The disqualified candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the Kogi State governorship election, Natasha Akpoti, has sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), demanding the disqualification of Governor Yahaya Bello over ‘double voter registration’.
Ms Akpoti is also praying the court to compel the INEC to thoroughly investigate the violation and prosecute the governor for the offence as provided for in the Electoral Act 2010.
The suit has the APC as the first Defendant and INEC as the second Defendant.
GovernorBello was said to have registered first as a voter in 2011, in Abuja.
He was said to have registered again on May 23, 2017, at the Government House, in Lokoja.
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The Commission had, in 2017, accused Yahaya Bello of double registration and said he would have been prosecuted “but for his immunity.”
Nigerian governors enjoy immunity from prosecution under the nation’s laws.
However, three INEC staff were indicted, as two officials were dismissed, while an assistant director was suspended.
But in March 2018, Governor Bello applied for the transfer of his Permanent Voter’s Card from Abuja to Okene and his application was approved, suggesting a shift in INEC’s position in the matter.
INEC had said that Governor Bello applied for the transfer of his registration details from Abuja to his Okene country home, noting that the application was “found qualified for transfer after it was subjected to legal scrutiny.”
But Ms Akpoti’s suit, which was filed on Monday, October 14, 2019, at the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, with No. FHC/ABJ/CS/221/2019, submitted that Governor Bello’s double registration “was to scuttle the electoral process and so he is not fit to be voted for or occupy the office of governor.”
The questions for determination are whether Governor Bello, who is the candidate of the APC, has, by his act of double registration, committed “a wrongful act capable of disqualifying him as a voter or person to be voted for,” having violated the provisions of section 24(e) of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended.
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Also, among other matters, whether the governor is, on account of his double registration as a voter, “a fit and proper person to be sponsored as a governorship candidate by the APC and allowed by the INEC to contest as a governorship candidate in the forthcoming Kogi governorship election.”
Ms Akpoti is asking the court to make an order of mandamus “compelling and or mandating the INEC (2nd defendant) to thoroughly investigate the act of double registration as a voter made by Yahaya Bello, the candidate of the 1st defendant and to immediately prosecute him upon the expiration of his first tenure of office as governor of Kogi State in January 2020.”
She was earlier disqualified by INEC on the grounds that her running mate was underage.
Ms Akpoti believed that her disqualification was a ploy by the INEC and the APC to exclude her from the governorship contest which holds on November 16 and give the incumbent a clear advantage.
She was also in court challenging her disqualification. That case would be heard on October 22, about three weeks to the election.