As all political parties finalise their plans to conduct primaries for House of Assembly seats, the exercises might end up being in futility in Olamaboro and Kabba Bunu constituencies of Kogi State as there is a pending court judgement and an on-going court process that must be obeyed by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
In the case of Olamaboro, Justice P. Ayua ordered the restoration of Ogugu State Constituency on September 25, 2014. With this, the current Olamaboro constituency will now have House of Assembly seats – Olamaboro and Ogugu. As at the time of filling this report, INEC has refused to obey the court ruling .
However, counsel to Olamaboro Local Government Council and 18 others, Alaji Onoja (esq), has sued INEC at the Federal High Court, Lokoja Division, for failing to obey a court order restoring Ogugu Constituency in the Kogi State House of Assembly. He is urging the court to compel the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to obey the court order.
While Olamaboro has secured court judgement, Kabba Bunu litigants are still in court.
In a summons taken out by Babatunde Adebayo (esq) of Babatunde Adebayo & Co against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) upon the suppressed Kabba constituency in the Kogi State House of Assembly thereby depriving the people of the suppressed Kabba constituency the fundamental human right of representation in the Kogi State House of Assembly since the return to democracy in 1999.
The plaintiffs are seeking the true interpretation of section 91 and 112 of the 1999 constitution and the following orders as per their claims.
1. A declaration that the Kogi state House of Assembly is not properly constituted or composed as required by section 91 and 112 of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (as amended)
2. A declaration that having regards to the provision of section 91 and 112 of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (as amended) the defendant acted improperly and unfairly in refusing or failing to include the suppressed KABBA constituency in Kabba/Bunu LGA of Kogi state among the names of the suppressed state constituencies it forwarded to National Assembly for approval and restoration.
3. An order directing the defendant to comply with the provision of section 91 and 112 of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (as amended) by restoring the illegally and unfairly suppressed KABBA state House of Assembly constituency in Kabba/Bunu LGA of Kogi state to bring the composition of the Kogi state House of Assembly in line with the provisions of the constitution.
4. An order of the honourable court directing or compelling the defendant to restore the suppressed KABBA House of Assembly constituency in Kabba/Bunu LGA of Kogi state forthwith.
It will be recalled that the Kabba state constituency was created and existed in the then Bunu Ijumu and Kabba LGA which has a total of three state constituencies then. The plaintiff also argued that the Kabba constituency was last represented by the late Hon Solomon Abioye in 1992 at the Kogi state House of Assembly.
Tomorrow, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will conduct primaries and elect party flagbearers for the old Olamaboro and Kabba-Bunu Constituencies but the results may not stand the test of time as the judgement is clear and unambiguous.
It will be recalled that similar cases have happened in Oju LGA of Benue state in 2007, Ogbadibo LGA OF Benue state in 2012, Ugheli LGA Delta state in 2014 and Idoko North LGA Delta state in 2014 with all the cases decided in favor of the plaintiffs.
