Kayode Lawal
Senator Smart Adeyemi, Kogi West; Mr. Shuaibu Abubakar Audu and three others have demanded the cancellation of the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs in an interview with journalists outside the Federal High Court in Abuja, where the suits were filed, asked President Muhammadu Buhari, the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice President-elect, Senator kashim Shettima and the Arewa Consultative Forum to intervene in order to save democracy in Kogi State.
In their separate suits marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/556/2023 and FHC/ABJ/ CS/557/2023, filed by Senator Adeyemi and Shuaib Abubakar Audu respectively, the plaintiffs are asking the court to declare as illegal, unlawful and invalid the purported Direct Primary election said to have been conducted by APC and which produced Ahmed Usman Ododo as the governorship candidate of the APC for November this year election.
The grouse of governorship aspirants was that the alleged unlawful selection of Ododo ran foul of Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution and Section 29 and 84 of the Electoral Act as well as Article 20 of the APC’s Constitution.
Apart from Adeyemi and Audu, other aspirants who have already commenced legal action against the outcome of the primary election include a former Minister of State for Education, Professor Stephen Ocheni; Deputy National Publicity Secretary of APC, Martala Yakubu Ajaka and Dr Sanusi Ohiare.
A Federal High Court in Abuja had earlier nullified the first primary election of APC following similar complaints of fraud and irregularities.
Justice James Omotoso had ordered the APC to conduct a fresh primary election in line with the provisions of the guidelines and Constitution of the party.
However, the plaintiffs in the fresh suits are praying the court to invoke Section 177 of the Constitution, Sections 29 and 84 of the Electoral Act and Article 20 of the APC’s Constitution, to declare the purported primary election invalid.
They also asked the court for an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission to reject and refuse recognition of the name of Ahmed Usman Ododo as APC’s governorship candidate on the grounds that he emerged from an invalid primary election.
Similarly, the aggrieved governorship aspirants also prayed for another order compelling APC to conduct a fresh primary election and to give all aspirants equal opportunity as prescribed by the Electoral Act, 2022.
Senator Adeyemi’s suit and that of Abubakar Audu are instituted on their behalf separately by Dr Adekunle Oladapo Otitoju.
In a 35 paragraph affidavit in support of his own originating summons, Senator Adeyemi claimed to have obtained his nomination and expression of interest form at N50 million upon which he was screened and cleared to participate in the primary election slated for April 14, 2023.
Adeyemi further claimed that while waiting at his constituency to cast his vote along with his people, he was shocked when information came to him that a purported primary election had been conducted and a purported winner had emerged.
Addressing a joint press conference shortly after filing the suit Senator Adeyemi and Audu described the purported primary that produced Ododo as a phenomenal rape of democracy and must not be allowed to stand if democracy is to thrive in the country.
Adeyemi alleged that governor Yahaya Bello had asked all the aspirants to step down for his preferred candidate who is from the same zone with him, adding that it is the turn of Kogi West which had not produced a governor in the history of the state to do so.
While noting that some aspirants have been subdued already, the Senator assured that he would fight the injustice to the last in the interest of Kogi people and democracy.
“If election was rigged, we know that election was rigged, but election never took place at all”, he said.
Audu said what happened in Kogi State during the purported primary election was contrary to the constitution, and should not be allowed to stand.
They accused Governor Bello of manipulating the whole process that produced his first cousin from the same polling unit, from the same ward, from the same local government and from the same tribe, Usman Ododo against the laid down rules and regulations.
Amongst other wrong steps, the aspirants alleged that Governor Bello presided over a panel where figures were concocted in favour of Ododo to announce his name as winner of the purported primary election.
The two governorship aspirants further claimed that Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, who ought to preside actually avoided the charade called primary election.
No date has been fixed for hearing of the suits.
