- Two governors lose cases, 20 others win
- PDP victorious in 11 states, APC captures 10, LP retains one, NNPP loses out
- Petitioners ‘forsake’ trials in six states
- Seven Senators, 23 Rep members sacked
- Why APC remains Nigeria’s beautiful bride despite criticisms – Analysts
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
About seven months after the 2023 general elections, Nigeria is still engrossed in electoral litigation as candidates of various political parties that participated in the polls struggle to outdo one another in the courts.
In what appears like a judgement season in the country, it has been a case of ‘win some, lose some’ for various political parties and their candidates as various election petition tribunals issue their long-anticipated judgements.
While the Presidential and National Assembly elections were held across the country on February 25, the governorship and House of Assembly polls took place across the 28 states of the federation on March 18.
The gubernatorial elections held in Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara States.
After the heated governorship race, the New Nigeria Peoples Party won Kano State. The All Progressives Congress, however, won in 15 states, including seven re-elections for Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Mai Mala Muni (Yobe), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa) and Babagana Zulum (Borno).
On the other hand, the ruling party secured wins for eight new candidates.
They are Umar Namadi (Jigawa), Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto (Sokoto), Dikko Radda (Katsina), Uba Sani (Kaduna), Bassey Otu (Cross River), Mohammed Bago (Niger), Hyacinth Alia (Benue) and Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi).
For the People’s Democratic Party, there were eight victories, including two returning governors, Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi).
Six first-term governors were also elected on the platform of the PDP, which was mainly in the opposition, with the emergence of Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Siminialayi Fubara (Rivers), Kefas Agbu (Taraba), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), and Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta).
In a stunning upset, Dauda Lawal of the PDP unseated Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle (APC), while Labour Party’s Alex Otti defeated the PDP, which has ruled Abia State since 1999.
Meanwhile, the general elections were fraught with a litany of alleged manipulations by the Independent National Electoral Commission and contenders.
The Electoral Act allows aggrieved candidates to file their petitions within 21 days after the date of the declaration of the results of the election.
Under the law, the tribunal is expected to hear and determine the petition within 180 days from the day the petition is filed.
Subject to the 180-day (six months) timeline provided by the Electoral Act for governorship election petitions to be decided, the tribunals were expected to have wrapped up their judgement on October 11.
“In a stunning upset, Dauda Lawal of the PDP unseated Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle (APC), while Labour Party’s Alex Otti defeated the PDP, which has ruled Abia State since 1999”
TWO GOVERNORS LOSE CASES
The judgements came in torrents as two elected governors lost their cases.
According to the verdicts by the tribunal, the New Nigeria Peoples Party lost Kano State after the court sacked the incumbent governor of the state, Abba Yusuf, and ruled that the candidate of the opposition APC, Nasiru Gawuna, was the winner of the March 18 poll.
In the same vein, the victory of Governor Abdullahi Sule of the APC was quashed as the tribunal declared David Ombugadu of the PDP the rightful winner of the election.
APC WINS 10 STATES
In all, the APC has won a total of 10 states, so far, in the verdicts of the governorship tribunals.
The states won by the APC are Gombe, Cross River, Benue, Lagos, Kano, Ogun, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kebbi and Sokoto.
In Gombe, the tribunal affirmed the re-election of Muhammadu Yahaya as governor of the state.
The state tribunal dismissed the petitions of the PDP candidate, Jibrin Barde, and that of the African Democratic Congress and its candidate, Nafiu Bala.
In Cross River State, the tribunal sitting in Calabar, in its final judgment, dismissed the petition brought by Sandy Onor against the election victory of Bassey Otu as governor, and Peter Odey as deputy governor of the state.
The tribunal upheld Otu’s election, saying the petitioner’s case filed in Suit Number: EPT/CR/GOV/02/2023 lacked merit.
In Benue State, the tribunal dismissed the petition filed by the candidate of the PDP, Titus Uba, against the election of Hyacinth Alia of the APC.
The tribunal also held that the allegation of forgery against the governor was a pre-election dispute that should not be brought before the tribunal.
In Lagos State, the governorship election tribunal upheld the victory of Babajide Sanwo-Olu, while dismissing Olajide Adediran (alias Jandor) and Rhodes-Vivour’s petitions.
Both Adediran and Rhodes-Vivour have appealed against the judgement.
Meanwhile, in Kano State, the tribunal ruled that the candidate of the opposition APC, Nasiru Gawuna, was the winner of the March 18 poll.
The incumbent governor of the state, Abba Yusuf, has, however, filed a notice of appeal challenging the judgment of the tribunal sacking him as governor.
In Ogun State, the governorship election petition tribunal affirmed the victory of Governor Dapo Abiodun as the winner of the March 18 governorship contest in the state, dismissing the petitions by PDP’s Ladi Adebutu.
The Ebonyi State governorship election tribunal also dismissed the petition filed by Bernard Odoh of the All Progressives Grand Alliance and affirmed Francis Nwifuru as governor of the state.
Meanwhile, in Kaduna State, the tribunal upheld the victory of Uba Sani as the governor of the state.
The panel, via Zoom, ruled against the PDP and its candidate, Isah Ashiru, for premature filing of the application for pre-hearing.
Also, the tribunal sitting in Birnin Kebbi reaffirmed the election of Nasir Idris as the duly elected governor of Kebbi State.
The tribunal, in its ruling, dismissed the application filed by the PDP challenging the governorship election won by Idris of the APC, and his deputy, Abubakar Umar, describing the petitioner’s application as “lacking in evidential value”.
PDP CAPTURES 11 STATES
States won by the PDP so far are Plateau, Zamfara, Bauchi, Enugu, Nasarawa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Taraba, Oyo, Adamawa and Rivers.
The Plateau State tribunal upheld the election of Governor Caleb Mutfwang while the Zamfara tribunal sitting in Sokoto, the Sokoto State capital, also affirmed the election of Dauda Lawal of the PDP as the governor of the state.
Governor Bala Mohammed’s election victory was affirmed by the state tribunal while in Enugu State, a similar judgment was delivered upholding the election of Peter Mbah of the PDP as the governor of the state.
The tribunal in Nasarawa State, in a split judgment, annulled the election of Governor Sule of the APC and declared David Ombugadu of the PDP the rightful winner of the election.
In Delta, the election of Sheriff Oborevwori of the PDP was upheld by the tribunal, while the tribunal sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, dismissed a petition brought by the candidate of the APC, Akanimo Udofia, challenging the election of Pastor Umoh Eno of the PDP.
The tribunal sitting in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, affirmed the election of Agbu Kefas as the governor of the state.
It dismissed the petition filed by the New Nigerian Peoples Party and its candidate, Prof Sani Yahaya for lacking in merit.
The tribunal in Oyo State affirmed the election of Seyi Makinde as governor of the state, and in the same vein, the Adamawa Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Yola upheld the election of Ahmadu Fintiri of the PDP as governor of the state.
The Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja dismissed petitions seeking to nullify the election of Governor Similayi Fubara.
In Abia, the state election tribunal affirmed the election of Governor Alex Otti, dismissing the petitions of the PDP, APC and the Young Progressives Party’s candidates.
PETITIONERS ‘FORSAKE’ CASES IN SIX STATES
So far, the state tribunals have delivered judgement in 22 states; six states are still awaiting judgements from their respective tribunals.
They include Niger (currently governed by APC), Kwara (APC), Katsina (APC), Borno (APC), Yobe (APC) and Jigawa (APC).
Findings by The Point revealed that some political parties and their candidates who had threatened to drag the governorship election winners in these six states to the tribunal failed to show seriousness in the battle.
Meanwhile, those who lost have vowed to approach the Court of Appeal.
HOW HISTORY PLAYED OUT IN GOVERNORSHIP TRIBUNALS
Investigations by The Point revealed that historical precedents in management and outcome of governorship election petitions tribunals in Nigeria played out after the election court sittings.
In every election cycle since 2003, at least one governor has been removed from office by either the Court of Appeal, which was the final decider in cases emanating from governorship elections before 2011, or the Supreme Court where the cases now terminate.
After celebrating victory at the governorship election in 2019, the Supreme Court, in May of that year, cut the celebrations short and annulled the election just days before Mukhtar Idris of the APC was due to be sworn in as governor.
Similarly, the apex court, in February 2020, sacked David Lyon of the APC as governor-elect of Bayelsa State 24 hours before he was due to be sworn in as governor.
Also, the Supreme Court, in probably its most controversial judgement, nullified the election of Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP as the governor of Imo State in 2020 and declared Hope Uzodimma of the APC as the winner of the March 9 governorship election in the state.
In 2015, newly elected governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, was removed from office by the Court of Appeal, in agreement with an earlier judgement of a lower court, but the PDP governor had the judgement reversed by the Supreme Court in what turned out to be a politically explosive end to the legal battle.
And in 2012, following the 2011 general elections, the Supreme Court sacked five powerful state governors from office because their tenures should have expired the previous year, replacing them with the Speakers of the House of Assembly from the respective states.
The governors of Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Kogi, Adamawa and Sokoto States all came into office in May 2007 but their four-year tenures were terminated by election tribunals on grounds of “irregularities.”
Fresh elections were conducted the following year, which they all won again.
After the 2007 general elections, a host of governors were sacked by the Court of Appeal, including late Olusegun Agagu of Ondo, Prof Oserheimen Osunbor of Edo State, and in the cases of Andy Uba of Anambra State and Celestine Omehia of Rivers State, they were removed from office by the Supreme Court in pre-election cases.
With the gubernatorial matters now before the Court of Appeal, political and legal observers argue that a number of states have tendencies of leading to major upsets.
SEVEN SENATORS, 23 REP MEMBERS SACKED
After the National Assembly election petition verdicts, no fewer than seven senators and 23 House of Representatives members have been sacked by the tribunals.
Three of the senators were sacked, outright, while four of them will face supplementary polls.
In the House of Representatives, 18 members had their elections nullified and there will be seven supplementary polls.
Among the nullified polls, APC has five, PDP, 14; Labour Party, 6; and NNPP, 2.
Conversely, the APC gained seven seats, PDP, 5; LP, 2; and APGA, 1.
Some of the reasons the tribunals gave for annulling the elections included invalid nomination, forged names, forged certificates, falsification of results, exclusion of results, non-recording of results, and non-conduct of elections in some polling units.
While some tribunals ordered INEC to conduct supplementary elections in some senatorial districts, others ruled that the Certificates of Return issued to the sacked lawmakers should be withdrawn and presented to the petitioners that were declared winners by the courts.
Upset verdicts from the National Assembly tribunals
Senator Emmanuel Udende of the APC lost his Benue North East seat to Senator Gabriel Suswam of the PDP.
Also, Napoleon Bali of the PDP lost his Plateau South seat to Labour and Employment Minister, Simon Lalong of the APC.
Senator Abubakar Ohere of the APC lost his Kogi Central seat to Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of the PDP.
Senators that will face supplementary polls
Senator Thomas Onowakpo, APC, Delta South; Senator Ede Dafinone, APC, Delta Central; Senator Jibrin Isah Echocho, APC Kogi East and Senator Fred Agbedi, PDP, Bayelsa.
Sacked Rep members
Muktar Umar Yerima, NNPP, Kano; Yusuf Datti, NNPP, Kano; Seyi Sowunmi, LP, Lagos; Thaddeus Atta, LP, Lagos (rerun); Francis Wave, APC, Delta; Ngozi Okolie, LP, Delta (regained seat at Appeal Court); Munachim Alozie, LP, Abia; Emeka Nnamani, LP, Abia; Ibe Osonwa, LP, Abia; Amobi Ogah, LP, Abia; Ikenga Ugochinyere, PDP, Imo; Jonas Okeke, PDP, Imo; Sunday Nnamchi, LP, Enugu; Peter Gyendeng, PDP, Plateau; Musa Bagos, PDP, Plateau; Beni Lar, PDP, Plateau; Aminu Chindo, PDP, Katsina; Ismail Dalha, PDP, Katsina; Joshua Gana, PDP, Niger (rerun); Adamu Yakubu, PDP, Jigawa (rerun); Mohammed Jamilu, PDP, Katsina (rerun); Iliyasu Abubakar, PDP, Katsina (rerun) and Shittu Ibreaheem, APC, Oyo (rerun).
“They (PDP) could not manage their crisis both the one within and the one outside. The disjointed and disoriented nature of other political parties is also contributing to the widespread APC tentacles in power”
WHY APC STILL HOLDS GRIP ON POWER DESPITE HARDSHIP – ANALYSTS
Political and public affairs analysts have explained reasons the ruling APC continues to appear as the beautiful bride in Nigeria despite complaints of bad leadership, hardship and worsening poverty in Nigeria.
While some analysts, in their separate interviews with The Point, said that the APC had been taking advantage of the ignorance, poverty, religious sentiment and alleged bias of the INEC and the Judiciary to strengthen its vote banks of key states and positions in the country, others contend that those who should know are aware that the current hardship will only usher in sustained growth and development in due course.
A public affairs analyst, Oluwaseun Adegbite, said, “The APC is winning the majority of seats in the country because of political ignorance. Majority of the people in Nigeria, especially in the northern part of the country, are ignorant of politics; they don’t even know what leadership entails. They vote based on religion and tribe, not taking into cognizance the fact that leadership goes beyond these sentiments. If you look at the last elections and even the 2015 general elections that brought in former President Muhammadu Buhari, we could see that the majority of votes came from the North. In Kano, APC had about 1.5 to 1.6 million votes, almost the same in Bauchi and Gombe states.
“So, in the North East and North Western part of the country, the party galvanized huge numbers of votes because of religion and ignorance. Another factor is poverty. Since the emergence of APC in 2015, they have impoverished the majority of Nigerians. Whenever an election comes, someone who has not been eating good food would easily jump on N2,000 and N3,000 that politicians give them to vote.
“There are also the unmanageable centripetal and centrifugal forces within the party. What do I mean? Centrifugal here means the problem within the party while centripetal means the problem outside the party. The APC has been able to manage the problem within the party and the problem outside the party. There was a time when the party was fighting for national leadership; they were able to resolve it but the other party like the PDP could not do that.”
“They (PDP) could not manage their crisis both the one within and the one outside. The disjointed and disoriented nature of other political parties is also contributing to the widespread APC tentacles in power. The last factor helping the APC is the fraud in INEC. The commission reneged on its promise on transmission of results. Also, whenever cases get to the Judiciary, it can be bought over and that is why the majority don’t have confidence in the Judiciary. The APC is winning more in tribunals because they have the wherewithal to have their ways at the courts,” Adegbite alleged.
In his submissions, another analyst, Bolarinwa Olabode, said, “Why APC seems to win majority of the states despite bad governance and alleged riggings is because of power of incumbency as the party deploys all the existing structures and resources of the state to work in their favour.
“Vote-buying is another reason. Politicians have made the people so poor that a little crib is enough to change peoples’ minds regardless of past years of suffering from the same set of leaders. Ignorance and illiteracy on the part of the citizens is another factor. Public enlightenment is low to the extent that an average Nigerian does not know what the responsibility of politicians are, hence when politicians are able to do one-tenth of what they are supposed to do, people go about singing the praises of such. These people don’t know what rights they have as citizens and what they are supposed to enjoy, hence, any little thing from a politician becomes magical.
“Other reasons are violence and or militarisation of elections where they are not popular. This reduces the chances of the opposition to emerge in such places thereby using their popular polling centres to be ahead of their competitors. Other factors are voter apathy, divide and rule tactics, propaganda and consistent failure of the past.”
Following the judgement of tribunals, so far, the PDP has 14 governors; APC has 20 governors; LP, one governor; APGA, one governor; while NNPP has lost its only seat.
The APC has 57 senators; PDP has 35 senators; LP, eight senators; SDP, two senators; NNPP, two senators; YPP, one senator (Ifeanyi Ubah, who just defected to the APC last week), while APGA has one senator.
The APC is leading with 173 seats in the House of Representatives; PDP has 111; LP has 29; NNPP has 17; APGA, five; ADC, two; SDP, two; and YPP, two seats.
