politics & judgement analyzer

INTROVERT:
As usual Barcanista doesn't dissapiont... I expect a rejoinder on this issue from the other political party...

chukwudi44:
It would be interesting to see what the supreme court would rule on this matter!! Let me see whether the supreme court would contradict itself

chukwudi44:
It would be interesting to see what the supreme court would rule on this matter!! Let me see whether the supreme court would contradict itself

jstbeinhonest:
Did PDP go to court on such grounds?.

TonyeBarcanista:
Just yesterday, the Taraba state governorship election petition tribunal that sat in Abuja nullified the election of Governor Ishaku Darius of the PDP in favor of Hajia Aisha Alhassan of APC. The decision was based on the ground that Architect Ishaku Darius was not validly nominated by the PDP in contravention of Sections 78, 85 and 87 of the Electoral Act(EA 2010). Specifically, the tribunal held that the PDP never had legal candidate for the Taraba poll.

If we are to go by the judgement, then it will be fair for the Benue state election tribunal to nullify the election of Governor Samuel Orthom of APC because his nomination contravened S 78(b)(1)(2), 85(1) and 85(2) of the Electoral Act as well.

Governor Orthom's Illegitimate Nomination:
According to INEC's timetable for 2015 General election, primary election of candidate was slated for October 2 and December 11, 2014.

The APC Governorship primary election for Benue state was originally slated for December 4/5 2014, but it wasn't held. It was again shifted to December 11, 2014(deadline) but NO primary election was held on the said day. No report that any delegate participated in ANY primary election on that day. The party 'elders' settled for a consensus candidate before the midnight of the day. Even the pro-APC Nations Newspaper reported that;

"Chief Ortom emerged after other governorship aspirants stepped down for him at the end of a close door meeting brokered by the senate minority leader, Senator George Akume, in Makurdi."
www.thenationonlineng.net/benue-apc-settles-ortom-governorship-candidate/

In fact, the five other APC aspirants including, Emmanuel Jime, Mike Iordye, Akange Audu, Sen Joseph Waku and Prof Steve Ugbah released a statement on December 12, 2014 to REJECT the arrangement of the so-called party elders in Benue state (see here www.leadership.ng/news/394871/benue-apc-primaries-5-guber-aspirants-reject-ortom).

Further more, INEC was NOT present at the dead of the night to witness the illegitimate arrangement that was held inside somebody's parlour. Let us no forget that Goodluck Jonathan though a PDP consensus candidate, went through formal primaries to fulfill the Electoral Act.

APC Has No Legal Gubernatorial Candidate For Benue state:
Going by the above, the arrangement that brought Samuel Orthom as the APC candidate for Benue state governorship election contravenes sections 78(b)(1)(2) and85(1)(2) of the Electoral Act 2010.

Section 78 (b) (1)(2) of the Electoral Act states: In the case of nomination to the position of Governorship candidate, a political party shall where they intend to sponsor candidates:

(i) hold special congress in each of the Local Government Areas of the States with delegates voting for each of the aspirants at the congress to be held in designated centres on specified dates.

(ii) the aspirant with the highest number of vote at the end of the voting shall be declared the winner of the primaries of the party and aspirant’s name shall be forwarded to the commission as the candidate of the party, for the particular state.

The arrangement that brought Orthom never met the above condition. Hence, the APC technically has no candidate for Benue state governorship election 2015. There is no record that APC Benue delegates endorsed Samuel Orthom as candidate through voice votes or ballot box. There is also no record that INEC witnessed any Benue APC governorship primary election on or before December 11, 2014 which is in contravento to S85 of the Electoral Act.

The PDP candidate Terhemen Tarzor should have been declared as the legitimate winner of the election by INEC.

INEC's Glaring Hypocrisy:
The position of INEC on Taraba and Benue states reeks double standard. While they testified that they never witnessed ANY primary legitimate PDP primary for Taraba state governorship contest, the FAILED to testify same for Benue state. This issue should be taken up by the PDP to reclaim Benue state to the people. I believe that the court will do the needful should PDP raise this issue before it.

What is good for Taraba should be good for Benue.


May God Bless Us All and Bless Nigeria

SenseiX:

Yes, that's the whole crux of the PDP's case, by this Taraba decision, if The tribunal does not remove Ortom in Benue, then the PDP's claims of judicial bias is substantiated

TonyeBarcanista:

Neither did APC went to court on such ground in Taraba state. It was INEC that brought it up before the tribunal in their testimony.
There is no way APC can legitimately escape this

odiks:


Thank God you acknowledged that INEC testified on behalf of Ortom so that settles it.

TonyeBarcanista:

Neither did APC went to court on such ground in Taraba state. It was INEC that brought it up before the tribunal in their testimony.
There is no way APC can legitimately escape this

The APC and its candidate, Alhassan, had gone before the tribunal to challenge the victory of Ishaku of the PDP at the polls.

The petitioners prayed the tribunal to void the governorship poll for corrupt practices and substantial non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended.

They also urged the tribunal to disqualify the 1st respondent, Ishaku, and hold that all votes credited to him during the election were “wasted and thrown away votes”.

The petitioners through their lead counsel, Mr. Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, told the tribunal: “Contrary to the provisions of Section 85 of the Electoral Act, which requires the service of at least 21 days to INEC before the holding of congress for the conduct of primary election, the 2nd respondent (PDP) only delivered their notice to INEC on December 11, 2014, at exactly 6:04pm and held the purported primaries on the same day. This was apparently after they have conducted the said primary.

“That in defiance of the requirement of Section 87 of the Electoral Act, the 2nd respondent held the purported primary at Abuja as against Jalingo, Taraba State capital.

“That relying on their earlier notice to INEC for the holding of the primary at the Taraba State capital, INEC (3rd respondent) sent their monitoring team to observe the primary election on December 8, 2014, but the congress did not hold without any explanation from the party.

“That in flagrant disregard to the demand of the Electoral Act 2010, the 1st and 2nd respondents held their primary in Abuja without approval from INEC.

“That by reason of paragraphs i, ii, iii, and iv above, the 1st respondent was not duly sponsored by his political party as required under section 177(c) of the 1999 constitution nor duly sponsored, the 1st respondent is/was not qualified to have contested the gubernatorial election that held in Taraba State on April 11 and 25, 2015”.

Culled from Vanguard Newspaper

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/11/why-tribunal-sacked-taraba-governor/

AZeD1:
Law is not mathematics so you can't use the situation in one case to judge another.
Have you ever wondered why some people steal and are given 6 months while the same crime committed by another person gets 5 years?

INTROVERT:
As usual Barcanista doesn't disappoint ... I expect a rejoinder on this issue from the other political party...