Kebbi govt dispels rumour against Dakingari

Idowu Samuel, Abuja - 19.02.2008

As the Appeal Court in Kebbi State pre- pares for its next sitting today on the appeal filed before it by the state governor, Alhaji Saidu Usman Dakingari, the state government has dismissed speculations that the court would pass a judgement to uphold an earlier decision on the case by the Election Tribunal.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Due Process, Mallam Usman Aminu, who was in Abuja, told newsmen that from facts available to the government, the court would only continue the hearing of the appeal before it and not pass any judgment today. Usman, a lawyer, fingered the opponents of Dakingari as the mastermind of the speculation, which he described as “untrue, wicked and convoluted.”

He said the motive behind the speculation was to confuse the electorate in the state ahead of the local government election which is about being conducted in a manner that suggests that the governor would lose at the Appeal court.

He said during the last sitting of the court, the counsel representing both the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) on the one hand and those of the state governor on the other hand, had asked the court for time to prepare new briefs on the governors appeal.

He said other things being equal, the Appeal court would only allow the counsels to present their briefs if they all agreed to do so, adding that it is after the court had taken the briefs that it would adjourn to another day to deliver its judgment.