Candidates in the April general elections will on Sunday (today) troop to offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission across the country, to see if their names came out, as the electoral umpire makes public those it considers eligible in tandem with the Electoral Act.
The commission had received candidates list from 43 political parties by 12 midnight last Monday and additional lists on Friday from 12 parties out of the 20 that could not meet earlier deadline.
A timetable of INEC had February 6 as date for the release of authenticated list of candidates for the polls.
However, a raft of litigation and court rulings had trailed the filing of candidates list at the INEC since last Tuesday, leading to sudden replacements to the bewilderment of those on the receiving end.
Much of this confusion is coming from contestants from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
However, among the states, the scenario in Ogun, where parallel congresses produced two lists of governorship, National Assembly, and state assembly candidates, appears most intriguing.
The uncertainties it spawned has fostered doubts about the eligibility of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, the incumbent governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, for the election.
Bankole who seeks to return to the House took part in the primaries held by the Daniel-controlled executive of the party; and in fact, engaged a former Speaker of Ogun State assembly, Mrs. Titi Oseni, in a rapprochement as she also eyed the same seat.
Also, Daniel had picked a senatorial ticket from the same primaries.
But the Ogun PDP faction beholden to a former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo had obtained a court order, which compelled INEC to reject the list from Daniel’s group.
Besides, the court ordered that the list be replaced with that from the Obasanjo-led faction, which contained Brig.-Gen. Tunji Olurin as its governorship candidate, and Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, among others.
In a related development, our correspondent gathered as at 10pm on Saturday that INEC may withhold the Ogun State list due to the altercation between the Daniel and Obasanjo’s camps.
Apart from the affected candidates, feelers from the PDP headquarters last Friday suggested that the party was also as much disturbed.
The immediate past Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo in his reform agenda for the party had attempted the dissolution of state executives of the party with parallel leaderships, and for them to harmonise.
But the governors who felt the exercise would undermine their powers fought back, with a large dose of sympathy from the Presidency, following their support to President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2011 bid.
For the candidates, the rejection cum withdrawal of lists earlier submitted by some of the parties triggered anxieties about what might ultimately be their fate with the display of those cleared to contest elections in April.
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu told SUNDAY PUNCH in Abuja, on Friday that the release of the list would put to rest speculations in the media.
He said, “In accordance with provisions of Section 31 (3) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), the collation of names submitted to the commission is still ongoing, there is no point speculating while the collation is ongoing.
“All I am saying is that you should wait for the collation to be concluded and the official list published.
“The statutory dateline for the publication of the list is February 6.”
Apparently, the controversy on Ogun State candidates list is as a result of the Obasanjo-Bankole-Daniel tango, and a serving minister, Chief Jubril Martins-Kuye.
Factions loyal to Obasanjo and Daniel are in a fierce battle for the control of the soul of the PDP in the state.
Each group conducted a parallel congress that produced its list of candidates.
Daniel’s effort to vacate the court order that has given the Obasanjo faction edge over his, suffered a setback on Friday, as an Abeokuta High Court threw out his case on the ground that it was tantamount to abuse of court process.
A Federal High Court Abuja is currently handling the same matter.
On the fog spawned by the candidates’ list controversy, the INEC spokesman, Mr. Emmanuel Umenger said, “There is a Court Order compelling the Commission to recognise the faction other than that of Governor Gbenga Daniel.
“In the interim, we have to obey the court order, but if there is an appeal, we also have to obey the order of the court.”
Besides Ogun State, confusion prevailed in Kogi, Anambra, Oyo, Enugu, Kano and Katsina states, among others.
In Kogi, opponents of Alhaji Jibrin Isah, the party’s governorship candidate have approached the courts seeking the invalidation of the process that threw him up as the party’s standard bearer.
Also, in Kogi Central Senatorial district, Alhaji Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman who won the party primaries went to a Federal High Court in Abuja, to stop an attempt by his opponents to force the party to have a rerun.
He succeeded in getting the court to grant an order compelling the party and the INEC to abide by the results of the National Assembly primaries.
Justice A. Abdu-Kafarati who delivered the ruling held among other things: “That the Plaintiff having scored the highest number of votes is the winner of the National Assembly Primary election conducted for Kogi Central Senatorial District by the Defendants on January 7, 2011.”
He also issued an injunction restraining the PDP, its servants, agents, officers, privies howsoever, from submitting the name of any other person except the plaintiff to the 2nd defendant (INEC) as the candidate of the 1st Defendant for the forthcoming general election to be held on April 2, 2011 or any other date fixed by the 2nd defendant.
In Enugu State, a PDP governorship aspirant, Dr. Anayo Onwegbu, and 38 others obtained a court order in Abuja, restraining INEC from accepting or validating the name of the incumbent governor, Sullivan Chime, as the party’s standard bearer in the 2011 elections.
But Chime has filed a counter at the same court; the judge is expected to deliver ruling on or before February 15, the last day for the substitution of candidates, going by INEC timeline.
In Oyo State, Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala is facing a legal challenge to his second term bid as a Federal High court in Ibadan nullified the PDP congress held on December 29 and 31, 2010.
Three governorship aspirants, Messrs Hazeem Gbalorumi, Yekeen Adeojo and Wole Oyelese and 34 others had approached Justice Johnson Shakarho in a motion ex-parte, to restrain the PDP from forwarding Alao-Akala’s name and others based on the outcome of the congress.
However, after initial refusal, INEC accepted Alao-Akala’s name.
Further, a list submitted by a faction of the PDP in Anambra State was rejected by INEC. The electoral body said its action was because the group that brought it was not recognised by the Commission.
The Kano and Katsina State chapters of the Congress for Progressive Change also have issues surrounding their list of candidates.
The son of a former military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, Mohammed, has sued the party for forwarding the name of Brig.-Gen. Lawal Jaa’afaru Isa instead of his to INEC, as its governorship candidate.
Similarly, in Katsina State, supporters of Senator Garba Lado are also seeking to halt the governorship ambition of a former Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Bello Masari as CPC governorship candidate.
Source: The Punch
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