The Supreme Court will, Tuesday, deliver judgement
on various appeals challenging the election of the Governor of Kogi State,
Yahaya Bello.
Two of the appeals were filed by a former Governor
of Kogi State, Idris Wada and the former deputy governorship candidate of the
All Progressives Congress, APC, James Faleke.
The election was held in November 21, 2015 while
the re-run was held on December 5, 2015.
The appeal of the candidate of the Labour Party in
the election is among those pending in the nation’s highest court.
Mr. Wada, who contested the election on the
platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Mr. Faleke had approached
the Supreme Court in August challenging Mr. Bello’s victory at the Court of
Appeal.
The appellate court had upheld an earlier judgement
in June by the Kogi State Governorship Election Tribunal, which gave victory to
the governor.
Shortly after the November 21 election, Mr. Faleke
approached the tribunal seeking to be declared winner of the poll, which was
declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The commission had declared Mr. Bello the winner of
the re run.
But Mr. Faleke argued that
following the death of the former candidate of the APC, Abubakar Audu, to whom
he was running mate, he ought to be declared winner of the election and sworn
in as governor.
He faulted the decision of
the APC to nominate Mr. Bello as replacement for the late candidate, who had
the highest number of votes in the November election.
According to him, the
election was “almost” concluded before Mr. Audu died.
The tribunal, however,
thought otherwise. In the judgement read by its chairman, Justice Halima
Mohammed, the tribunal said Mr. Faleke’s petition lacked merit and therefore
threw it out.
The tribunal further held
that the fact that INEC declared the first election inconclusive meant no
winner had emerged.
It also said that all votes
belonged to political parties and not the candidate who contested on their
platforms.
It said Mr. Faleke had no
locus standi to challenge Mr. Bello’s nomination by the APC to replace Mr. Audu
as he (Audu) was not the governor-elect.
Dissatisfied with the
judgement, Mr. Faleke filed a suit at the Court of Appeal.
The five-member panel of
justices of the appellate court, in a unanimous judgement in August, said Mr.
Faleke failed to provide credible evidence of non-qualification against Mr.
Bello.
Justice Jummai Sankey, who
read the judgement, said Mr. Faleke should not have litigated the substitution
and replacement of Mr. Audu with Mr. Bello at the tribunal since it was a
pre-election matter and therefore an internal affair of the APC.
The court, which resolved
four out of the six issues for determination in the governor’s favour, however
faulted the tribunal for holding that Mr. Faleke had no locus standi to
challenge the election.
However, Justice Obande
Ogbuniya gave a dissenting judgement in Mr. Wada’s appeal. He cancelled Mr.
Bello’s election, saying the governor was not validly nominated following Mr.
Audu’s death.
Mr. Ogbuniya also said Mr.
Bello ran the election without a running mate.
He therefore ordered INEC
to withdraw the Certificate of Return given to the governor and conduct fresh
election in Kogi State.
Mr. Bello, 41, was sworn in
as the fourth democratically elected governor of the state in January following
his victory at the governorship re run.
He polled 247,752 votes to
defeat the then incumbent governor, Idris Wada, who got 204,877 votes.
The governor’s inauguration
on January 27, though colourful, was historical and unique.
Mr. Bello was sworn in
without a deputy. Mr. Faleke, who was presumed to be his running mate during
the re-run had shunned the ceremony, thereby throwing up legal concerns about
the exercise and his mandate.
Indeed, it was the first
time a governor would be inaugurated without a deputy in Nigeria’s political
history.
Mr. Bello’s emergence as
governor of the 25 year old state was also significant in other ways.
He is the first person from
a minority ethnic group to be elected governor of the state.
Mr. Bello belongs to the
Ebira ethnic group in the Central senatorial district of the state.
The former governors,
namely Abubakar Audu, Ibrahim Idris and Mr. Wada, all hail from the majority
Igala ethnic group in the Kogi East senatorial District.
The Okun Yoruba in the
western senatorial district from where Mr. Faleke hails, is yet to produce a
governor.
Should Tuesday’s judgement
of the Supreme Court be decide in favour of the governor, he would emerge as
one of the governors to fight a prolonged legal battle to keep his mandate.
He has been entangled in
legal battles in the last eight months that he has been at the helm of the
affairs of the north central state.
Far more important is that
Mr. Bello would rule the state without distractions, at least from the judicial
angle. The governor is still facing stern battle from the organized labour for
non-payment of salaries.
But should Mr. Bello lose
the case, it would not only be a setback for him politically, but also for his
Ebira ethnic group, which had battled in the last 25 years to produce the
governor.
Already, the police, apart
from banning public processions and rallies in Kogi State, have deployed its
officials to all parts of the state to prevent breakdown of law and order.
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