Wale Ibrahim
Although Governor Yahaya Bello has picked the ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the November governorship election in Kogi State, the last may not have been heard about the primary election that threw him up.
The party may be on the road to a major upheaval, going by the position of some aspirants, who had indicated interest in being the flag bearer of the ruling party.
Indeed, it is not a secret that the governor has loads of trouble trailing him, especially with the allegation of non-performance leveled against him by almost every segment of Kogi society.
There is the insinuation in political circle that APC would lose the November election to the opposition party should it present Bello as its candidate. His non-performance and his being an electoral liability prompted many members of the party to throw their hats in the ring, hoping to pick the ticket.
But signs of what to come started emerging when the leadership of the party at the national level decided to go for direct, instead of indirect primaries to pick its candidate.
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Political analysts contended that the resort to direct primaries by the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party, was the first indication of the position of the party hierarchy. It was meant to favour the governor since he has the resources to woo voters to his side.
Sixteen aspirants obtained nomination forms from the National Secretariat of the party in Abuja, while NWC cleared nine to contest the party primary to pick its candidate, seven were disqualified.
To pave the way for the emergence of Bello, the Senator Hope Uzodinma Screening Committee was set up. It was the committee that was responsible for the disqualification of the seven aspirants. The committee was alleged to have breezed in and out of Lokoja, and cleared the aspirants in less than 24 hours.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa Onilu, had issued a statement in Abuja, announcing the disqualification of the aspirants.
According to him, NWC arrived at its decision after it deliberated on the reports of the screening and appeal committees for the party’s governorship primaries.
He said: “After a comprehensive review of the submissions by the two committees, relying on the party’s guidelines and the provisions of the Electoral Act, nine aspirants were finally cleared to contest August 29, 2019, indirect governorship primary. Seven other aspirants did not meet the requirements for participation in the exercise.”
The aspirants cleared were Yahaya Bello, Hadiza Iyoma Ibrahim, Yahaya Odidi Audu, Sani Lulu Abdullahi, Abubakar Bashir, Danlami Umar Mohammed, Yakubu Mohammed, Hassan Abdullahi, Ekele Aishat Blessing and later Babatunde Irukera.
Those not cleared were Prof. Mohammed Seidu Onaili, Usman Oyibe Jibrin, Mustapha Mona Audu, Rukkaya Ibrahim, Patrick Adenu Akpa, Muhammed Abubakar, Unukwu Audu.
The result of the screening exercise did not only raise fundamental questions but has also drawn the battle line between the hierarchy of the party at the centre and some aspirants, who coughed out N22.5 million each to participate in free, fair and transparent primaries
Uzodinma, who headed the screening exercise, had told journalists at the APC secretariat in Lokoja that the exercise was very successful.
Prior to this time, watchers of political events in the Confluence State had a different opinion over the presence of the Screening Committee in Lokoja. It was noted that this would be the first time that the screening exercise for an election would take place in the state.
Nasarawa State has always hosted the screening of Kogi aspirants in last twenty years of democracy in Nigeria.
Some observers even lamented that the APC at the national level was not fair to other aspirants by bringing the exercise to Kogi as such is subject to serious manipulation by the powers that be in the state.
But Senator Uzodinma faulted the arguments, saying that the 2010 Electoral Act as amended had stipulated that screening exercise must be carried out at the constituency where the election will take place.
Even at that, the outcry by affected aspirants and reactions by political pundits followed the screening exercise.
The aspirants accused the leadership of the party of favouring Bello, even as some of them had said before now that any attempt to favour the governor by not allowing a level playing field may affect the fortune of the party during the election proper in November.
One of the aspirants, Mustapha Mona Audu, even approached the court in Lokoja to stop the primaries, but a vacationing judge, Justice Abdul Nicodemus Awulu, declined the exparte application he filed.
Mustapha Audu, is one of the late Prince Abubakar Audu’s son. He had filed the exparte application, pursuant to section 6(6)a and (b) of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria as amended and order 11 rule 7, sub 1 & 2 of Kogi State (Civil Procedure) 5 Rules 2006.
He had sought among others, an interim order, restraining the defendants from conducting the governorship primary election, pending the determination of the motion on notice before the court.
He also sought an interim order to restrain the defendants from organising any activity connected to the conduct of the election and any other order that the court may deem necessary to make in the circumstance.
Defendants in the suit were Adams Oshiomhole, the National Chairman of APC; the chairman of the APC Governorship Primary Election; the chairman of the APC Governorship Primary Election Appeal Committee and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The grounds on which he based his request in the originating summons with suit no HCL/34/2019 and dated 28th August, 2019 include, among others, that the exclusion of his name from the governorship aspirants in the list of governorship aspirants of the APC was a breach of his right and that the conduct of the screening exercise by the party was in breach of the party’s constitution.
But, ruling on the matter, Justice Awulu, after listening to counsel to the applicant, D. D. Dugbanya Esq., declined to stop the conduct of the primary election.
Dugbanya had relied on the affidavits and adopted the written address filed along with the motion.
Justice Awulu stated in his ruling: “I have perused the application vis-à-vis the affidavits in support and of urgency along with the written address of counsel. I have refrained from raising the issue of jurisdiction suo moto at this stage to prevent an entry into the arena. Let me save that until the motion on notice.
“However, the issue to resolve is whether a court can restrain by an order of injunction the holding of a primary election by a political party. This is my view and I so hold that the holding or conducting primary election by a political party cannot be stopped by an order of injunction.”
Already, some of the aspirants are bracing for a fight. Eight of them met for several hours in Abuja, lamenting what they described as the brazenness and impunity that characterised the conduct and handling of the screening exercise.
They also alleged that from credible information, the other cleared aspirants in addition to Bello, are lackeys of the governor who purchased their forms.
They claimed that the situation made it inevitable for the aspirants to proceed in a manner that reserves their rights under the law.
They are also warning against a repeat of the Zamfara episode. “The handling of the process is wrong. We lost everything in Zamfara as a result of procedural error. We should toe the path of caution and prudence to avoid catastrophic losses.
“There will certainly be unintended consequence because it is difficult to tell the people not to enforce their rights. There are people out there who have aggregated their choice in us. To eliminate those choices from those people is grievous,” they intoned.
Expressing reservations over the manner the screening was conducted, the aspirants said: “In the interim, delegates and citizens in Kogi have read, become apprehensive and confused about the candidacy of their preferred aspirants and or, the possibility of the conduct of the primary elections on August 29 as announced.
“Inquiries at the APC national secretariat convey a continuing insistence that the party has not received the report of the screening committee or made a decision about the screening exercise.
“Aspirants have now been irreparably damaged, their electoral fortunes and chances pre-empted, and their rights and privileges as citizens and party members completely undermined.
“The entire conduct of the screening exercise, the manner, irregularities and apparent inconsistencies and falsehood associated with the exercise is egregious and to railroad aspirants.
“The purported report that has been published specifically makes allegations against aspirants that are unsubstantiated, misleading and entirely inaccurate.
“The party has a process for screening, parameters for screening, and appellate process in the party’s constitution.
“There is absolutely no evidence that the party followed any known or acceptable process in the screening or appellate process whether in accordance with the constitution or rules, or ethos of the party or any such association.
“There are credible allegations that the only cleared aspirants in addition to Governor Yahaya Bello (incumbent) are lackeys/cronies of the governor whose nominations were purchased by the governor, and who have no evidence of campaigns or intention to contest the forthcoming election.
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“It is sinister that all these are occurring barely three days to the date of the elections.
“Under the circumstances, aspirants who sacrificed and committed significant resources, including N22.5 million in purchasing nomination forms, and campaigns across the state are constrained to consider their remedies under any prevailing laws and to the fullest extent of such laws.
“Such remedies include pre-emptive action in the coming hours that could prevent the APC from conducting the primaries slated for August 29.
“While aspirants recognise the magnitude of, and unintended consequences of outcomes associated with pursuing the enforcement of their rights, the brazenness and impunity characterising the conduct and handling of the Kogi screening exercise make it inevitable that aspirants proceed in a manner that reserves their rights under law.”
However, political analysts, who spoke to our correspondent in Lokoja said that if the crisis is not handled properly what happened in Zamfara and Bauchi states may repeat itself in Kogi during the November governorship election.
One analyst, who did not want his name mentioned, explained that APC at national level really played the game with the Kogi primary election to pave way for a particular aspirant to emerge as its flag bearer.
He lamented that from the beginning, the party knew where it was going but, playing on the intelligence of other aspirants, particularly from Kogi East, noting that screening out many from the flank is an indication that APC has no consideration for Kogi East.
He explained that the Central Senatorial District had 800 delegate votes, West 1,200 and 1,500 votes in the East.
Another political analyst, Thompson Ajayi, berated APC for not providing a level playing ground for all the aspirants.
He regretted that the party had already settled on the incumbent, but warned that the outcome of the primaries may likely shape where the pendulum would swing in the November governorship election.
