Kogi Tribunal: Issues as purported winner of governorship was in Court as petitioner

The purported winner of the Kogi State gubernatorial election is at the tribunal on Monday for many reasons as a petitioner when he should have been at the tribunal as a defendant. Some unreasonable things happened that led to this state of affairs, one of which is the use of pre-filled original INEC result sheets procured by politicians from INEC Headquarters in Abuja, and enforcement of declaration of same by the INEC Chairman through a National Commissioner for the election sent to Kogi State.

The whole world knows this. The high level political interference that forced the INEC Chairman into this is also known in the public domain.

A lot goes into being a petitioner in a tribunal in Nigeria, as elsewhere.

Remember that it is not over until it is over. The battle for improved democracy in Nigeria, a more transparent INEC and a more credible electoral process is one that all lovers of democracy in the country should take very seriously.

The beating up or if you like, the battery of Senator Isah Jibrin Echocho, is a great opportunity to highlight and bring back to national discourse the issue of INEC Headquarters aiding and abetting the criminality of selling original results sheets to politicians and raping the electoral process to ensure that the candidates who have bought them are declared winner by force, or by all means, even when it is against their own (INEC) guidelines and laws.

The battery of a sitting Senator of the Federal Republic, Isah Jibrin Echocho in Government House Lokoja by thugs of his own party in his own Government House while the Governor accepted that he was within Government House should be seen as a blessing in disguise.

While Senator Isah Jibrin Echocho bears the pain of the assault, and the Senate of the Federal Republic agonises that one of them, a member of the respected hallowed red chamber can be so battered, assaulted, and disgraced by thugs of his own home Government within a Government House, while the Governor was also within the Government House, and the heads of security agencies are now on their toes to look for, arrest, name and publicly parade the arrested criminals for all to see the miscreants of this Kogi State Government induced high profile insecurity, and the party which Senator Isah Jibrin Echocho belongs also bears the pain and shame of the ‘own goal’, it should be celebrated by lovers of democracy that the battery of the sitting Senator has exposed the opportunity to let the cat out of the bag why the sitting Senator was precisely and successfully targeted for the battery or assault, and possible assassination in Government House Lokoja.

INEC National Commissioners are now getting used to becoming in charge of declaring their own favourite candidates and encouraging those who do not have their favour to go court. The INEC legal or illegal Returning Officer declares a result and now boldly say that the declared loser can go to Court. Recall the Adamawa gubernatorial experience.

The November 11 2023 Kogi gubernatorial election took the rigging of election in Nigeria by the big people at the INEC Headquarters to a big time higher level characterised with selling of original INEC election result sheets.

It is the unsuccessful attempt to perfect this new paradigm in the Kogi State gubernatorial election management by INEC Headquarters that got bursted when the rigging was succeeding in Okene, Adavi and Okehi LGAs that has gotten this Senator Isah Jibrin Echocho into the trouble of his co-travellers who now feel that he betrayed them and for that reason he should die. At least they succeeded in getting him battered. God saved him.

Senator Isah Jibrin Echocho was brutalized in Kogi State Government House because he lacked the capacity to supervise same pre- filling of already procured INEC pre-filled election result sheets as was done in Okene, Adavi and Okehi LGAs. The people of the Eastern Senatorial District where Senator Isah Jibrin Echocho comes from were so determined like the people of Ogorimagogo LGA not to allow the success of INEC pre-filled election result sheets in their area.