By Ahmad Sajoh
Yesterday the 24th of November 2022 the Court of Appeal sitting in Yola restored the candidature of Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani as the gubernatorial candidate of the APC in Adamawa State in the 2023 elections. This gave APC a huge sigh of relief.
The “no candidate” verdict of the Federal High Court was indeed worrisome. And many saw it as an overkill since none of the parties in the suit asked for it. But since the Appeal Court has restored the candidature of the party in the state, there are many expectations from different quarters arising from the verdict.
Senator Binani was expected to have been magnanimous in victory by extending an olive branch to all within the APC political family including the person that went to Court. And she did not disappoint. She did just that. In the same vein we expect the party leadership in Adamawa state to also swiftly issue a congratulatory statement not just to Senator Binani but to all APC members in the state whose anxiety was heightened by the earlier no candidate judgement. Beyond that they are to mobilize party faithfuls, rally them round the ticket and kick start the campaigns for all APC candidates in the State.
There were four parties to the suit before the Court of Appeal. Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the APC and INEC. Three of these were interested parties with definite prayers before the learned judges, while the fourth INEC was only interested in the case to the extent of enforcement of whatever verdict was arrived at. Both Senator Binani and the APC had the same request before the Court. They wanted her mandate restored. Nuhu Ribadu equally opposed the no candidate judgement, but wanted a rerun primaries. These were the issues before the learned judges. These were the issues upon which a verdict was delivered.
In the end, the panel of Judges in a unanimous judgement gave a verdict that restored the candidature of Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani. This is a welcome judgement considering that Senator Binani was being punished for an offence she did not commit. The alleged flaws in the conduct and processes for the nomination of a candidate for APC were organisational and not the result of any form of manipulation on the part of the winner. The course of justice will be better served where the real culprit is punished rather than punishing those affected by the causative effect of the actions of the culprit.
I recall a similar situation when we took His Excellency Murtala Nyako’s illegal impeachment case to the Federal High Court in Yola. When the other party realized they had a weak case, what they did was to sponsor some people to file the same case in the state high Court thus causing the Federal High Court to pass a judgement dismissing our case on account of abuse of the Court process. All attempts by us to prove that we or the Nyako family either biological or political, did not have a hand in the filing of the other case was rebuffed. Many times innocent persons become victims of the misdemeanor of others because of legal technicalities. This was almost the situation where Binani was made a victim of the alleged flawed actions of others.
Again like I did earlier when the case was heard, let me predict some of the expectations from this judgement. These expectations are to come from several persons within and outside Adamawa state. Naturally because of the gender of the candidate, interests were generated beyond Adamawa State.
The first and the most rational expectation is that the verdict will be accepted by the APC as a welcome relief from the apprehension of a no candidate verdict earlier delivered by the Federal High Court. Moreso that the legal representation by the National Secretariat called for the restoration of the mandate of Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani. The APC at the National level had no option but to have aligned with a process it presided over through a committee it sent to conduct the primaries. So, the expectation from the National Secretariat is of support and acceptance of the verdict.
For Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani the expectations are that she will immediately roll out the modalities for her gubernatorial campaign and hit the campaign trail. As at yesterday when the verdict was delivered, her major opponent in the elections, the incumbent governor, was on a ward-to-ward campaign trail in the Ganye area. A lot of time has been lost to bickering within the party and the litigations that led to the verdict. There is very little luxury of time. So Binani must roll up her sleeves, assemble her team and move on. The fact that she is a Senator based in Abuja makes her task a little harder but she must take the verdict as a signal to commence urgently.
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu had the option of either accepting the verdict or going for further appeal to the Supreme Court. It is well within his prerogative and perfectly lawful. He cannot be denied that right. If he decides to go on a further appeal it then means that his team may not join the Senator Binani campaign trail until after the Supreme Court judgement. Again that will be perfectly legal though it will put them in a quagmire in a situation where the campaigns for president, National Assembly and State Assembly are combined in the same location as that of the Governor. Unfortunately this postulation is a reality and not academic. So we wait to see how it will play out.
The biggest dilemma is with the leadership of the APC in Adamawa State. They have unfortunately been too partisan in all of this process. They have taken sides to the extent of nominating one of them as a running mate to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu whom they endorsed. How to disentangle themselves from this extreme position will be a really difficult one. But they must do so and do it fast. Once the campaigns start the party in the state must take the driver’s seat. They should not allow history to repeat itself. In 2015, the party leadership in the state orphaned the then governorship candidate. Only four out of the 27 member state working committee followed the campaign trail. These were the late Yamusa, Hawwa Koma, Ahmed Lawan and Baba Oga. The candidate they turned into a political orphan won the election and they all came crawling back to the fold. This set should avoid such a situation at all cost.
Power belongs to God. Nothing they will do will change the will of God. Let them endeavor to fulfill their obligations. That is the minimum expected of them.
The expectation from the people of the state, especially women and youth is massive support. Never in the history of Adamawa state has it been recorded that people staged protests without being induced. Never in the history of politics did people voluntarily fast and hold night vigil in mosques and churches on account of support for a candidate. As at today, Senator Binani is the only candidate in Adamawa State whose support base is entirely generic. To pull a crowd for Binani does not require anything. As soon as the verdict was delivered an unprecedented crowd poured out in Mubi in a mega rally that is still unknown to Binani or her team.
Nationally the Binani candidature has generated a lot of interest. Dame Pauline Tallen the Hon. Minister of Women Affairs was so excited that she visited Binani with her entire management team and issued a very encouraging statement. Senator Stella Odua was seen dancing and rejoicing at the National Assembly premises. Even within the United Nations system, especially the UN women and the Economic and Social Council there were voices of support. Senator Binani represents another hope for Nigerian women to break the glass ceiling.
So all gender activists and advocates of inclusion were naturally interested in her case and their expectations are that she goes all the way to become the first ever elected female governor in Nigeria.
Perhaps it may not be out of place to say that there are a lot of anxieties within the opposition parties as well. A no candidate verdict earlier delivered at the High Court had expanded their chances. The “sai matan nan revolution,” which had ruffled a lot of feathers and created a high level of anxiety, had temporarily gone. But now it is back in full force. Naturally they are worried.
All said, the bottom line is that the verdict of the Court of Appeal has changed the mathematics of 2023 politics in Adamawa State. But Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani had captured it better than all. She attributed the verdict to the “God factor”, something many people take for granted, but it’s the most important.
_Ahmad Sajoh writes from 35 Oran Street Wuse Zone 1 Abuja.