My state is a joker, always in the news for bad things since this incumbent governor took over

AYB charm no be here been tink say na igala do jazz pass

Wada lacks legal right to question Bello’s nomination – Tribunal

Ade Adesomoju, Abuja

The Kogi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja has ruled that the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate in the November 21 and December , 2015 governorship election in the state, Idris Wada, lacked locus standi to question the nomination of his All Progressives Congress counterpart, Yahaya Bello.

The Justice Hamima Mohammed-led tribunal made this pronouncement while upholding the preliminary of objection filed by Bello, the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission to challenging Wada’s petition.

Meanwhile, the tribunal is still considering the merit of the petition jointly filed by Wada, his running mate, Sunday Awoniyi and their party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

Wada had in his petition before the tribunal asked the tribunal to hold that he polled the highest lawful votes in the November 21 poll and the December 5 supplementary election and should be returned as the Governor of the state.

Wada contended that Bello only polled 6,805 votes in the December 5 supplementary election and could not possibly inherit the 240,867 votes polled by the original candidate of the APC in the November 21, 2015 election, the late Prince Abubakar Audu.

He therefore asked the tribunal to hold that having polled a total of 204,867 votes in the November 21 and December 5 supplementary election, he was the validly elected governor of the state.

But the tribunal ruled on the respondents’ preliminary objection the nomination and sponsorship of Bello as the governorship candidate of the APC was a domestic affair of the party.

It ruled that neither the petitioners, the tribunal nor any other person who did not participate in the primary of the party, had the legal capacity to inquire into the nomination of the party’s candidate.

It also held that the lawfulness or validity of votes as defined by the petitioners are not consistent with judicial authorities.

http://www.punchng.com/wada-lacks-legal-right-question-bellos-nomination-apc-candidate/


so it is expedient that the former governor will lose his case in the Tribunal

They gave him Votes of no confidence, but Almighty ONE IN BATTLE gave him Vote of confidence. Carry go H.E.AYB

Na Supreme court go settle the matter.

lalasticlala have left this breaking news in the cooler on how PDP were whipped at the Tribunal.....




I guess if it were the other way round..... it would have made headlines with the wailers feasting on it

where is lalasticlala? Faleke and Wada has been dusted. who is next?? we are waiting......
Hohohohohohohohohoho

Congrats Mr Bello

Hmmm, until I hear from supreme court.

englishmart:
you will soon hear from sharia court

ok

Faleke will appeal the judgment. Wike scenario might play out here

Can AYB now pay salaries pls? The state is owing it's workers six months salary already!...he has been given bail out for ALLAH's sake!!! I just pity workers in Kogi state.

TuraiAisha Buhari

ok

This present suit truly lacks merit.
L wish faleke well on appeal, he has a good cause of action

Oma307:
My state is a joker, always in the news for bad things since this incumbent governor took over

since Audu lost in 2003 to our biggest mistake Ibro carpenter. .

1. All votes belongs to the party not individual
2. Bello participated in the APC primaries..he was the second runner up..and therefore legally the next person after Audu.

Hmm...Had it been that APC made a mistake of giving the Barton to Faleke..na so them go jejely lose at the tribunal.



You can't have people like Yemi Osinbajo in a party and will not have enough legal acumen to deal with issues like this.

STALL NEWS!! GOVERNOR WE DON DE ROCK SINCE YESTERDAY

Watchin wit 5d

D tin just de pain Me #irepIgala

The judge obviously delivered this judgement UNDER DURESS! She kept complaining of intense body heat and malaria throughout the judgement.

Rumour has it that Bello is making a big mistake running a government of a clique of red beret nikkas... I just want nikka to do better than dudes before him. He fails and I fail, he succeeds and am good. He is my governor.

All inconsistencies will be harmonized at the apex court
- yesterday Faleke lacked locus standi for withdrawing from the election.
- today Faleke na deputy to YAHAYA because he did not withdraw properly.

The same judge fa . The same case fa.

Oma307:
My state is a joker, always in the news for bad things since this incumbent governor took over

block head

WHEN IS A CANDIDATE IN A GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION IN NIGERIA DEEMED TO HAVE WON ?

By Barr. Femi Mokikan

Judges enjoy the best of all worlds. I have not heard that any judge is penalized for wrong judgements which lead to a miscarriage of justice, beyond limiting their career advancements. Am not even sure about that. Only when it is incontrovertible that a case of money for judgement is established that one hears of sanctions. You may argue that the appellate courts are there to ensure such miscarriage of justice is corrected. May be we are getting to that point when in addition to the provision of the appellate courts, some sanctions are introduced for judges that demonstrate such a questionable level of competence as some judges are wont to do. I expect to be vilified for this by some people. It is a reflection of how extremely disappointing this tribunal judgement is to me and many others. I have read the account as posted on some of the social platforms by different individuals, and the account as reported on Channels TV 10pm news and some radio stations at different times. I know I will be accused by some for reacting without waiting to read the entire judgement. I just cannot resist the urge. Because of some of what appear to me as gaffs which will do so much damage to the image and integrity of our judiciary if allowed to stand. Everything contained in the judgement appear to flow from the inability of the tribunal to answer a simple question.

There was an election on November 21 2015. The constitution says " a candidate for an election to the office of governor of a state SHALL BE DEEMED TO HAVE BEEN DULY ELECTED (caps mine). (Please note- the constitution did not say declared or announced) where, there being two or more candidates- a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and b) he has not less than one quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two thirds of all local government areas in the state". See Sec. 179 (2) of the constitution. At the time INEC declared the election inconclusive these two provisions were already satisfied. What followed thereafter we all know, I therefore will not repeat or bore you with the details. Section 181 (1) adequately provides for what to do in the unforeseen event of "a person DULY ELECTED as governor dies before taking and subscribing the oath of allegiance...the person elected with him as Deputy Governor shall be sworn in as governor..." Sec. 179(2) provides for qualifications to be DEEMED DULY ELECTED. Sec 181(1) now addresses the DULY ELECTED in the event of anything happening to him to make it impossible for swearing in. If not for the common saying that the law is an ass, I would have said this looks straight forward. The main question that Hon Faleke asked the tribunal to answer was whether INEC was right in declaring the election of November 21 inconclusive in view of what we know about the facts and the applicable laws. From all I have read and heard so far, it would appear the question is yet to be answered. The closest to it was where the tribunal said "INEC said the election was inconclusive". Who did not know that they said so? Were they right or wrong in saying so? That is where the tribunal ought to start from. All other issues will stand or collapse on whatever the answer to this question is. If the answer is that INEC erred in declaring the election inconclusive, the supplementary election will count for nothing. Since the tribunal could not answer the most critical question, and the question requires an answer, Hon Falake has to approach their superiors, which is the appeal court. And if there is no answer at that level, proceed to the Supreme Court. It is important to do this for the sake of our democracy.

It will be helpful at whatever stage the question is to be answered to avert our minds to section 53(2&4) of the Electoral Act. This is the section that has anything to do with election rerun. Supplementary or rerun election is provided for only in units where there are over voting. You will recall that not all units where INEC ordered a rerun had problems of over voting. Some were due to violence, rejection of card reader etc as reported by INEC itself. While the tribunal failed to address itself to the constitutional provisions in addressing this petition, it went ahead to base its judgement on some curious pronouncements. That Hon Faleke has no locus because he did not participate in a particular stage of the election. The tribunal took this position because it pretended not to know that sec. 179(2) of the constitution already operated to make the election conclusive. But let us even agree that it holds true for Hon Faleke, what do we say of AYB. Please check out s.141 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended. It provides that "An election tribunal or court shall not under any circumstances declare any person a winner at an election in which such a person has not FULLY PARTICIPATED IN ALL THE STAGES OF THE ELECTION. (Caps mine). The following questions can be validly raised: how many stages make up all the stages of the election? What are these stages? The electoral act did not provide answers. In such a case the law will invite a reasonable person to assist. The question to follow will then be How many stages did AYB FULLY participate in? Please note the word FULLY. I believe the tribunal has the answer to this. Yet it took the position it took. These questions will not apply in the case of Hon Faleke if we uphold the operation of Sec. 179(2) and 181(1) of the constitution. It is also curious that the tribunal declared that AYB can inherit electoral votes. This particular provision in sec. 141 of the Electoral Act was not in the Act that preceded this. That was why it was possible for Amechi to become a governor by inheriting the votes of Celestine, without participating in all the stages of the election. It was to address the lacuna that allowed Amechi to become governor without participating in all the stages of the election that informed the provision of this section. And that is one of the reasons it is described as Electoral Act 2010 (as amended). Is it possible to imagine that none of the judges on the panel knew about this. It is even more curious when it is already a notorious fact that there have been at least two other Supreme Court decisions that reversed the decision in Amechi that electoral votes belong to the party. From the amendment to the Act and the Supreme Court decisions after Amechi, electoral votes are no longer the property of the party.

Would judges at this level deliberately take a position they ought to know is contrary to the laws of the land in dispensing Justice?
I also noticed that none of what I have heard so far alluded to any authority as the basis for each of the issues the tribunal pronounced on. May be am yet to read/see those ones.

Let me say that the judgement of the tribunal did not come to me as a surprise although it is extremely very disappointing. What makes it disappointing at this stage is the reasons adduced for throwing the petition out. Personally, I have said it in all the fora I have been privileged to address since this mandate issue started that we should expect AYB to serve a maximum of one year in office. He was sworn in in January. He has only gone close to half way as we are now in June. Justice is experienced in traveling long and winding distances, scaling obstacles and avoiding fatal arrows. It is that experience that makes Justice sweeter at the end of the day. I do hope the appellate jurists will be more interested in substantial Justice in their consideration and not be swayed by technicalities that will deliver injustice. I continue to miss our retired Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Belgore for his judicial radicalism that made it possible to unseat a PDP Governor under the circumstances in which he did. I hope the judiciary will produce more of his type.

In conclusion, please you must know that this is not the time to be downcast or dispirited. We must continue in high spirit as this can only be a temporary setback. The bold, confident and future-oriented amongst us must hand-hold and encourage those who may be discouraged by the judgement of the tribunal. God o

Which supreme court? Remember at the beginning of this saga. AgF malami refused to go and seek direction from the supreme court. He will now do all he can to make sure this case does not reach supreme court. I see them using security agencies to persecute faleke and wada. This bello is a lucky guy sha