Political Realignments As Kebbi Awaits Court Of Appeal Judgment

Matthew Abraham, Birnin Kebbi

Alhaji Usman Saidu Nasamu
Dakingari SINCE the election tribunal sitting in Birnin-Kebbi nullified the election of Kebbi State Governor, Alhaji Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari of the People’s Democratic Party(PDP), who consequently went to the Court of Appeal to regain the seat, things have not been the same in the political circle in the state.

The recent judgment by the Court of Appeal which upheld the removal of his Kogi State counterpart, who was also removed at the first instance by an election tribunal, has indirectly heightened the level of tension in the state.

Opposition parties are already celebrating their victory, even when they have different prayers before the Court of Appeal on the election tribunal judgment against the incumbent Governor, Alhaji Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari.

The opposition parties, still basking in the success recorded at the tribunal, have been working on a theory that since October 20, 2007 when the tribunal nullified the election that ushered in Governor Dakingari, his continued stay in office is illegal, thus, they have refused to cooperate with him.

Confusion has also engulfed the ruling PDP and the Action Congress, with members now at daggers-drawn one another.

Majority of the PDP members are now waiting for the outcome of the Court of Appeal as many of them are said to be unhappy with the governor's style of administration, accusing him of imposing candidates in the scheduled local government elections in the state.

Old members of the PDP are mostly in this group and they are now praying openly that the case should not favour the incumbent. They felt cheated and betrayed by Dakingari, saying he has reneged on a gentleman agreement to allow them to field PDP candidates at the local government polls.

From the records of the candidates presented to the SIEC, out of the 21 local governments, only four slots for chairmanship went to the old PDP.

A PDP stalwart, Alhaji Sani Dododo, said, the PDP had been taken over by only one person. "He dictates to the whole people of the state and the party. Anyway, the case in the Appeal Court will settle things and from there the state will be liberated and freed from the oppression.

"We are anxiously waiting for the Appeal Court judgment. We now have hope and confidence in the judiciary. We are expecting a similar verdict to that of Kogi State, Insha Allah."

Alhaji Abubakar Kalgo, the Assistant National Publicity Secretary of DPP and former Special Adviser on Special Duties to Governor Aliero, added: "What you are seeing in the PDP is not a new thing and that is the end of the PDP here in the state. You see only one person employing and firing, imposing candidates. That's why we are saying they are not capable of governing the state."

Kalgo maintained that members of the old block would work for Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji Abubakar in case a re-run of the governorship election is ordered.

He re-emphasised that, his party, the DPP, would not participate in the scheduled local government elections and that they were heading to the law court to stop the election in the state.

According to him, the SIEC has already taken side, when at a meeting with all the political parties, the electoral body boss declared that in any part of the country, the ruling parties have been the ones winning all the seats in the local government election.

He asked, "Why is the state government in a hurry? We have already made our minds known to them. We challenged the governorship election and we have won, but they are only hanging on to an appeal, an appeal that will soon put them to shame. Does it make sense when we went to the court and the court disqualified the governor, why then must he retain the office and why must we abide with his instructions or dictations? Let them wait for the last blast of the whistle from the Appeal Court."

The ANPP is, however, preparing for a fresh election with activities now picking up in the personal residence of the ANPP governorship candidate, Sen. Farouk Bello Bunza, and his posters being pasted all over in anticipation that the Court of Appeal will favour the party in its final judgment.

ANPP state chairman, Danmoriki Kabi, disclosed that the PDP was already confused, adding that they had no hiding place this time around.

"All we are waiting for now is the judgment on the appeal. We have a renewed confidence in the judiciary. How the judgment of the Kogi State went has shown that the judiciary remains the last hope of the common man."

He accused the PDP-led government of reckless spending, saying about N2 million was spent to persuade some opposition parties to participate in the local government election, while money was also voted to bribe some individuals to stand for election, even when such people were not card-carrying members of any political party.

Danmaliki stated that ANPP had already filed its case in the state High Court.

''We have a legal battle in which we are expecting victory. Not that alone, the governor has been disqualified; we said he did not win the election and he was not an authentic governor of Kebbi State.

The election tribunal has confirmed our claims. We are only awaiting the final judgment from the appeal court. No hurry in life; we have every hope in the judiciary. Confusion has set into the nerves of the PDP. That's why they are using the state money to bribe and lure people for the local government elections," Danmoriki said.

The Action Congress (AC) is also engrossed in a crisis of confidence as the state chairman of the party has been accused by its members of collecting N2 million from the state government to void the earlier position of the party not to participate in the council election.

The chairman, Salisu Garba Koko, has however denied the allegation, saying that sheer patriotism informed his decision to have a change of mind, saying the state must move forward.

Already, the AC National Secretariat has moved in to probe the allegation. It has barred the state chairman from attending NEC meetings of the party.

With the spate of judgments by Courts of Appeal confirming the tribunals' position in many states, AC members are jubilating that their chairman will be disgraced at the end of the day if the court finally asks the PDP government to vacate office.

However, the incumbent governor, Dakingari, seems not bothered about all these scheming and happenings around him, as he has continued with the act of governance without any sign of worry.

How Niger Gov’s Wife Bought Freedom For 62-year-old, 14 Other Convicts

Dipo Laleye, Minna

Hajia Jumai Babangida

Danjuma Gambo was a peasant farmer based in Sarkin Pawa town of Niger State. He hails from Dambatta village in Jigawa State and had settled in Niger State for about 25 years, during which he married and had eight children. Danjuma Gambo, until last October, was a free man.

According to Gambo, he had battled with birds which usually destroyed his farm harvests, making him lose what would have been income for him. One day in October, according to him, a cock strayed into his compound and went about eating some of his harvested crops which he had spread to dry.

He killed, cooked and ate the rooster. When the owner of the cock later discovered what had happened, he reported to the police. Gambo was arrested and prosecuted. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment with an option of N5,000 fine by a Sarin Pawa magistrate court.

Gambo said he opted to go to prison instead of paying the fine, because even if all the crops from his farm were sold, it would not amount to the N5,000 fine; which meant that if the whole money was given to the court, his family would starve until another harvest season.

He had had only 25 days left to complete the prison sentence when the wife of the Niger State Governor, Hajia Jumai Mu’Azu Babangida, came calling on Tuesday. The case of 18-year old Mohammed Lawal, also of Sarkin Pawa, is similar to that of Gambo. He was arrested at about the same time for stealing raw pepper.

Lawal, a Fulani boy, confessed to committing the offence and was summarily tried and sentenced to six months imprisonment with an option of N5,000 fine. He could not pay the fine and not until the governor’s wife came to his rescue, a few days to his release, did respite came.

Thirteen other inmates of the Minna Prison were also lucky to regain freedom, courtesy of Hajia Jumai Babangida who facilitated their release through her yet to be publicly launched pet project ‘Life Rehabilitation Foundation.’

Apart from paying the fines, Hajia Jumai Babangida also gave undisclosed cash to each of those that were discharged to enable them start life afresh. In addition, she donated six sets of computers to the prison, which were to serve as take-off of a computer literacy training programme for both the inmates and the prison officials. Hajia Jumai Babangida said the Foundation intended to achieve its objectives by promoting and assisting girl-child education, women empowerment, old people’s homes and ex-convicts.

According to her, “Life Rehabilitation Foundation is also set to embark on reformation, rehabilitation and re-integration of inmates in prisons.” She said the project was being propelled by the provisions of the United Nations article, especially rules 58, and 77 (1&2) which emphasise reformation and reintegration of prison inmates, so that the inmates would abstain from criminal behaviour after their discharge from the prisons.

Hajia Babangida stressed the need for inmates and ex-convicts to be reformed by inculcating in them a sense of responsibility and service to the community, as well as instilling discipline in their lives.

Some of the recently released
prisoners

She regretted that the nation’s laws made little or no provision for integration of prisoners into the society after their sentence, which had made it almost impossible for the inmates to get employed either in the public or private sector after their discharge from prison. To solve this problem, she said the project had drawn out programmes towards prison decongestion through payment of fines on behalf of convicts, resettlement of the released convicts through grants, after-care services and skill acquisition programmes, including computer training.

She vowed to partner with local, national and international agencies to improve the conditions of prisons in the state, so that they would serve the purpose for which they were established. Speaking further, Hajia Jumai Babangida said her NGO would collaborate with organisations and individuals to achieve its aims. She, however, did not say when the public presentation of the project would be made.

State Comptroller of Prisons, Mr. Nuhu Ibrahim Zuru, highlighted the problems confronting the prison to include poor state of equipment needed to train inmates, adding that all the tailoring and carpentry equipment provided for the prisons in the state were no longer functional due to overuse.

“I want to seize this opportunity to inform you that there is no functional vehicle to convey inmates to and from hospitals in all the prisons in the state,” Nuhu said, adding “the geographical spread of the prisons coupled with the age and type of vehicle the controller uses makes effective supervision very difficult.”

Mr. Nuhu believed that the intervention of the wife of the governor would not only bring succour to the staff of the prisons, but would turn the organisation to a model in the country.

Malam Dalandi who was among those discharged after the governors’ wife paid his fine expressed appreciation to Hajia Jumai and promised to turn a new life by being obedient to the laws of the land.

The state Commissioner for Science And Education, Mrs Sussan Saba, commended the boldness of the governor’s wife for treading on a path many had feared to use. Mrs Saba observed that if governments in the country and other non governmental organisations had focused attention on the nation’s prisons and their inmates, the rot in them would not only have been corrected but the inmates would have turned away from their bad habits right from the prisons’ ceremony.