A Director in Senator David Mark’s Campaign Organisation, Dr Adakole
\nElijah has said that the Idoma people who are a minority but highly
\nenlightened would support a strong character to represent their cause in
\nthe senate instead of a lackey who carries handbags for other senators.<\/p>\n
Dr Elijah’s statement was triggered by claims by the All Progressives
\nCongress, APC candidate in the Benue South Senatorial District rerun
\nelection, Daniel Onjeh that the Idoma people are no longer in support of
\nSen. Mark’s ambition to represent them at the senate.<\/p>\n
It would be recalled that the Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi last
\nSaturday annulled Sen. Mark’s election and ordered a rerun within ninety
\ndays. Mark who is the immediate past Senate President is a member of the
\nPeoples Democratic Party, PDP.<\/p>\n
However, Dr Elijah while briefing newsmen in Makurdi yesterday said he
\nwill not join issues with Onjeh to dignify him even as he stressed that
\nthe Idomas whom he said are not fools would continue to maintain their
\nsupport for Sen Mark in order to protect their integrity and destiny.<\/p>\n
“We will not toy with our destiny and that of our children to a man who is
\nan agent of externalities to represent us,” Elijah stated.<\/p>\n
He described the judgment of the Appellate court as shallow and lacking
\nlogic, particularly that the court relied on the clerical error of the
\nreturning officer who signed the result on 28 instead of 29 March, 2015,
\narguing “what the court needed to have done was to set aside the
\ndeclaration and collate since the date does not invalidate election if
\nthere was a clerical error, in so far as it does not change the result.”<\/p>\n
He bolstered his argument with the judgment delivered by the president of
\nthe Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachua which he said the Court of
\nAppeal in Makurdi misapplied in the instant case. “Bulkachwua said
\nelection is like a pyramid, it grows from down to the top, you cannot
\nstay at the top and quash any election that has properly taken place from
\nthe bottom, that election that has not been challenged at the polling
\nunit, ward and local government cannot be nullified.”<\/p>\n
Dr Elijah also wondered why the Court of Appeal relied heavily on the
\nsenatorial election result Onjeh dumped on document which was rejected by
\nthe lower court in July and was not appealed against. He said for the
\nAppeal Court to resurrect such a document and base its judgment on it is
\ncurious and said they have to explain to the world if they had no vested
\ninterest.<\/p>\n
“We are not afraid of anything, we want to point to Nigerians the lacunae
\nis curious for resurrecting a document whose ruling was not appealed
\nagainst. We want the judgment to be published for the whole world to see.”<\/p>\n
He described the denial by the state government through the senior
\nspecial adviser to the governor on Media and ICT, Terver Akase that it
\ndid not interfere in the judgment of the court as a case of the owl
\ncrying in the night and the child dying in the morning.<\/p>\n
“Why did the state government deny having hand in the judgment when it
\nwas not accused, we want to get the judgment and expose them,” Elijah
\nfurther stated.<\/p>\n
He wondered why Onjeh whom he said drew school fees from the purse of Sen
\nMark when he was a university student would turn round to lie to
\nNigerians that Mark did not do anything for his people, adding that Mark,
\napart from assisting Onjeh had given scholarship to over 12,000 students
\nacross the state, with each benefitting over twenty thousand naira.<\/p>\n
He also listed among others, human capital development, employment and
\nappointment of Idoma people into the critical sectors of the Nigerian
\neconomy, construction of a N17billion hydro dam at Otobi Akpa in Otukpo
\nlocal government, the multi billion naira Otukpo-Oweto road and Loco
\nbridge, influencing of Federal University of Health Sciences to Idoma
\nland, though it has been reversed by the APC government, construction of
\nclass rooms, boreholes and rural roads across Idoma land as imprints of
\nSen Mark’s positive impartation on his constituents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Director in Senator David Mark’s Campaign Organisation, Dr Adakole Elijah has said that the Idoma people who are a minority but highly enlightened would support a strong character to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n