By Adamu Muhammad Dodo
The Anka’s is one judgement passed with many calls for varied appeals to fix the legal grievances, if the judgment could not be justified.
Whilst some luminaries in the bench hailed the judgement as non other to have been better passed, both the counsels to the complainant and the defendant considered the judgement as being harsh, hence would not rest without filing an appeal for a review before a higher court.
The APC leadership and the stakeholders have also joined in the calls to appeal the judgement, which if left to let go, the major opposition party in Adamawa state, the APC would be without a governorship candidate ahead of 2023 election.
A federal high court sitting in Yola has last Friday voided the APC governorship primary election that was conducted on May 26, 2022, which produced the Distinguished Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, a.k.a Binani as the governorship candidate.
Binani, who is the Senator representing Adamawa Central Senatorial District in the 9th National Assembly has polled 430 votes to defeat the five male contenders. Malam Nuhu Ribadu, former Governor Muhammadu Umaru Jibrilla, a.k.a Bindow, Hon Abdurrazak Saad Namdas, Alhaji Umar Mustapha Madawaki a.k.a Otunba of Ekiti and Hon Wafari Theman.
While Binani’s colleagues who are at the green chamber of the National Assembly, Namdas and Theman remained faithful to the fate associated with the lost of the primaries, the aggrieved other, Otunba defected from the APC to fly the governorship flag of the Labour Party, LP.
Sen Bindow, reported to be in consultation to leave, does not consider the APC, which he said he majorly labored in nurturing to maturity, as a political party.
Binani’s closest contender, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, who scored 280 votes disagreed with the voting process and casted for a twist of faith before the law in a suit filed on June 9, 2022, claiming that 1,009 delegates were accredited, contrary to the outcome, which indicated that a total of 1,011 votes were cast.
Ribadu, prayed the court to nullify the election and order for a fresh conduct of the governorship primaries.
The court did nullify the APC governorship election but would not justify the prayer for the conduct of a fresh primaries.
In an interview with the newsmen, the counsel to Ribadu revealed that they would appeal the judgement, calling for the court to order for a fresh conduct of the governorship primaries.
The state leadership of the party along with the party’s North East Zonal chairman, Comrade Mustapha Salihu have also joined the Ribadu call for the conduct of the fresh governorship election.
The counsel to Binani, who in an interview with the newsmen referred to the judgement as being harsh, also said they would be in consultation to consider challenging the judgment before the higher court. It was the view upheld by the APC governorship candidate Binani herself while cooling the electorates, calling for calm.
However, the Binani prayer before the law would be to recertify her governorship candidature as opposed to the call for a fresh conduct of the party primaries. It is the call of the teeming party stakeholders and joined by the electorates.
The APC national chairman who would not imagine the APC not fielding a governorship candidate in Adamawa, the state of the PDP presidential candidate is also reported as holding similar view, that APC already has a competent governorship candidate who is conceived to be capable of bringing victory to the party in Adamawa, there isn’t any need therefore, for a fresh party primaries.
Even though Anka’s left the option for appealing the judgement, the teeming pro Binani electorates in Adamawa state would not be discouraged by the group that didn’t see it as necessary, have taken to the streets of Yola, Numan and beyond – for a beginning – in what could be considered as peace protest procession by way of registering grievances, flying banners and waving placards with the inscriptions calling for justice to Binani, for the women and electorates and in the spirit of participatory democracy.
The protesting procession would not conjure up the legal technicalities that would disqualify a governorship primary election over two votes that could have been generated out of counting error other than over voting.
Deconstructing the prayers, where lies the possibility for the conduct of a fresh APC governorship primaries after some of the contenders were commended for conceding defeat and donating their campaign facilities and supporters to Binani, while one of the aggrieved contenders has since left the party, having been called to fly another party’s governorship flag and another contender has condemned the APC as no longer a political party to belong, following the humiliating defeat.
The four were not to join and/or to be joined in the suit that nullified the APC party primaries, giving no room for the party to produce another governorship candidate.
How could the contenders be reunited for a contest, even if to be persuaded to submit to a consensus candidate arrangement for which three of the contenders earlier snubbed rather publicly; where the lone female candidate would insist that should there be, the consensus arrangement should favour female candidate, else the delegates should decide at the poll.
How about the delegates that would participate in the fresh primaries in the event that the appeal court eventually decided so? They should be the same, those who participated in the previous party primaries. Any substitution would amount to electoral malpractice that would again be challenged before the law, a political pundit would explain.
It is already one week after the Anka judgement, water would soon find its level as much as the flood that swept people’s houses and properties is subsiding as we welcome the after rainy season in peace.