it ought to have applied the provision of Section 181 of the constitution which states that:

    If a person duly elected as governor dies before taking and subscribing the Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office, or is unable for any reason whatsoever to be sworn in, the person elected with him as deputy governor shall be sworn in as governor and he shall nominate a new deputy governor who shall be appointed by the governor with the approval of a simple majority of the House of Assembly of the State.

    If INEC had done this, the embarrassment it has caused the electorate of Kogi State would have been avoided. The entire people of Kogi and not a section of the state would also have rejoiced that the ticket they voted in as their governor occupies the seat. Indeed, it is on INEC’s record, from the result announced by it, that the Ebira segment of Kogi State voted massively for Audu/Faleke ticket at the November 21, last year election. Out of the four core Ebira local government areas of Okene, Adavi, Okehi and Ajaokuta, only Okene voted Wada/Awoniyi because of anti-party activities of Yahaya Bello. The remaining three local government areas voted Audu/Faleke. Foisting Yahaya Bello on Kogi is, therefore, unconscionable, illegal and unconstitutional.

    There is everything wrong in the election of Alhaji Bello as the Governor of Kogi State. At one stage or another, one form of unconstitutionality or illegality was committed with recklessness and impunity. His selection to replace the late Prince Audu by APC to contest the “supplementary election” of December 5 is legally faulty and constitutionally sacrilegious. He was not elected by the popular votes and will of the people of Kogi State. The governorship election of November 21, 2015 had been won and lost before he came in. He scored only 6, 000 votes out of over 400,000 votes cast at the election(s). Clearly, if APC had featured him ab initio as its governorship candidate at the November 21 election, he would surely have been beaten, hands down, by Capt. Wada. This buttresses the fact that people usually vote for candidates and not parties. More outrageous to the letter and spirit of the constitution is the fact that Alhaji Bello contested the dubious supplementary election without a running mate. This clearly contravenes the clear provision of Section 187(1) of the Constitution.

  • Unravelling Kogi governorship impasse

    Unravelling Kogi governorship impasse

    The recent inauguration of Yahaya Bello as governor of Kogi State without a deputy is a novel development. To resolve the matter requires the intervention of the court to provide clarification, RAYMOND MORDI and LEKE SALAUDEEN, who spoke to lawyers and other stakeholders, report. 

    Kogi State made history recently as its fourth elected governor, Yahaya Bello, was sworn in without a deputy. The person who was supposed to be his deputy, Abiodun Faleke, is challenging the legality of the emergence of Bello as the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer, following the demise of the former governorship candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu. With the current state of affairs, the party has mandated Governor Bello to choose a deputy he can work with.

    But, opinions are divided among legal practitioners on the matter. Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Chief Albert Akpomudje, believes the governor represents the substance and that it is only when the governorship candidate is not in place that there will be an issue. He said: “The main man is there. It is only when he is not there that there can be serious issues. The governor can be sworn in while the issue of his deputy can be regularised subsequently.”

    Similarly, the APC National Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire, said there is no law that says a governor must be sworn in with a deputy governor. What the law provided for, he added, is that a governorship candidate must contest with a running mate and Yahaya Bello fulfilled the condition. He added: “The governor contested with a deputy. Secondly, no law says that a governor cannot be sworn in, in the absence of a Deputy. Hence, the requirement of the law for valid nomination has been met.”

    Former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja Branch, Mr. Monday Ubani agrees. He said swearing-in Governor Bello without his deputy in attendance is not strange. According to him, it was not Bello’s fault. It was the deputy governorship candidate nominated by his party that failed to make himself available at the swearing-in. Ubani pointed out that Bello had a deputy at the time he was declared winner of the governorship poll.

    Ubani explained: “There is a provision in the constitution for a governor-elect who failed to turn up for swearing-in to be replaced by his deputy but the same constitution does not make such provision for the deputy governor-elect. Since Mr. James Faleke has declined to serve as deputy governor, Bello has the right to pick a new deputy and send his or her name to the State House of Assembly for approval. He said the fact that a deputy governor-elect stayed away from the swearing-in ceremony cannot stop or invalidate the event.

    Civil rights activist Comrade Moshood Erubami aligned himself with Ubani’s position. Erubami, who is the President of the Nigeria Voters Assembly (VOTAS), said: “It is not correct to say that Governor Bello is without a Deputy or portray the political scenario in Kogi as a deliberate error on the part of the APC, given the circumstance that underlined  the events that led to the swearing of the governor who was sworn in because he was the preferred candidate of the party”.

    Erubami recalled that Faleke was the appointed Deputy to the late Audu and he remained in that position until he withdrew. He said: “The non-appointment of a deputy could without prejudice be due to two reasons: Firstly, Faleke would have been automatic deputy if not that he rejected the offer and sought the intervention of the court to determine who should be governor in the event of the death of the candidate in an inconclusive election?

    “Secondly, In my view, since there are pending court cases on the issue, it will be wrong for the APC to pre-empt the court final determination of who should be the Governor hence the party did not appoint anybody for now. A new deputy will be appointed immediately the court/tribunal dispose the case before it.

    A lawyer, Mr. Kunle Adegoke, agreed that it was the death of Prince Audu that led to the situation that warranted the swearing in of Bello without a deputy. He said: “Following the death of Audu, the APC made a replacement as requested by the electoral commission and what the party did was to pick the runner-up in the governorship primaries and that was Bello who came second in the exercise. The party, however, retained Faleke as deputy governorship candidate.”

    Adegoke said if Faleke decided to pull out of the arrangement, Bello now has the right to pick a new deputy acceptable to the party and seek approval of the State Assembly.

    Erubami explained further: “It would seem that it was Faleke’s refusal to be deputy that made the Chief Judge to swear in Yahaya Bello as Governor without a deputy, the legality of the action is as novel like the death of Alhaji Abubakar Audu and will be decided by the tribunal after due consideration and whatever the decision of the Court will settle the current debate and strengthen both the Electoral Act, the Constitution and our growing democracy.

    “In my layman’s view, it is an indisputable fact that Hon. Faleke withdrew to be deputy and since it is his right to do so, and since he has also sought the intervention of the court to determine the validity of his party’s action, against his own claim, we would need to wait for the court to pronounce the legality of the two actions, the end of which nobody could object once it goes through the whole hog. The scenario thrown up in Kogi is good for our law and democracy having underscored the fact that all legitimate laws cannot be enacted in a day. The makers of our laws are human beings and they are not infallible.

    “As it is, it is the court that has the final say because the sword of justice is double-edged and the person carrying it is blindfolded, she can cut either side. We should look up to the Supreme Court to set new rules to be quoted in the future as precedent.”

    But, Mr Jide Eniola, a lawyer, sees it differently. He said the constitution made it mandatory that, for a governorship candidate to be qualified to run election, he must have a deputy because both of them are to run on a joint ticket. Eniola insisted that Bello ran the supplementary election without a deputy because Faleke did not accept to be his running mate.

    According to him, Faleke wrote the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to that effect. Then, who was Bello’s running mate, he queried. It was a breach of the Constitution to run governorship election without a running mate, he argued.

    The APC Publicity Secretary, Lagos State, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, who spoke in his personal capacity, stated that while the system have decided to swear in Mr. Bello, he saw “a travesty and an aberration” in the development.

    Igbokwe said: “The truth here and nothing but the truth is that the late Chief Abubakar Audu/ James Abiodun Faleke won the November 21 2015 Governor election fair and square before Audu’s death in the early hours of Sunday, November 22, 2015. When the news filtered into the public space that Audu had died what the State INEC Returning Officer, Professor Emmanuel Kucha would have done is to do an urgent truthful and honest consultations, carry out a simple arithmetic, check the number of registered voters, check the number of those with PVCs in 91 polling Units.

    “The world was told that there are 49,000 registered voters in the remaining 91 polling units and out of that 49,000 voters, only 25,000 have PVCs. But, the late Audu was leading with 41,000 votes. Assuming that all the 25,000 persons with PVCs voted for the PDP, Abubakar Audu would still have beaten Governor Wada silly with 16,000 votes. This professor turned sound reasoning upside down by saying the election was inconclusive and ordered for supplementary election in the remaining 91 polling units. Now what was the result? Only about 10,000 votes were garnered in the futile exercise that wasted everybody’s precious gift of time, energy, money, strength and power.

    “Now a combination of ethnic politics, primordial sentiments, and fear of the unknown led the APC Kogi and the APC National to do the unthinkable by pushing Alhaji Bello who lost the primaries, and may not have supported the APC candidate in the cause of the elections proper to steal the mandate won by Prince Audu and James Faleke in a keenly contested exercise fraught with excruciating pains, doubts, apprehension, anxiety, fatigue, panic and unease. What was their excuse? Faleke did not partake in the primaries. Do deputy governors take part in primaries? This is the absurdity that led to the emergence of Bello.”

    Adetunji Fadairo (SAN) said swearing in Bello without a deputy is constitutionally not tidy because the constitution did not support such. He said: “If there is no deputy governorship candidate, I think there is a constitutional provision for somebody to act, probably the Speaker. I don’t think the governor is allowed to be sworn in without a deputy. Constitutionally, it is untidy.”

    Against this background, Lagos-based lawyer Ogunlami Olumuyiwa Babatunde said the inauguration of Bello as governor without a deputy is a novel development that requires the intervention of the courts to provide clarification.

    He said: “It is a new development in our jurisprudence. Basically, what people should know is that the constitution cannot provide for everything under the sun just like the constitution never envisaged the death of former governor, Abubakar Audu who contested the election. He can appoint a deputy any moment from now, probably before the court makes pronouncement.”

    Lawyer and human rights activist Adetokunbo Mumini agrees with those who argue that since the constitution did not give any specific role to the deputy governor, he is more or less like an appointee of the governor.

    Nevertheless, he believes that the Kogi matter is for the court to decide. He said: “It has never happened before that a governor would be sworn in without a deputy. I think that what should have happened is that the APC should have appointed another deputy governor-elect immediately Faleke declined, so he would be sworn in together with the governor. That is what the law provides for.”

  • Kogi makes wrong history

    Kogi makes wrong history

    Less than two weeks ago, Kogi State bit the wrong bullet when, with the help of the electoral body and other political titans, they prepared to inaugurate Yahaya Bello as the governor.  Apparently, this was child’s play. On inauguration day, Kogites exceeded themselves when they achieved the undistinguished honour of making the wrong history. On January 27, Alhaji Bello became the first Nigerian and the first governor to be sworn in without a deputy. It was an inevitable culmination of serial lawlessness never before seen or experienced in these parts, a corruption so insidious and far worse than the embezzlement of a trillion naira, that it beggars belief it can find accommodation anywhere in government.

    In the supplementary election of December 5, 2015, Alhaji Bello also made history when, with the help of shadowy presidency officials and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), he became the first governorship candidate to run for office without a running mate. The constitution opposed it, and nothing in the Electoral Act supported that strange and crazy move, but neither the meddlesome Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, nor the brilliant minds at INEC frowned at the insurrection against the law. It was an expediency they could tolerate, nay, even accommodate, and apparently, help to sustain.

    But Kogi State was not done making history. To the state, if it would make history, it had better be one that would not be rivalled for centuries to come. Alhaji Bello ran for office without a running mate, won, in the eyes of INEC, without a running mate, and was inaugurated without a deputy governor. Had the tomfoolery stopped there, perhaps all would not be lost. Instead, the inauguration itself achieved a series of firsts. None of the powerful men in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja and in government who knew about the constitutional subversion that took place in the state had the courage to attend the inauguration. Their consciences suddenly came to life, and they recognised the danger of being tarred with the disgrace and criminality of that electoral insurrection. The story of the plotters will be told one day, for they are not as shadowy as some think.

    On Kogi’s governorship inauguration day only two governors attended and, with as much sombreness as they could manage, gave bland speeches enjoining Kogites to help Alhaji Bello make a success of his tenure. The two governors of Benue and Nasarawa attended the inauguration because they are Kogi’s neighbours. They showed no enthusiasm, and they said nothing stirring. Who knows what was agitating their minds? The two governors were as far as Alhaji Bello could go in attracting dignitaries to his inauguration. President Muhammadu Buhari was not there, however, and shockingly did not send a representative, though he is party leader of the APC that won the Kogi poll. He had refused to campaign for his party when the late Abubakar Audu, a Rabiu Kwankwaso acolyte, was candidate of the APC. Even after the victory, the president would still refuse to attend. Why?

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was also absent at the inauguration. He had campaigned for Prince Audu, but was generally silent in the dangerous and convoluted aftermath of the death of the APC candidate, when all hell in plotting was let loose upon the beleaguered and fragile state. Professor Osinbajo is a lawyer, and he knows what the law and the constitution say, and he has given indication he has a conscience he would neither sell nor allow anyone to price. He also did not send a representative. It is a sad day not only for Kogi, but for Nigeria, when the number one and number two citizens would boycott such a significant occasion involving their party’s victory and celebration, and would not even send representatives.

    Alas, Kogi was still not done making history. Both the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, who are leading members of the APC, also avoided the event like a plague. They knew in their hearts that both the election of Alhaji Bello and his inauguration without a deputy were a mindless corruption of the laws and the constitution. Irrespective of where they stood in the fray privately, they knew, as men who lead others to make laws for the country, that it would be foolish to openly identify with the perversion that took place on January 27. Indeed the only notable representation that took place on that day was the announcement that the wife of the Nasarawa State governor represented the wife of the president. Mrs Almakura did not make that announcement herself, and this column could not independently verify the supposed claim of representation. Other than this unverified representation, there was nothing of significance worth remembering in terms of attendance. There was no presidency official, no federal cabinet member, no top national lawmaker, no charismatic governor anywhere other than those that duty and geography compelled to attend, and no man of means, of intellect and of character. Notwithstanding the small noise here and there in the stadium, the event could pass for a funeral, perhaps a fairly well-attended funeral.

    If all the people who plotted the so-called change in Kogi did not have the courage to attend, but left the unassertive chairman of the party, Odigie Oyegun, to carry the can and manage the obsequies, what other thing of significance took place at the inauguration? Plenty. Senator Dino Melaye, who virtually took over the master of ceremony job from the two persons assigned that responsibility, indulged his customary buffoonery to the hilt again. He is loud, obtruding, voluble and syncretistic. He did not disappoint in demonstrating his unmitigated coarseness. It is a mystery how such an offensive man moved in the circles of APC leadership, not to talk of being elected, or imposed himself, as senator. For Senator Melaye, everything was reduced to hilarity, and as far as his infantile mind was concerned, the constitutional subversion that produced Alhaji Bello and the mockery of the law that saw him inaugurated as governor without a deputy were the handiwork of God. While the plotters and other invited dignitaries discretely stayed away from the inauguration, Senator Melaye saw the occasion as an opportunity to showcase his eloquence and celebrate his lack of character.

    Then there is of course the 41-year-old governor himself, a man who prides himself on his youthful age and on the opportunism that gave him the unmerited office of governor. It was bad enough that his inauguration address lacked grace, finesse, sense and power; it was worse that he struggled to read his own speech with any sense of coherence and modest expertise. He tripped over the words, appeared frequently disconcerted, and dared not look up from the papers in front of him. What ailed him? His tormented conscience, knowing he was occupying a stolen office, or his lack of familiarity with the written word, even for a graduate of accounting and business administration? The only thing applauded in the governor’s mediocre speech was when he quoted President Buhari’s “I belong to everybody, and I belong to nobody” adaptation of the late politician Sunday Awoniyi’s speech. The stadium was otherwise generally quiet, at least not inspired into whoops of joy or ecstasy by either the governor’s sheer presence or his speech. Everyone, including the governor, knows that the whole contraption will not last. It is a charade and a corruption of the electoral process.

    It is remarkable that few top Nigerians, distinguished legal minds, and opinion moulders, have said anything about the terrible constitutional affront that took place in Kogi in the last two months. Perhaps they see the crisis as internal to the APC, and one involving a faction fighting another. They are wrong and short-sighted. What is even worse is the fact that top APC leaders could lend their weight to the electoral and constitutional perversion engineered by, and in, their party. How they do not see that the injustice enacted in their party would still haunt them in the future, possibly destroy their party, or even trigger far-reaching implications that could doom democracy, is hard to understand. APC leaders may not see the dangers ahead, but without a shred of doubt, the Kogi crisis will not end until justice has been done. They should pray that the courts, which are being battered everywhere by the people and the government, should put an end to the political, ethnic and sectarian rascality going on in Kogi. The alternative is too grim to contemplate, both for the APC which will never be the same again because of the demons it has unleashed, and the country which has lacked the patriots and men of courage and principle to embrace and nurture what is right and lawful.

  • Kogi: What next after inauguration?

    Kogi: What next after inauguration?

    It is no more news that Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been sworn in as the governor of Kogi State. From the unusual occurrence of losing a candidate before the end of the polls, the confluence state is now in the news for the unusual occurrence of having a new governor without a deputy.

    With the opposition PDP raising this and many other issues, the judiciary may have to provide answers to several questions that may soon arise.

    The opposition is asking if it is constitutionally acceptable to swear in a governor without a deputy. Did Bello contest the supplementary election with or without a deputy candidate? Can someone who never participated in the primaries of the party be used as a replacement for his late boss in the supplementary poll?

    Can a living inherit the votes of the dead? Do the votes of the dead die with him? These and more are some of the questions that may need to be answered if the opposition formalizes its protests.