Speaker takes over as gov in Kogi: Appeal court okays Idris’ removal - Mixed reactions over judgment - AC, Afenifere, lawyers commend judiciary

From Johnson Babajide, Lanre Adewole, Okey Muogbo, Yekini Jimoh, Bola Badmus, Ayodele Adesanmi Adewale Ajayi and Dolapo Ekanade - 07.02.2008

FOLLOWING the order by President Umaru Yar’Adua after the Court of Appeal upheld the nullification of the election of Alhaji Ibrahim Idris as Kogi State governor, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Honourable Clarence Olafemi, was on Wednesday sworn-in as the acting governor of the state.

The swearing-in ceremony, which was conducted by the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Umaru Eri, at about 6.15 p.m. was attended by members of the House of Assembly, the Head of Service of the state and politicians.

The acting governor, after the swearing-in, described himself as a child of destiny and circumstance, promising to discharge his duties according to the rule of law.

He appealed to the people of the state to bury their differences and come together as one big family.

"I appeal to every section of the state to embrace peace and unity in the interest of the development of the state,” he said.

While admonishing the people of the state, the acting governor urged them to cooperate with him in order to have a successful transition, adding, "the progress of the state depends on us. No one will help us in building Kogi State, we must come together to build it ourselves."

President Yar’Adua on Wednesday ordered the immediate swearing-in of the Speaker as the acting governor.

The order by the president was contained in a statement in Abuja by the Special Assistant to the President (Communications), Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, made available to the Nigerian Tribune on Wednesday. According to the statement, the presidential order was in accordance with Sub-Section 2 of Section 191 of the 1999 Constitution

Giving reason for the president’s decision, Adeniyi said since the tribunal was silent on the successor to Idris, the government sought the opinion of the Attorney General who advised the president to order the swearing-in of the speaker.

All relevant security agencies, the statement said, had been ordered to maintain the peace in the state and ensure that no breakdown of law and order took place.

In accordance with the law, the statement said “the Speaker will hold office until a governor is properly elected within 90 days as ordered by the Court of Appeal.”

President Yar’Adua “advises all those adversely affected by the judgment to accept it in good faith as a necessary aspect of the evolution of true democracy in our country,” the statement said.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had on Wednesday unanimously okayed the nullification of the election of Kogi State governor, Ibrahim Idris, by the Election Petition Tribunal in Lokoja.

Section 246 of the 1999 Constitution makes the court the final arbiter on governorship elections. A full panel of the court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh governorship election in the state within 90 days, with the candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Prince Abubakar Audu, as a contestant.

The appellate court was, however, silent on who should take over in the state, since the sacked governor and his deputy who ran with him on the same ticket, are expected to quit office immediately.

Section 191 (2) of the 1999 Constitution makes the Speaker of the House of Assembly the beneficiary in such a situation. The Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal had also nullified the election of the speaker of the Kogi House of Assembly, though he has a subsisting appeal.

The court made the orders while pronouncing on an appeal by Alhaji Idris, challenging the nullification of his election by the state governorship and Houses of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal.

The tribunal had on 10 October, 2007, nullified Idris’ victory at the April 14 governorship election in the state over the exclusion of Audu from the poll by the electoral commission.

Idris had appealed the judgment. In the lead judgment on the appeal on Wednesday, Justice Victor Omage upheld the decision of the tribunal that Audu’s exclusion from the poll, despite being validly nominated by his party, was a wrongful use of power by INEC, which invalidated the governorship election.

Omage, while knocking INEC for the unlawful exclusion, held that the alleged indictment of Audu for fraud by the federal and Kogi State governments, which formed the basis for his exclusion, was unknown to the law.

Leaning on the authority of the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Rotimi Amaechi V INEC, Omage stated that only a competent court of law could indict and bar candidates, adding that the indictment by any administrative or judicial panel of inquiry could not be self-executory.

He also said that the tribunal did not question the intendment of provisions of Section 182 (1) of the constitution, but merely applied the correct interpretation of the section while delivering judgment on Audu’s petition, challenging his exclusion from the poll.

Omage pointed out that INEC was in error of Sections 134 (1) and 147 of the Electoral Act, as well as Section 182 of the 1999 Constitution. The panel noted that Audu fulfilled all the requirements to participate in the election, and that his party was equally qualified to sue over his exclusion.

All the justices on the appeal berated INEC for indulging in acts that led to public funds being unjustifiably spent on court cases. Counsel for Idris, Mallam Yusuf Ali (SAN), had argued before the Appeal Court that INEC, in disqualifying Audu from contesting the state governorship election, acted on the judgment of the court.

Some weeks to the general election, the Court of Appeal held in an appeal filed by the Action Congress that INEC had the power to disqualify any candidate from contesting election in the country.

The decision was later set aside by the Supreme Court before the presidential election. Ali said that if INEC had allowed Audu to contest the election, the electoral body would have acted in disobedience of the judgment of the court.

He said the governorship election took place before the apex court set aside the Court of Appeal judgment. He argued that the judgment of any court was valid even if a party in the suit was on appeal.

Counsel for Audu, Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), said that INEC was wrong to have gone ahead to conduct the election when the decision of the Court of Appeal was already being challenged at the Supreme Court. Izinyon said the electoral body should have waited for the decision of the apex court before conducting the election.

Counsel for INEC, Mr. Kanu Agabi (SAN), told the court that the electoral body had already fixed a date for the election and could not have waited for the apex court to make pronouncement on the matter, since it would destabilise the April 14, 2007 polls.

Earlier on Wednesday, confusion pervaded Kogi State on who to succeed Alhaji Idris just as the Speaker allegedly snatched the mace while the sitting of the House of Assembly was on to prevent his removal by the members.

The speaker, who is also embattled as a result of the nullification of his election by the state election petition tribunal, which he had appealed against and the judgment fixed for 28 February, 2008, was to be removed after he was said to have resisted persuasion by party elders to vacate the office for another member from his senatorial district.

His case was compounded by an exparte motion filed by the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) yesterday in Abuja requesting it to restrain the House from making him (the speaker) the acting governor due to his pending case at the Appeal Court.

The speaker was said to have snatched the mace and hurriedly left the chamber when the news of the judgment of the Appeal Court filtered into the House which brought the session to an unceremonious end.

At the time of filing this report, the former governor was reportedly in Abuja. The Appeal Court judgment was received with mixed feelings in Lokoja, the state capital. Government offices were deserted as workers left for home immediately the news filtered into town.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secretariat was deserted so also the ANPP secretariat. The whole town remained calm while policemen were drafted to strategic places to beef up security.

The leading counsel for Idris, Mallam Yusuf Ali (SAN) has said that the nullification of the election of his client would go a long way towards strengthening nation’s democracy and the rule of law.

Reacting to the verdict while speaking with journalists on his mobile phone, Mallam Ali noted that though the election that produced former Governor Idris was free and fair, it was nullified on the grounds that INEC excluded the name of Alhaji Audu from the ballot papers.

“The INEC was said to have based the exclusion of Alhaji Audu on the ballot papers on the panel that indicted him on wrongdoings while he was the governor of the state which the Supreme Court had already set aside. The ruling would go a long way towards enthroning true democratically elected representatives into the governance of the nation,” he said.

In his comment, a former speaker of Osun State House of Assembly, Dr. Mojeed Alabi, said that the ruling showed that a lot of things went wrong during the last general election where some state governors used the power of incumbency to perpetrate rigging.

He said that former Governor Idris should have vacated his office when the governorship and National Assembly election petitions tribunal nullified his election instead allegedly using government funds to challenge the judgment at the appeal court.

The Action Congress (AC) has hailed the ruling of the Court of Appeal. The party, in a statement issued on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also called for the removal of the INEC chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu, “because if he is not removed, efforts of the judiciary to help restore sanity to the country's electoral process will be in vain, for as long as he remains the INEC chairman”.

The party stated that unless something was done urgently, the fresh elections ordered in Kogi and other states would still be conducted by INEC under the chairmanship of Iwu, whose alleged failure to organise credible elections last April had led to the rash of nullification of results across the land, in the first instance.

''The Nigerian judiciary has become the toast of Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike, because of its ability to rise above the widespread rot in the system and dispense justice without fear or favour," AC said.

AC stated that other arms of the government should play their own role in ensuring that the country evolved a credible and transparent electoral system that would be the reference point in Africa and around the world.

The party explained that it was unfortunate that such cannot happen for as long as the powers that be believed that Iwu should remain at the helm in INEC. “The question then arise, Who will organise the fresh elections being ordered?,” it asked.

Meanwhile, Alhaji Idris on Wednesday said he accepted the verdict of the Court of Appeal. In a statement issued by his Special Assistant, Media and Public Affairs, Faruk Adejoh-Audu, the former governor stated that, as a law-abiding citizen, he is a firm believer in the rule of law, and as such, respects without hesitation, the verdict of the judiciary.

"The governor thanks the good people of Kogi State for their unflinching support, which translated into the massive votes he recorded in the 2003 and 2007 general election. The governor appreciates this kind gesture and solidarity of the grassroots, which is responsible for the high level of development the administration has recorded in the state.

"Alh. Idris is always willing and ready to serve the people with all his energy and ability as the people decide. He, therefore, takes the decision of the Appeal Court in good faith and welcomes his challengers to the political field. The ultimate judgment will come from the electorate of Kogi State."

INEC on Wednesday also said it would abide by the decision. The INEC National Commissioner in Charge of Information and Publicity, Mr Philip Umeadi (Jnr), told newsmen in his office that the commission would abide by the decision of the court.

“We expect that within 90 days, we will conduct the election after consultation with all the major stakeholders involved in the process'' Some legal luminaries have also hailed the judgment.

Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) described the ruling as a welcome development. According to him, “ this has shown that it is not business as usual and the judiciary has once again creditably acquitted itself and has shown in no unmistakable terms that it is really the hope of the common man.”

On the Iwu-led INEC conducting fresh elections, Fagbemi pointed out that “it will still be INEC that will conduct the election. Iwu should be shown the way out by the president even if he (Iwu) himself has not considered it fit to leave at this point.”

Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN) also stated that politicians “ought to have gone to the president and the National Assembly and ask for one thing, which is to dissolve the present Iwu-led INEC. Any politician contesting under him is unserious.”

Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), a former Ondo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, said the decision of the appellate court was expected. He asked that Professor Maurice Iwu be sacked, as it would not make sense to allow him to conduct fresh elections as head of INEC.

“I wonder why President Yar’Adua is taking so long at arriving at a decision. Iwu should never be allowed to conduct any election again in this country,” he stated. The pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has commended the judiciary on the judgment.

According to a statement signed by Afenifere‘s publicity secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, the pronouncements of the courts show the greatest embarrassment of an election organised by INEC boss under the supervision of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Senators from Kogi State said on Wednesday that they were ready for fresh gubernatorial election as ordered by the Appeal Court. Two senators from the state, who spoke on the nullification, Smart Adeyemi (PDP Kogi West) and Saliu Ohize (AC Kogi Central) said that the political parties were ready to contest the repeat election.