Akpabio’s Withdrawal From The Senate Race And The Attempt By PDP To Turn The Law Upside Down By Ife Ajayi Esq, – TheNigerialawyer

Few days ago the current Minister of Niger Delta, Distinguished
Senator Godswill Akpabio wrote to his political party All
Progressive Congress (APC) intimating them of his intention not to
run for the forthcoming Rerun Election slated for early next year
due to his current status as the substantive minister of the Niger
Delta where he has the greater responsibility to turn the fortunes
of a whole region rather the role of representing just a senatorial
district in a State of Akwa Ibom. In doing this, he placed his
reliance and rightly too on the express provisions of the law.
Section 33 of the Electoral Act 2010 as Amended stated:

“A political party shall not be allowed to change or
substitute candidate whose name has been submitted pursuant to
section 32 of this Act, except in the case of death or withdrawal
by the candidate”.

In this case, the withdrawal is by the choice of the candidate
and that choice is permitted and allowed by the law. Obviously
there is a lacuna in that provision of the Electoral Act as to
whether a candidate can withdraw during a rerun election. To fill
in the lacuna, a rerun election is “election”  for the purpose
of determining the fate of a candidate and so a candidate can in
the absence of any provision deterring the candidate from
withdrawing, withdraw himself or herself in the race including a
rerun election.

The position of the law is that the candidate who has withdrawn
has a responsibility to fulfill certain conditions and that
condition is specified in Section 35 of the Electoral Act 2010 as
Amended which provided:

“A candidate may withdraw his candidature by notice in writing
signed hy him and delivered by himself to the political party that
nominated him for the election and the political party shall convey
such withdrawal to the Commission not later than 45 days to the
election”.

Recently the said Candidate in the person of Distinguished
Senator Godswill Akpabio did write and inform his party of his
withdrawal from the race and advising the party to communicate same
to the electoral umpire including substituting him for the race
which is clearly in accordance with the provision of the
law. 

One is therefore flabbergasted and taken aback when the State
Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom
State held a hurried press conference during which he neither
addressed this legal positions as herein stated but embarked on
frolic of dishing insults and abuse which seems to be their
peculiar stock in trade in that part of the State. He clearly
misled his misguided party men when he said: “Senator Akpabio was a
party before the court and the order of the court is that he should
go back for a rerun in Essien-Udim, that is an order of the court
and as a lawyer, he should obey that order and submit himself for
confirmatory defeat”.

This is half-truth and clearly misleading. The true position is
that His Excellency Godswill Akpabio was a candidate of the APC
during the last senatorial election in Akwa Ibom on the 23rd of
February 2019. The total accredited votes for Essien Udim LGA was
about 74,000 voters. The results as collated from the various
polling units in the Local Government Area in favour of the
Distinguished Senator Akpabio was 61,329 total votes.

However when they eventually recorded the result for the
Ex-Governor, they imputed the sum of 6000 as his votes in the said
local government area as his score. Shocking was the revelation
that for Accredited Voters the card readers of INEC for the Local
Government captured about 19,000 voters, whereas they mischievously
recorded 9000 as accredited voters without any valid explanation
during cross-examination in the Tribunal proceedings. The
Distinguished Senator challenged the malfeasance at the election
tribunal, where the majority gave judgement that INEC was right in
their outright manipulations of results. However, minority
judgement saw things differently and held that the umpire was wrong
in imputing the figure of 6000 to the Distinguished Senator after
attempting to alter the figure of 61,329 that was his total score
and the Court of Appeal, Calabar affirmed the minority opinion, but
held that a fresh election be held at the Essien Udim to determine
the correct position of the parties to the electoral contest.
Before the conclusion of the action initiated by the Distinguished
Senator at the  Election Tribunal, he was nominated and
confirmed the Minister of the Niger Delta, a position he is holding
till today. The decision of the election tribunal was appealed to
the court of appeal, Calabar which eventually ordered a
rerun. 

In 2015 in Kogi State, something similar happened even though it
is known that it was death that occurred that took away the
then-candidate His Excellency late  Abubakar Audu, the lacuna
was filled by the law allowing the candidate (Mr Yahaya Bello)
 with the second-highest vote to complete the electoral
process during the rerun. That position received the confirmation
of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. That process led to the emergence
of His Excellency Yahaya  Bello who is currently the governor
of Kogi State. 

The issue really is the lacuna in the law and how the law solved
the riddle. The earlier riddle was that death took away the
candidate before the completion of the electoral process and that
made his then deputy not qualified to step into his shoes because
the process was not yet completed. The man who participated in the
primary election and came second was put forward by the party and
he eventually emerged the winner after the rerun election. The
Electoral Act just like in the issue of death before the conclusion
of the electoral process, never envisaged a position where a
candidate who contested the election and before the conclusion is
appointed either as a minister or given any other higher position
in government. In the circumstance where the candidate prefers the
higher position given to him or her, what will be the fate of the
rerun election? Resort must be made to the various sections of the
Electoral Act 2010 as Amended to wit Sections 33 and 35 already
cited and quoted above.

Having complied with the law in taking appropriate steps, one
hopes that the APC as a political party will take the next
appropriate steps too recommended by law by (1) Communicating with
INEC of the withdrawal of their candidate which the law permits and
(2) choosing the candidate that will run and complete the ongoing
electoral process which is the rerun.

CONCLUSION.

This case has presented a novel issue which I think the National
Assembly should take into consideration when amending the
 Electoral  Act to fill in the lacuna in a situation
where a contestant is given higher position before the completion
of the electoral process. The position will be and rightly too that
that candidate has a right to withdraw and allow the political
party the choice of substitution as prescribed by the Electoral Act
and this withdrawal covers a rerun election as well.

Written By Ife Ajayi Esq, Lagos based Legal Practitioner.

Police Operatives Nab 80 Cultists
-Also arrested four suspects in military camouflages.
-And foiled cult initiations at Abagana forest, arrested four
suspects and recovered Arms/ammunition and other incriminating
items.

In order to stem the tide of cultism and other nefarious
activities in the State, the Command Special Anti Cult Unit in
conjunction with Puff-Adder/Kpochakpu operatives had during the
week under review raided various hideouts and blackspots where
cultists are suspected to be hibernating in various locations
within the State as follows,

2. On the 08/12/19 at Ogidi /Nkpor axis, 15 suspected cultists
arrested. On the 09 /12 /19 at Awka /Amansea axis, 10 suspected
cultists arrested. 0n the 10/12 /19 at Onitsha /Nkpor axis, 07
suspected cultists arrested. On the 11 /12 /19 at Oba/Nnewi axis ,
22 suspected cultists arrested. On the 12/12 /19, at
Nsugbe/Nkwelle-ezunaka axis , 10 suspected cultists arrested. On
the 13 /12 /19, at Ogbunike/Abagana axis , 18 suspected cultists
arrested.

3. From all the raids carried out, a total of 82 suspects were
arrested out of which 25 suspects were screened out, 15 suspects
were charged to court, while 42 suspects are undergoing
investigation.

4. Meanwhile, exhibits recovered from the suspects who confessed
being members of secret cult groups includes seven (07) machetes ,
three (03)axes, one (01) dagger, one (01) vikings barret, five (05)
improvised bunkers for inhaling substances and some quantity of
weeds suspected to be cocain /cannabis sativa respectively.

5. Consequently, the Command Special Anti cult unit had on the
5/12/19 arrested one Joseph Onyedika ‘ m’ aged 23yrs of okposi in
Ohaozara LGA of Eboyi State,(2) Emmanuel Christopher ‘m’ aged
27years of Oraifite in Ekwusigo LGA of Anambra State and (3)
ThankGod Sike ‘m’ aged 25 years of Obioma Ngwa in Abia State but
residing at Nnewi In Anambra State.

6. Suspects were arrested wearing Military camouflaged uniforms
under pretence that they are serving military personnel and a Jack
knife was also recovered in their possession.

7. Meanwhile,preliminary investigation revealed that two of the
suspects were fake soldiers while the remaining one is undergoing
further investigation at the military cantonment to ascertain his
true identity.

8. In another development,following intelligence report, Police
operatives attached to Special Anti cult unit (SPACS) stormed a
forest located within Abagana in Njikoka LGA of Anambra State and
arrested four male suspects who confessed that they were to
initiate new members into Black axe confraternity before they
rounded up by the Police.

9. Exhibits recovered from the suspects includes one locally
made double barrel Pistol ,one locally made Beretta pistol , five
live cartridges,12 expended cartridges,one musical Drum, one big
axe, one gallon containing mixed concoction ,charms and other
incriminating items.

10. All cases are under investigations after which suspects
would be charged to court for prosecution

11. The Commissioner of Police CP John Abang,fdc reassures the
Public of adequate protection before during and after the
Christmas/New year celebrations.The CP further made a clarion call
on all Ndi Anambra and residents alike to report any suspicious
persons or movements to the nearest Police Station or call police
emergency number 07039194332 for prompt response, please.

SP Haruna Mohammed PPRO Anambra State Police Command.
For -Commissioner of Police Anambra State Command
…………………………………..

Police Recover Firearms in Katsina
Our unwavering commitment to the protection of lives and property
of citizens of the state is yielding positive result. This fit was
achieved as a result of robust community policing engagement
through the process of dialogue, visibility policing, unrelenting
and aggressive counter crime strategies.

I must as well commend the collective effort, support and
cooperation of well meaning people in the state to the police.

RECOVERY OF PROHIBITED FIREARMS AND ARREST OF SUSPECTS: On
11/12/2019 at about 22:00hrs, information was received that the
following suspected persons:
Alhaji Haruna Sani, m, aged 65yrs
Ibrahim Rabi’u, m, aged 54yrs
Alhaji Abdulrahaman Harisu, m, aged 40yrs and Anas Harisu, m, aged
23yrs all of Dallawa Magaji Wando and Arawa Tumburkai villages of
Dandume LGA of Katsina state are in possession of Two AK 47 rifles
– prohibited firearms. Operation Puff Adder, led by O/C SARS
Katsina swiftly swung into action, mobilized to the location and
arrested the above named suspects. In the course of investigation
suspects confessed to the crime and led policemen to the scene
where two AK 47 rifles with breech numbers 406071 and 1413174 D60
were recovered.

Suspects confessed to have seized the firearms from suspected
bandits that attacked their villages sometimes in the month of
December, 2018 but refused to hand over the seized weapons to the
police. Investigation is ongoing.

SP GAMBO ISAH,
POLICE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER,
FOR: COMMISSIONER OF POLICE,
KATSINA STATE COMMAND
………………………………………………