By David Alfred-Dogwo
June 7th, 2016 is the day Kogites will never forget in a hurry. It is the day, the Bell will ring. The bell that will kick Yahaya Bello out of the kingdom and tell Faleke of his Root. What is more of the bell? It is the Bell that will decorate my principal Capt. Idris Ichalla Wada with a Crown. A Crown of the King he has been in the last four years.
Some has called me with tones I call unintelligent, incongruous, discourteous, thoughtless and unscientific brandishing that Capt. Idris Wada is a looser. Some sms’ received in its full terms likewise lacked sense, balance, rationale and a modicum of the truth.
Apparently, the APC handlers’ self aggrandising pundit in its rush and unscrupulous desire to oppose my defense on Facebook, twitter, whatsapp etc etc seemed to have exhibited their shallow depth of thinking and little sense of insight which displayed their barbaric, outdated redundant and unpalatable moral sense in their judgement.
For those who cares to listen since there have been lots of legal fireworks going on at the kogi state governorship election petitions tribunal sitting in Abuja, and for those folks who wants to know my views concerning the goings on there, here is the true picture. The Truth and nothing but the Truth.
I really have got no view that is radically different from my earlier positions on the cases at the tribunal between Capt. Idris Wada, Mr. Yahaya Bello and James Faleke as well as those babysitter parties.
However, the opinion I want to express today is the legal angle of LEGISLATIVE INTENTIONS which is intended to finally rest the debate on whether APC was correct at law to substitute late Abubakar Audu for Alhaji Yahaya Bello in the supplementary elections and that’s why the Bello team need to pay more attention to this piece.
It is my habit to offend readers a times because my pen is a ‘Midas touch’ and it is because, that is the purpose of my calling. Mature presentations and analysis requires no many reactions as it leaves the guilty weak to type and respond. So I don’t write to count how many comments are made or not. Afterall, this is not a funeral song where everybody would like to say “ohh, take heart!”. But it is a piece that delivers the judgement of June 7th, 2016.
The issues raised by my principal Capt. Idris Wada and James Faleke as well as others, ranges from Non-Compliance to Eligibility.
1.Bello’s admittance (in proxy) that his voter card has not been transferred from Abuja to Kogi state.
2. Bello not having Deputy-Governorship Candidate at the election.
3.That it was wrong for Yahaya Bello to have inherited late Prince Abubakar Audu’s votes.
4.That election procedures was compromised in favour of APC.
My views are as follows:-
1. My very good friend and namesake Hon. David Edward Onoja who is the defence witness and also Chief-of-Staff to Yahaya Bello had testified as a witness of truth (I mean truth), at the tribunal that he had not been able to transfer Governor Bello’s PVC to kogi state which by himself has informed the tribunal to get the message straight of disqualifying Bello in the verdict.
(i). Since all the process of transfer of PVC had not being completed on the side of Bello, the burden of performance has not validly been moved from Bello to the electoral act, and as such is liable of default consequences.
ii. Bello’s election is therefore voided because he had no voter’s card reflecting at the Kogi state records.
According to Architect Ross Marshark, “you cannot build a house without a foundation because it will fall”. This point has foundation at law and so he cannot stand the test of time.
Ownership of a voter’s card is found to be amongst things that disqualifies a candidate at election as postulated in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as Amended and the Electoral Act of Nigeria. At what point has it not become a law that a candidate must emerge from his polling unit and ward at an election? Is Zone 4 Abuja in Kogi central?
That Bello has not transferred his PVC is “inconclusive” at the eye of Nigerian law especially when the vote transfer needful has not been done by Bello. So by logic or symmetry, his being on seat is at best a mischief .
It’s left to be seen how a judge will not void the participation of a man whose voter card has not been transferred to his unit and then declare another who is an indigene of Lagos state (Faleke) and Kogi state at the same time, governor! This is where both Bello and Faleke will not sail through.
(iii). On the issue of Bello becoming governor without deputy. Faleke has clearly told the authorities that he should not be fielded as deputy governorship candidate to Bello in the said election. How did that not translate into valid withdrawal?
In another angle, the law permits ONLY the candidate and the party to have sole right of approaching a tribunal and in this case, Faleke was never a candidate. So how can he be declared winner? In all ramifications, the law abhors and forbids Faleke to approbate and reprobate at the same time.
Secondly, if Faleke is asking to be declared winner, who was his deputy? For those that are so fascinated about Hon. Faleke’s claims, they’ll do well if they can read section 137 of the Electoral Act.
That section expressly stipulates that “An election petition may be brought by one or more of the following persons..
(a) A candidate in an election.
(b) A political party which participated in an election.
Faleke does not fall in any of those categories. The law does not permit one to give what he doesn’t have, ‘nemo daquod, non habet’. And so, it is amusing that Faleke is requesting the tribunal to declare him governor. Governor in Kogi state? Or is it in Lagos state where he actually belongs? Its amazing!
I think Hon.Faleke slept and dreamt over his right and he thinks all dreams are real. According to Oputa JSC ,as he then was “…..it should be allowed to continue in its slumber deep”. That reiterates, no locus standi.
3.That it was wrong for APC to substitute candidate, and Bello cannot inherit Audu’s votes.
Just like Capt. Wada’s lawyers rightly extrapolated at the tribunal, the votes casts in an election belongs to the candidate and not political parties, so the issue of inheritance of votes does arise here conspicuously.
Our lawyers has argued that there are tidy answers in the Constitution and the Electoral Law on who is a candidate or not. If Bello is not a candidate (since the candidate, Audu had died) and Faleke is never a candidate, then, the Number Two who was a candidate in the election in the person of Capt. Idris Wada (after the late candidate) emerges.
The right to substitute party candidate in an election is adequately provided for in section 221 of the Nigeria constitution 1999 as amended , especially when it is read in community with sections 33 and 36 of the electoral act of 2010 as amended.
Section 33 of the electoral law allows for substitution of candidate by political party, while section 36, subsection 1 provides for the period and consequential reliefs that should follow the substitution. Was it upto 45 days? The answer is No.
I know Justice Halimat Mohammed as a first class Jurist of TRUTH, INFACT AND ON THE BENCH, would not joke on a popular mandate for mere fact of SEMANTICS, ipso facto, ipso jure without declaring Wada as winner of the election!
4. Finally on the electoral process being compromised in the favour of APC. The forensic evidence has proven that PDP led in the election. What else do you need to know?
Wada is the Winner!!! Gong! Gong!! Gong…..!!! Hurrahhhhhh…..
Signed:
David Alfred-Dogwo
(Senior Special Assistant on Communications Strategy to Capt. Idris Ichalla Wada former Executive Governor of Kogi state)
<davidalfreddogwo@rocketmail.com>
08034768404
