Legal Knot, Credibility Crisis Trails Kwara Council Poll In spite of the dust raised by opposition parties and a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State to stop the October 26, 2013 Local Government election, the electoral body, Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC), still went ahead to conduct the polls, which was boycotted by the All Progressives Congress (APC). The Bamanga Tukur-led PDP also cried foul, asking KWASIEC not to recognize any list of candidates that does not emanate from the national headquarters of the PDP. Though the electoral umpire announced few days to the poll that three political parties, the Labour Party (LP), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that obtained nomination forms will participate in the council elections, it was only the other faction of the PDP, otherwise known as the ‘New PDP’ that reportedly fielded candidates. The chairman of the electoral body, Dr. Uthman Ajidagba told Journalists few days to the polls that “all other political parties including the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not indicate interest to contest for any position as they did not obtain any nomination forms.” It will be recalled that Kwara State is one of the seven that PDP states that are loyal to Alhaji Kawu Baraje faction. Governor Abdul-Fatai Ahmed is visibly one of the renegade PDP governors. In spite of the controversies, Ajidagba still declared the ‘New PDP’ candidates as winners of elections into 15 local government councils. Prior to the period, the APC made attempt to compel KWASIEC through a court ruling to shift the polls, but that did not yield any positive result. The suit suffered initial setback when the assigned judge proceeded on his annual vacation and a new judge had to fix the next hearing one month ahead. KWASIEC’s claim was that APC was not eligible to field candidates for the election going by the guidelines because it was yet to conduct congress and elect officers. The Tukur-led PDP also failed to secure court injunction to restrain KWASIEC from conducting the local government election because it could not serve its rival faction, which is a co-respondent in the matter, a court summon. The Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin adjourned hearing on the case till Monday, October 28, 2013, which was two days after the election. The aggrieved PDP faction had approached the court to stop election with the claim that selection of candidates was in gross violation of the PDP constitution as no primaries were held. The plaintiffs are Alhaji Ademola Yusuf, Alhaji Adebayo Jimoh and Prince Haliru Dantosho Mahmud, while the defendants are the state PDP, Senator Bukola Saraki and chairman of the state PDP, Alhaji Ishola Balogun-Fulani. Also joined in the suit were all the chairmanship candidates of the councils, KWASIEC, Inspector-General of Police and Director-General, Department of State Security Service (DSS). When the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday, October 22, it could not continue because the court bailiff could not serve the court summons on the PDP. Plaintiffs’ counsel, O.J Adeseko had complained to the court that the state PDP was trying to evade service of summons, arguing that the court bailiff was at the PDP state secretariat severally to serve the court summons to no avail. He however pleaded that the hearing of the interlocutory injunction slated for the day should continue. But the presiding judge, Justice Olayinka Faaj said the inability of the bailiff to serve the summons in a day was not a sufficient ground to continue the case. He therefore adjourned the case to October 28 in which the state PDP would have been sufficiently served. Surprisingly, the aggrieved PDP and APC formed a partnership to stop the election by all means. They petitioned the state Police and State Security Service to prevent KWASIEC from conducting the election “to avert a major break down of law and order.” According to a letter signed by one Rev. Bunmi Olusona on behalf of APC, he said “We members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Kwara State Chapter wish to join the Bamanga Tukur led PDP in calling for a restraint on the part of KWASIEC from going ahead with the sham being referred to as election scheduled for Saturday, the 26th of October, 2013. “We want to believe that Dr. Ajidagba led KWASIEC has not fielded candidates for the election. So far, APC, PDP and Labour Party have all averred that they have no candidates participating in the said election. The Bamanga Tukur led National leadership of the PDP have averred that the PDP has not fielded candidates for the election and that the list of candidates purportedly submitted to KWASIEC did not originate from them, which is against the party’s constitution. The question on the lips of everyone is, where did Dr. Ajidagba got his list from?” “There are two pending cases in respect of this travesty of democratic principle of popular participation. The principle of “lis pendis” stipulates that, where there is a matter pending in court, all the parties joined in the case must maintain the status quo. Should Dr. Ajidagba go ahead with the election, he would be setting Kwara on fire. “We in the APC have been prevented from participating in the election knowing fully well that they will come out of it worse. They want a one horse race! We are very concerned that aggrieved members of the public will not treat this “Bukola Saraki electoral commission” with kids’ glove. “A stage for a complete break down of law and order is being set by this attempt to destroy one of the core values of democracy as it is practised in other climes,” he said. According to the announced result by KWASIEC, the splinter PDP won the 15 chairmanship and 181 councillorship seats. Ajidagba did not however disclose the scores of the 181 councillorship candidates of the party in the election. While speaking on the outcome of the election, Governor Ahmed advised the new local government chairmen, to practice politics of inclusion in their respective council areas. Ahmed urged the winners to see their victory as part of nation building and therefore, be magnanimous in victory so as to collectively move the state forward. “We are running a true democracy in the state and in an ideal democratic setting, people are free to do things the way they want it. The lack of opposition here in Kwara, is a reflection of people’s trust and confidence in our government, “he said. While challenging them to do all within their powers to add value to local government administration, using their wealth of experience, he urged them to ensure that people at the grassroots feel the impact of dividends of democracy, to justify the confidence reposed in them by the electorate. Speaking with newsmen before the official close of the voting exercise, chairman of the New PDP, Kawu Baraje, said the election was held in a peaceful manner devoid of any hindrance. According to him, “The party would win 100 per cent. We have done it before. We are still doing it,” he said, adding that, “Kwara State is a unique state that delivers right from the grassroots to the national level 100 per cent for PDP.”
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 07:31:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015