A head of the November 16 governorship election in Kogi State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) runs the risk of a repeat of the Zamfara State experience, which cost the party its victory in the governorship, national and state Assembly polls during the February/March general elections.

The party had cleared all the 36 electoral seats – governorship/deputy, three senatorial seats, seven House of Representatives seats and all the 24 state House of Assembly Seats – that were up for grabs during the election, but the Supreme Court, in a judgement on May 24, nullified the victory of all APC candidates and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who were the first runners-up in the respective elections with Certificates of Return.

Describing the votes scored by APC in the State as a waste, the apex court held that the party did not conduct primaries in Zamfara State and as such, could not field candidates in the general elections.

INEC had initially precluded APC candidates in Zamfara and Rivers states from contesting the 2019 general elections because the party did not conduct primaries in those states, but the commission was compelled by a High Court two days to the elections, to include Zamfara APC candidates on the ballot.

National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who faulted the judgement then, described it as undemocratic. “There is no justice when on technicality you impose on people candidates they didn’t elect. If the court thought that we were wrong, the justice would have demanded a repeat. There is nothing democratic when you impose a stranger to govern the people. But we understand that after the Supreme Court you can only go to the court of God. To that extent we must obey the Supreme Court but what we got in Zamfara is a judgement that didn’t translate to justice,” he said.

The party later approached the apex court for a review of its judgement. But the court struck out an application by the ruling party. A five-man panel led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, unanimously struck out the application on the grounds that the application was incompetent.

Justice Rhodes-Vivour, who delivered the ruling, said the applicant only attached the lead judgement and failed to exhibit the consenting judgements of the four other members of the panel, which gave the May 24, verdict.

Many had thought that the APC would have learnt some lessons from the Zamfara saga, but the ruling party seems to be walking the same path that cost it the 36 Zamfara State electoral seats as controversy has continued to trail the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) to adopt the indirect primary method to elect its candidate for the Kogi State governorship election.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, had through a statement in July, said approval of the indirect primary was given after a meeting of the NWC, where a formal request from the Kogi State executive and stakeholders in preference for the option was considered and deliberated on.

The statement read in part: “Recall that the APC Constitution which was reemphasised by a decision of National Executive Committee provides for three modes of primary elections to elect party candidates – indirect, direct primaries and consensus – depending on the peculiarities of the state and preferences of the stakeholders in respective elections.”

The indirect primary involves delegates, usually party officials at state and local levels, as well as top political office holders, voting for their preferred candidates.

While most of the governorship aspirants turned down the indirect primary option on the ground that it offers undue advantage to the incumbent, Governor Yahaya Bello, the national leadership of the party seems not to buy into their argument.

But, some APC stakeholders in state have sued the party’s NWC over adoption of the indirect primary. In the Originating Summons filed by their lawyer, Oluwole Aladedoye, at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the plaintiffs are asking the court to halt the indirect primary proposed by the NWC.

The plaintiffs, who are members of the Haddy Ametuo-led faction are the Ex-officio, Destiny Eneojoh Aromeh; Organising Secretary, Mr. Isah Abubakar; Zonal Youth Leader, Noah Aku, and Zonal Woman Leader, Mrs. Joy Onu.

The stakeholders in the notification of the suit sent to the APC National Legal Adviser, Babatunde Ogala, prayed him to advise the party on the need to respect court processes and halt any action on the proposed indirect mode of the primary.

Among issues formulated for determination are whether having regard to the pendency of suit filed by Haddy Ametuo, Salam Adejoh, suing for themselves and on behalf of other members of the state executive elected on May 19, 2018, the APC can adopt the indirect primary mode.

The plaintiffs also want the court to determine whether the involvement of persons claiming to be members of the Kogi SEC during the pendency of the suit in the nomination of the governorship candidate would not amount to interference with the judicial process and run against the principle of subjudice which would render the outcome of such primary illegal, null and void and whether the defendant can ignore the suit which seeks to determine the authentic members of the Kogi SEC, who constitute the delegates by adopting the indirect mode of the primary.

They also want the court to determine whether it is not an act of disrespect for judicial processes for the defendant to adopt the indirect mode of primary in nominating its governorship candidate having been made a party to the suit, which seeks to determine the authentic members of the Kogi SEC, who will constitute the bulk of the delegates to participate in the indirect primary mode for the nomination of the governorship candidate.

The letter to APC Legal Adviser reads in part:  “Notification of suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/833/2019-Destiny Eneojoh Aromeh and others vs All Progressives Congress: Need to halt the indirect primary proposed for nomination of candidate for Kogi State.”

“We are counsel to the plantiffs in the above matter, which has just been filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja. We are by this letter forwarding to you a filed copy of the originating summons filed by our clients. This summons speaks for itself.

“We trust that as a seasoned legal practitioner with several years of active legal practice, you will appropriately advise your party on the need to respect court processes and halt any action on the proposed indirect mode of primary for nomination of the governorship candidate for Kogi State in the forthcoming election pending the determination of this suit.”

A chieftain of the party in the state, Timothy Faniyan, who spoke on the latest development, said: “There are two parallel  excos in Kogi APC, one faction has gone to court to be recognised as the authentic exco, so by law, it will not be advisable to use any of the exco for the primary election.

“We want Nigeria to know that there is court and a case in the APC cannot go ahead and do indirect primaries as the party constitution unequivocally states that direct primaries will be held in any state there is dissension or factional excos. But from the look of things, APC is heading towards the same thing that happened in Zamfara.”

One of the governorship aspirants, Mohammed Audu, who also spoke on the issue, said Governor Bello is afraid of direct primaries because he is not popular among APC members in the state.

Audu, who is the eldest son of Prince Abubakar Audu, a former governor of the state, said Bello is jittery because if there is direct primary where every member of Kogi APC is allowed to participate, he will not secure the party’s ticket for the election.

His words: “I personally think that the governor is afraid of opening the process of selection and that is why they have chosen to go by the way of indirect primary. The indirect primary is closed, if you are a politician and a true democrat, you will want everyone to participate in the process of selecting you and I dare the governor to say they are going by the way of direct primary today, I am sure they will bid the people farewell. If they do direct primary that every Kogi person that is a member of the APC is allowed to participate, no doubt we will come top.”

Newstelegraph