Yahaya Bello Wins Kogi State Governorship Election

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Kogi State governorship election, Mr Yahaya Bello, has been declared the winner of the election.

Mr Bello, who is substitute to late Mr Abubakar Audu, defeated the incumbent Governor, Captain Idris Wada, of the Peoples Democratic Party who was seeking a second term in office.

Declaring the results of the historic election, which was concluded, with a supplementary election held on December 5, the Returning Officer of the electoral body, Professor Emmanuel Kucha, said the APC’s candidate polled 247,752 to defeat Captain Wada who got 204,877 votes.

Collation of the supplementary election results started late Saturday night, with the official of the electoral body giving a breakdown of results from the earlier election held on November 21.

After that election, the electoral body declared the election inconclusive and fixed a supplementary election for December 5.

After election results from the 21 local government areas were collated on Sunday, November 22, the candidate of the APC, late Audu, was leading while the incumbent Governor, Captain Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) trailed by a margin less than the number of cancelled votes.

The candidate of the APC had 240,867 votes while that of the PDP polled 199,514 votes.

But the election was declared inconclusive by the INEC, which said canceled 49,953 votes were higher than the margin between the leading candidate and the runner-up.

After the supplementary election of December 5, the APC’s candidate got additional 6,885 while the PDP candidate polled 5,363.

The substitution of the late candidate of the APC had triggered divergent views, as to what the Nigerian Constitution and the Electoral  Act proscribe, when the death of a candidate occurs during an electoral process.

Most arguments have focused on section 33 of the Electoral Act.

It reads: “No political party shall be allowed to change or substitute its candidate whose name has been submitted pursuant to section 31 of the Act,

except in the case of death or withdrawal by the candidate”.

Aggrieved by the statement of the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami’s, that was legal for the APC to substitute the late candidate, Captain Wada approached a court, questioning the substitution and the power of the INEC to hold the supplementary election. He also requested that he should be declared the winner of the election, since the leading candidate had died.

But the court dismissed the case, saying it lacked jurisdiction. The Federal High Court Abuja further stressed that issues relating to election could only be adjudicated by the Election Petition Tribunal.

The Kogi election is considered historic, as it is the first election that a party will substitute their candidate in the middle of the process.

Court Strikes Out Faleke’s Suit To Stop Kogi Supplementary Election

Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday struck out a suit filed by the Deputy Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr James Faleke, challenging the electoral body’s power to conduct a supplementary election and the power of his party to name Yahaya Bello as substitute for late Audu Abubakar.

The court, presided over by Gabriel Kolawole, declined jurisdiction in the suit, saying that only an Election Tribunal could adjudicate such suit.

‘Idle Judicial Indulgence’

He said that the role of the judgement was to create a judicial and permissive atmosphere for INEC to conduct the supplementary election scheduled for December 5.

The judge further said that it was his view that where the court did not have affirmative powers to make declarative orders, it would amount to ‘idle judicial indulgence’ to proceed with the suit.

The court had on Tuesday said it would consolidate all four suits related to the Kogi governorship election and give its judgment on Friday.

Before the case was filed by Mr Faleke, the APC on  Monday chose Mr Bello as substitute to late Audu, retaining Mr Faleke as the new governorship candidate’s deputy. Mr Faleke disagrees with this choice.

The Independent National Electoral Commission had asked the APC to substitute its late candidate before the supplementary election slated for December 5.

After the APC chose Mr Bello as late Audu’s substitute on Monday, Mr Faleke expressed his displeasure with the choice saying he would go to court.

Falake’s Suit

Mr Faleke on Tuesday filed a separate suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the APC at the registry of Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Mr Faleke asked the court to declare him the Governor-elect of Kogi State based on the outcome of the election.

In the suit filed by his counsel, Mr Wole Olanipekun, Faleke prayed the court to declare that election into the office of the governor of a state could only be conducted in the manner expressly stipulated in sections 179(2) (a), (b), (3) (a), (b), 4 (a), (b) and (5) of the constitution.

He also asked the court to grant an order setting aside INEC’s decision that the governorship election held in Kogi State on November 21, 2015 was inconclusive and the public notice dated November 24, 2015 titled ‘Kogi Governorship Election 2015’.

He requested an order of court mandating INEC to make a return, following the already announced results in the election.

In addition, Faleke also wanted the court to grant an order of injunction restraining the INEC and APC from giving effect to or further acting on the decisions of INEC contained in its public notice.

Politics in the state took a different turn after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the election inconclusive, saying that the margin between late Audu, leading in the election, and the candidate of the Peoples Democracy Party, who is the incumbent Governor, Captain Idris Wada, was less  than the number of cancelled votes.

Insurgency: Military craves for minesweepers

There are reports that troops fighting the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east are experiencing serious hardship following the inability of the Federal Government to provide them with minesweepers.

DEPLOYED— File pictures of military patrol and checkpoint in Maiduguri, Borno State. An estimated 3,000 troops have been deployed to embattled states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, following the proclamation of State of Emergency in the states on Tuesday. Photos: AFP.

Saturday Vanguard investigations showed that Boko Haram insurgents planted mines along major roads and bush paths which impeded troops’ movements.

It was gathered that for troops to move from one location to another, they had to resort to the use of hand-held mines detectors.

A soldier who spoke to Saturday Vanguard on the condition of anonymity said that they lacked minesweepers which saved more lives unlike the hand-held mines detectors currently in use.

It was also learned that the troops lacked helicopter gunships needed to fight in deserts.

Another soldier who has spent two years at the war front said that most of his colleagues were “suffering from war trauma” as they had not seen their families for a long period. As he put it, “we have been in the battlefield for two years or more without being changed and war trauma has set in. “Our families are ruined and many of us have been deserted by our wives. The thought of our wives deserting or our children getting involved in crimes is enough to trigger trouble for some of us.

“Again, not much has changed since former President Goodluck Jonathan left office in case of arms supply.

“Sometimes, we borrow arms from other units which are not involved in any operations to fight the insurgents.

“If you borrow such arms and go to fight the enemies, such units will stay without any arms to defend themselves in case of sudden attacks and only God knows what may happen in the event of such circumstances occurring.” the source said.

Confirming the report, a top military source said yesterday that the use of hand-held mines detectors, though slow, was the safest way for now, of dealing with the mines threat especially at the Gulak, Madagali, Gwoza axis of the north-east that stretches to Cameroon.

The source hinted Saturday Vanguard that a European nation recently visited by President Muhammadu Buhari had concluded plans to send mines-sweepers to Nigeria.

“I can assure you that as soon as these sweepers arrive, the story will change and with strategies already in place, Boko Haram will have no place to hide,” the source said.

Kogi: INEC, APC in dilemma as Faleke remains unwilling running mate

ABUJA— The refusal of the  All Progressives Congress, APC’s, erstwhile deputy governorship candidate in the last election in Kogi State, Mr. James Faleke, to be the running mate to the new candidate, Yahaya Bello, in this weekend’s governorship supplementary election has put his party and the Independent

National Electoral Commission, INEC, in a quandary.
As at last night, Vanguard learnt that Faleke’s name was still penned down as the APC’s deputy governorship candidate despite his repudiation of his nomination as running mate to Yahaya Bello.
Vanguard learnt that INEC was procedurally incapable of acting on the letter submitted by Faleke to withdraw himself from the supplementary election as running mate to Bello, indicating that his name is still penned as running mate to Bello.
Faleke had on Tuesday written INEC demanding the removal of his name as the running mate to Alhaji Yahaya Bello in this Saturday’s supplementary election.
Having earlier written the commission and consequently filed a case at a Federal High Court, Abuja requesting to be declared as governor-elect, Faleke had also rejected the option of being Mr Bello’s running mate.
Vanguard checks revealed that Faleke’s second letter to the commission is defective on the grounds that only his party has the locus standi to present such letter to INEC.
Section 35 of the 2010 Electoral Act(as amended) states that: “A candidate may withdraw his candidature by notice in writing signed by him and delivered by himself to the political party that nominated him for the election and the political party shall convey such withdrawal to the commission not later than 45 days to the election.”
Aside from the 45-day timeline which has elapsed, the APC as at press time was said to have continued mounting pressure on Faleke to withdraw his threat to quit the party.
Negotiations still ongoing
Contacted on the issue, National Chairman of the party, Chief John Oyegun, told Vanguard that negotiations were still ongoing.
Mr. Bello’s adoption at the meeting of the National Working Committee of the party followed the death of the former governorship candidate, Abubakar Audu, on November 22.
The party immediately forwarded his name to INEC as replacement for Mr. Audu and that of Mr. Faleke as his running mate.
However, when contacted on phone, Director in charge of Voter Education, Publicity, Civil Society and Gender Liaison, Mr. Oluwole Osaze-Uzi said he could not confirm INEC’s receipt of the letter.
He said if the letter gets to INEC, the commission would look at it and know how to go about it before Saturday’s polls.
In Kogi, speculations are rife that should Faleke make good his threat to quit the party, Bello would choose his long-time ally, George Olumoroti as his running-mate.
Wada knows fate on Friday
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, fixed Friday to determine whether in view of section 181 of the 1999 constitution, as amended, the INEC ought to conduct a fresh governorship election in Kogi State.
In its bid to speedily resolve all the legal issues that were thrown up by the death of the former governorship candidate of the APC, Abubakar Audu, the court, yesterday, consolidated four separate suits challenging the legality of the supplementary election scheduled to take place in Kogi state on Saturday.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole, who presided over the four suits, yesterday, said there was need for the court to expeditiously determine the issues, “so that INEC will not conduct the election under a grave shadow of doubt as to the legal or constitutional validity.”
Whereas one of the suits was lodged before the court by Kogi State governor, Captain Idris Wada (retd),  the second suit was filed by  the governorship candidate of the People for Democratic Change, PDC, in the state, Hon. Emmanuel Daikwo.
Likewise, a legal practitioner, Mr. Johnson Usman, a House of Reps member for Ahiazu Ezinaihitte Mbaise Federal Constituency of Imo State,  Hon. Rafael Igbokwe, and an electorate from Omala Local Government Area in Abelijukolo Ife of Eche ward in Kogi State, Mr. Stephen Wada Omaye, filed the two remaining suits
Issues for determination
Upon consolidation of the suits yesterday, the plaintiffs, led by Wada’s lawyer, Mr. Goddy Uche, SAN, distilled out three principal legal issues for the court to determine on Friday.
They want the court to go ahead and determine: “Whether having regard to the provisions of sections 31(1)(2)(4)(5)(6)(7) and (8), 33, 34, 36, 85 and 87 of the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended, as well as sections 178-181 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, INEC, can lawfully conduct a second/supplementary election into the office of Governor of Kogi State on December 5, 2015, or any other date at all let alone accepting the nomination/substitution by the APC of any candidate on the basis of votes computed and credited to the deceased candidate of the APC when the new or substitute candidate was not part of the original election.
Wada specifically prayed the court to determine “whether in view of the provisions of section 179 (2) (3)(4)(5) of the constitution, and other enabling provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended, and having regard to the doctrine of necessity, the plaintiff being the only surviving  candidate with the major lawful votes cast at the Kogi State governorship election held on November 21, 2015, ought not to be declared and returned by the INEC as the winner of the election, having secured not less than one-quarter of the votes cast in two-thirds of all the Local Government Areas in Kogi State.”
Justice Kolawole, yesterday, gave all the parties 48 hours to file and exchange their final written addresses, saying they should return on Thursday to adopt their processes to enable the court to deliver judgement on the matter on Friday.
Meantime,  though both INEC and the Attorney General of the Federation were represented in court yesterday, there was no legal representation for the APC, which was equally cited as a defendant in the suit.
Uche, SAN, told the court that effort by his client to serve the  originating processes on APC at its secretariat in Abuja failed on Monday as a result of a free-for-all that was going on between three different factions of the party.
Faleke goes to court
In another development, the deputy governorship candidate of the APC in the November 21 election in Kogi State, Mr. James Faleke, yesterday, approached the high court, demanding that he should be declared the governor-elect.
Faleke, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/977/2015, which he filed  through a consortium of lawyers led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN and Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, insisted that contrary to the claim by the electoral body, the Kogi State governorship election was conclusive.
He is seeking 16 principal reliefs from  the court, among which include, “A declaration that by the express provisions of sections 179 (2) (a) and (b) and 187(1) of the constitution, a person who is nominated as an associate of a candidate for the office of governor of a state is duly elected deputy governor of a state when the candidate for the office of the governor scores the highest number of votes at the election and also scored not less than one quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two-third of all the local government areas in the state.
“A declaration that by the combined reading of sections 179 (2)(a) and (b) and 181(1) of the constitution, upon the death of a person duly elected as the governor of a state, the person elected with him as deputy-governor is to be sworn in as the governor of the state.”
Faleke also urged the court to declare that the results declared by INEC following the November 21 governorship election in Kogi State, produced a governor-elect of the state in accordance with the express provisions of section 179(2)(a) and (b) of the constitution.
He argued that the results INEC declared after the election clearly produced him as the Deputy-Governor elect of Kogi State.