It has to come to my attention the plans by certain elements within the Kogi environs led a certain fictitious group that calls itself Adavi Progressive Union to continue to mislead the public with certain lies against Gov. Wada, all in a bid to discredit the man even to the point of misrepresenting the judgment of a competent court not lesser than the Supreme Court of Nigeria – I would therefore like to make the certain clarifications while clearing the air on these allegations thus:
1. The issue of not being a card carrying member of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been sorted out by a court which held that the allegation was not proven by any substantial evidence. Furthermore, the allegations defy common logic. It was alleged that the register was stolen then returned with His Excellency’s name. Why would His Excellency steal the party register, fill his name into it then return it?
2. There is a deliberate & malicious misrepresentation of the judgment cited. The judgment was upon a motion moved on behalf of His Excellency that he be declared governor-in-waiting after the Supreme Court had declared that the tenure of Gov Ibrahim Idris had ended. The Supreme Court held that no such application or consequential relief could be granted because it wasn’t included in the reliefs sought by the parties. As such the application was improperly brought before the Supreme Court which did not have the jurisdiction to determine it. Its instruction was that the matter must first be filed in a proper court and determined before an appeal could be filed to it.
3. The issues that Gov Wada is improperly parading himself as governor is ridiculous. His election and tenure has been upheld by 2 decisions of the Supreme Court. In the first decision on an appeal filed by Abubakar Audu, candidate of the defunct ACN, from the decision of the election petition tribunal the Supreme Court held that Gov Wada/PDP had won the election and validly elected into Lugard House. In the second decision over a suit filed by Jibrin Isah Echocho, Gov Wada was upheld as the valid candidate of PDP in the elections and as such was the candidate of the party that was voted for by Kogites. His election was upheld and the allegation thrown out. Both of these decisions were given by the Supreme Court in 2013/2014. How someone wants allege that gov is illegally parading himself as governor on the basis of a misinterpreted 2012 judgment is beyond me.
4. Finally, these allegations about accidents are downright stupid. Gov Wada was a victim of one such accident in which he suffered fractures and required extensive surgeries and treatment. Does it make sense to allege he tried to kill himself? The deaths of people in these accidents were tragedies that His Excellency regrets to date. To however seek to exploit these deaths for political gain and as cheap political points is a despicable act of a warped mind. It would make more sense to leave Gov Wada to do his work and to contribute to making Kogi great again. Anyone who can’t do that would be best served to keep quiet.
[This piece was sent in by Ilemona Onoja Onoja, a Lawyer based in Abuja and a true Kogite.]
