The controversy over who won the Sept. 3rd 2019 Kogi State
People’s Democratic Party, PDP Governorship primary election will
be laid to a final rest next week. The Supreme would on Tuesday
deliver judgement on the matter.
The second runner up in the election, Abubakar Ibrahim, had
approached the Lokoja High Court after exhausting the internal
party mechanism to challenge the declaration of Musa Wada as winner
of the election conducted under the supervision of Governor Fintiri
of Adamawa State.
It would be called that the party primaries held at the
Confluence Stadium Lokoja was distrupted by gunmen who shot
sporadically in the venue as the ballots were being sorted
immediately after voting.
The conclusion of the process at a private residence saw the
eventual declaration of Wada as winner after after some
controversial 600 ballot papers were added to his votes. Abubakar
cried blue murder and headed to Lokoja High Court 4.
The Court had in February faulted the Party’s Governorship
Primaries and delivered a no Victor, no Vanquished verdict. The
Court held that following the violence that characterized the
Election, the process could not have produced a clear winner,
consequently the election was nullified.
Not satisfied with the outcome, Wada headed for an appeal
against the judgement insisting that he was the candidate of the
PDP, while Abubakar also cross appealed the Judgement, noting that
it fell short of his prayers.
Both parties urged the court to set aside the ruling of the
Lokoja High Court, describing the ruling as an adventure, as the
judgement did not meet their prayers and expectations.
Otaru Rowland SAN, Counsel to Abubakar told the Appeal Court
that the ruling of the Lokoja High Court, over ran the runway,
insisting that the ruling granted prayers that were never pleaded
for by the petitioner, while the ruling glossed over the issues of
241 missing votes and another 600 votes allegedly smuggled in by
Engr. Musa Wada.
But in his submission, J.S. Okutepa, SAN, counsel to Wada, also
described the ruling by the Lokoja High Court as a surprise, noting
that it failed to meet the expectations of his client. He insisted
the election was free, fair and credible and that his client
won.
But the panel of Justices, drawn from Edo, Kwara and Benue
States having listened to all the parties, including INEC and the
PDP, accepted the fact that there was a primary held by the PDP on
September 3, with the Lokoja High Court having the jurisdiction to
entertain the matter, but the judgement was however silent on who
was the candidate of the party.
A credible source confirmed to TheNews that the Supreme Court is
expected to determine the issues of rightful candidate in its
judgement on Tuesday.
The substantive Governorship election eventually held in the
State on Saturday 16th November. The Independent National Election
Commission declared Governor Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives
Congress re-elected in the poll.
The controversy over who won the Sept. 3rd 2019 Kogi State
People’s Democratic Party, PDP Governorship primary election will
be laid to a final rest next week. The Supreme would on Tuesday
deliver judgement on the matter.
The second runner up in the election, Abubakar Ibrahim, had
approached the Lokoja High Court after exhausting the internal
party mechanism to challenge the declaration of Musa Wada as winner
of the election conducted under the supervision of Governor Fintiri
of Adamawa State.
It would be called that the party primaries held at the
Confluence Stadium Lokoja was distrupted by gunmen who shot
sporadically in the venue as the ballots were being sorted
immediately after voting.
The conclusion of the process at a private residence saw the
eventual declaration of Wada as winner after after some
controversial 600 ballot papers were added to his votes. Abubakar
cried blue murder and headed to Lokoja High Court 4.
The Court had in February faulted the Party’s Governorship
Primaries and delivered a no Victor, no Vanquished verdict. The
Court held that following the violence that characterized the
Election, the process could not have produced a clear winner,
consequently the election was nullified.
Not satisfied with the outcome, Wada headed for an appeal
against the judgement insisting that he was the candidate of the
PDP, while Abubakar also cross appealed the Judgement, noting that
it fell short of his prayers.
Both parties urged the court to set aside the ruling of the
Lokoja High Court, describing the ruling as an adventure, as the
judgement did not meet their prayers and expectations.
Otaru Rowland SAN, Counsel to Abubakar told the Appeal Court
that the ruling of the Lokoja High Court, over ran the runway,
insisting that the ruling granted prayers that were never pleaded
for by the petitioner, while the ruling glossed over the issues of
241 missing votes and another 600 votes allegedly smuggled in by
Engr. Musa Wada.
But in his submission, J.S. Okutepa, SAN, counsel to Wada, also
described the ruling by the Lokoja High Court as a surprise, noting
that it failed to meet the expectations of his client. He insisted
the election was free, fair and credible and that his client
won.
But the panel of Justices, drawn from Edo, Kwara and Benue
States having listened to all the parties, including INEC and the
PDP, accepted the fact that there was a primary held by the PDP on
September 3, with the Lokoja High Court having the jurisdiction to
entertain the matter, but the judgement was however silent on who
was the candidate of the party.
A credible source confirmed to TheNews that the Supreme Court is
expected to determine the issues of rightful candidate in its
judgement on Tuesday.
The substantive Governorship election eventually held in the
State on Saturday 16th November. The Independent National Election
Commission declared Governor Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives
Congress re-elected in the poll.