The judgment of the Supreme Court determining the governorship tussle
\ninvolving Captain Idris Wada, Hon. James Faleke and Alhaji Yahaya Bello
\nwas surprising to say the least. In the judgment given on September 20,
\n2016, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals of Wada and Faleke and
\naffirmed Bello as Governor of Kogi State.<\/p>\n
To my mind, this judgment \u2013 along with the judgments of the Court of
\nAppeal and the Election Petition Tribunal – is bizarre and not in keeping
\nwith the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
\n1999 (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).<\/p>\n
One is hard pressed to avoid the conclusion that in reaching its decision
\nthe Supreme Court relied on manufactured technicalities that did damage to
\nthe letter and the spirit of our laws.<\/p>\n
The judgment contradicts the previous judgment of apex court in CPC v
\nOmbugadu (2013) 18 NWLR (1385) 16; Gbileve v Addingi (2014) 16 NWLR (1433)
\n56; Eligwe v Okpokiri (2015) 2 NWLR (1443) 348; Jev v Iyortom (2015) 15
\nNWLR (1483) 484 where the provisions of Section 141 of the Electoral Act
\nwas applied to the effect that a candidate cannot be declared the winner
\nof an election in which he did not participate in all stages of the
\nelection.<\/p>\n
In deciding in favour of Bello, the Supreme Court basically nullified the
\nprovisions of Section 141 of the Electoral Act and reversed itself per the
\njudgments given in the above cited cases. The Supreme Court has basically
\nreturned to its holding in Amaechi v Omehia, which is what Section 141 was
\nenacted to prevent.<\/p>\n
In deciding in favour of Bello, the Supreme Court has basically violated the
\nprinciple of Separation of Powers and usurped the role of the legislature.<\/p>\n
It is public knowledge that Faleke wrote letters to his party withdrawing
\nas a deputy governor candidate to Yahaya Bello. Upon the refusal of his
\nparty to write to INEC informing them of Faleke\u2019s withdrawal, he did so
\ndirectly by writing to INEC informing them of his decision to withdraw as
\na deputy governorship candidate to Bello.<\/p>\n
In reaching its decision, the Supreme Court (and indeed the lower courts)
\ncompletely ignored these facts. Instead, it surprisingly held that
\nFaleke\u2019s withdrawal was unknown to law.<\/p>\n
This assertion basically allows the APC to enjoy the benefits of its wrong
\ndoing. How is this legal? How is this equitable?<\/p>\n
Again, one is hard pressed to avoid the conclusion that the Supreme Court
\ndeliberately disregarded the fact of Bello\u2019s withdrawal to enable it reach a
\npre-determined conclusion. It does not seem legal or equitable, that a
\nCourt can acknowledge the wrong-doing of a party yet allow the party to
\nbenefit from such wrong-doing.<\/p>\n
While we wait for the Supreme Court to give reasons for its decision, we
\ncan only accept the reality of 3 more years on tepid, uninspiring
\nleadership from Yahaya Bello in Kogi State.<\/p>\n
Under Yahaya Bello\u2019s leadership, Kogi State is racking up debts in
\nbillions of Naira with no commensurate infrastructural or developmental
\ngains to show for it. Despite collecting billions of Naira worth of
\nbailout funds, the state still owes several months\u2019 salaries. As it
\nstands, Yahaya Bello is currently leading Nigeria down a path of
\nindebtedness and financial ruin as similar to Osun.<\/p>\n
God bless Kogi State.<\/p>\n
DEJI ADEYANJU<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The judgment of the Supreme Court determining the governorship tussle involving Captain Idris Wada, Hon. James Faleke and Alhaji Yahaya Bello was surprising to say the least. In the judgment…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n