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Editorial
EDITORIAL Listen to el-Rufai
Governor Nasir el Rufai of Kaduna state is not one to keep quiet in the face of imminent danger. And because he is a governor and a member of the ruling party’s inner caucus his alarm registers instantly. Late July, El Rufai warned that “terrorists are consolidating their grip on communities in Kaduna state”, forming “a parallel government” and setting up “a permanent operational base.” In a memo to President Muhammadu Buhari, the governor said the terrorists, belonging to Ansaru, for short, moved to Birnin Gwari in 2012 when they broke away from Boko Haram. He described how the terrorists overran communities and formed “a parallel governing authority,” exercising control over social and economic activities and dispensation of justice.
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El Rufai noted that in the countdown to next year’s general elections, the group had promulgated a law banning residents from partisan politics. “The insurgents enacted a law, banning all forms of political activity or campaigning ahead of the 2023 elections, especially in Madobiya and Kazage villages.” He said, “According to actionable intelligence, members of the
Jama’atu Ansarul Musulmina Fi’biladis Sudan (aka Ansaru) are hibernating in Kuyello district of Birnin Gwari LGA, which recently conducted a nuptial ceremony during which they married two yet-to-beidentifed female residents of Kuyello village. The ceremony was attended by various Ansaru members and witnessed by residents of the area. After the marital rites, insurgents in attendance reportedly conveyed the brides to the dreaded Kuduru forest in the same district.” “ The ceremony The July memo was el Rufai’s second confidential was attended by correspondence various Ansaru members and with President Buhari on the dire security challenge witnessed by confronting the residents of the area. After the nation. In 2016, just a year after Buhari came marital rites to power, el Rufai, himself elected governor for the frst time, warned the president that he was losing the battle against terrorists. This is not politicking because the two men are in the same governing All Progressives Congress (APC). It is why the president must listen to el Rufai and do the needful in the fght against terror. He is at the tail end of his presidency but he still has time to do something to write his name in gold. His information Minister Lai Mohammed, last weekend, said the reign of terror was over. True or not, time will tell.
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Chief Operating OffiCer /editOr, Hameed m. Bello, PhD
Manager, adMinistratiOn Hassan Hammanyaji
hEAD, adVert
Patrick UGama
OUR VISION
PAGE 11 Letter to the Editor
The Adamawa PDP Legal Tussle
All eyes are on the legal tussle surrounding the May 25th, 2022, Gubernatorial Primary Election of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State, which produced Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri as the winner — unopposed.
Political pundits are observing how the PDP will come out of this thorny issue, while legal experts are watching how the judiciary will steer itself from controversy in handling the case. The latest of intra-party legal skirmishes in Nigeria, the case is similar to many legal tussles that led to the nullifcation of countless secondary and primary elections in Nigeria, because the political parties wrongfully disqualifed aspirants or refused to adhere to their own guidelines, the electoral act or the Constitution. An aspirant for the Adamawa PDP— 2023 gubernatorial ticket, Ambassador Mohammed Jameel Wazir, a 2014 contestant for the same position and a former chief protocol offcer to former president Goodluck Jonathan, has approached the Federal High Court Abuja, to challenge his exclusion from the May 25th, 2022, Adamawa PDP Gubernatorial primary election. Waziri was reportedly disqualifed in Bauchi by the Gubernatorial Primaries Screening Committee chaired by Abubakar Sadiq on the premises that the committee has ‘instructions from the party Headquarters not to clear him.’ The aspirant was issued neither a disqualifcation nor qualifcation certifcate in Bauchi, in contravention of the party’s rules which gives disqualifed candidates the fair chance to appeal before the Appeal Panel. Above notwithstanding, the aspirant submitted a petition to the 12-man appeal panel in Abuja. He was appropriately rescreened by the panel, which cleared him to contest the primaries. Still, the National Working Committee (NWC) denied the aspirant the right to contest the gubernatorial primary election, because it was reported that, the NWC said, the party need to enhance the chances of the incumbent governor. But why did the party go ahead to sell nomination & expression forms to its members? The party is prepared for the consequence of its actions?
Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court Abuja has ruled that his court lacks jurisdiction on the case brought by Ambassador Waziri against the PDP, over the former’s unlawful disqualifcation from the May 25th, 2022 primaries. The Judge further said- ‘It’s a family affair’. But if a son feels his father has cheated him, or a wife feels her husband has cheated on her, didn’t they have the right to seek justice from the courts of law? The law, they say, is blind!
An intriguing aspect of the crisis is the political implications for Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate for the 2023 presidential election, who is from Adamawa state. This implies that Atiku is facing two crises — one on the home front and the other, at the national level — from the Governor Nyesom Wike’s ‘distraction’. Many legal experts believe Wazir’s case has merit, and this may be why the Federal High Court’s only option is to claim no jurisdiction over the case. Section 84(3) of the Electoral Act 2022 and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) are explicit on the disqualifcation of a candidate or an aspirant. Furthermore, the frst article in the PDP electoral guidelines for the gubernatorial primary election says – “in Compliance with section 84(3) of the Electoral Act 2022, the qualifcation and disqualifcation criteria shall only be as stated in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). Article 4 said: The decision of the National Executive Committee of the party on all primary election matters shall be fnal and binding. And, Article 5 section (f) of the same guidelines also stated that: “Only aspirants cleared by the Gubernatorial Screening Committee or whose appeal the Gubernatorial Screening Appeal Panel has upheld shall be qualifed to participate in the primary election as contained in the fnal list of cleared aspirants.
The Court of Appeal will commence proceedings on the case on September 2, 2022. All eyes are on the judiciary and the judges who will preside over the case, because the case is similar to that, which led to Zamfara APC losing all elected seats in the state to the PDP in 2019. The case also has a 2020 antecedent in the governorship position in Bayelsa state which affrmed PDP as the winner against the APC. Another is the Supreme Court nullifcation of November 6, 2021, APC primaries that produced Andy Uba as the party’s governorship candidate. The apex court, in a unanimous decision by a fve-member panel of Justices, held that the gubernatorial primary election that produced Uba was conducted in breach of guidelines that were set by the APC. Equally, on August 29, 2022, The Court of Appeal in Abuja reinstated Sheriff Oborevwori as the duly nominated governorship candidate of the PDP in Delta State, who was disqualifed by a Federal High Court. Political parties should learn to respect their own laws and that of the country. And, all eyes are on the Court of Appeal Judges that will preside over Wazir’s case against the conduct of the Adamawa PDP Gubernatorial primary elections, to do justice to the case. Rule Number 3.1 of the National Judicial Council, states that - ‘A Judicial Offcer should be true and faithful to the Constitution and the Law, uphold the course of justice by abiding with provisions of Constitution and the Law and should acquire and maintain professional competence.
Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Abuja, 08036070980, zaymohd@ yahoo.com
