…APC state leadership to challenge tribunal judgment for which they failed to participate through out the proceedings, is it with good intention or pure mischief; a hatchet job?…
Floodgates of reactions, insinuations and allegations trailed the comments made and the actions taken by the Adamawa state APC chairman and the state organising secretary regarding the governorship election petition tribunal’s judgment and the claim to appeal between the APC governorship candidate and the state party leadership.
Challenging the judgment in a publication, the Adamawa state APC chairman, Bar Idris Shuaibu said the state leadership would, as a matter of urgency, liaise with the national leadership of the party to apply for the certified records of the judgment, study same and do the needful…
The comment has indeed generated reactions from the party members faithful to Binani’s aspiration for good governance, alleging that the APC leadership in Adamawa state, teleguided by a national officer of the party, has negotiated with the opposition party in the state to scuttle the appeal by the party’s candidate, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani.
Saying: “The leadership that has never supported the candidate, never went to the tribunal even once, had toured the state telling party members that the party had no candidate in the 2023 elections and even went to the media to disparage the candidate can suddenly claim to develop interest in the case.
“This is the height of mischief, deception and mercenary politics. The group that claimed to want to visit the National Secretariat in order to collect a mandate to appeal is indeed on a contract to scuttle a very good case on Appeal.
We have put up a call to the state organizing secretary of the APC, Mustapha Atiku Ribadu but it was not responded as at the time of the press
the state chairman of the party, Idris Shuaibu Esq has however said that it is an extension of support by the state leadership of the party that warrants an expression of interest and action to fully participate as a party, in filing the petition against the tribunal judgment that dismissed the petition of their governorship candidate challenging INEC’s declaration of the PDP’s as the winner of the governorship election.
Shuaibu Esq explained what he considered as the two angles to the filing of the appeal against the tribunal’s judgment, which in any case stands as valid; either the party with the governorship candidate to jointly file for the appeal or either of them to file for the appeal individually. He however said that the party ought to file for the appeal
Now following questions are asked:
Has the state leadership seriously and genuinely ever attended the tribunal sitting in Yola throughout the case?
Has the state leadership of the party ever met with the candidate or her lawyers throughout the case?
Does the state leadership of the party even know the facts of the case as an interested party to the case?
Has the state leadership of the party ever briefed the party’s national secretariat on the case?
And if yes has the state leadership of the party shared the facts of its brief with the public?
The party members who have been with Binani from campaign to election and eventually to the tribunal, without noticing the presence of the state leadership of the party alleged the following:
- That the state leadership of the party,s plan was to quickly reach out to the National Leadership of the party, get a mandate to replace the legal team on appeal with a view to frustrate the case in favour of the PDP Governor.
- That the state leadership of the party wants to achieve two broad goals; to sell the case to the PDP Governor and make money by scuttling the case on Appeal. And to use the pretext of an appeal to go round the Federal Capital in search of money purportedly to pay lawyers but actually to appropriate since the PDP Governor will pay their hired saboteurs.
- That both the legal teams of the candidate and the party at the national level, are made up of a high profile set of senior advocates, which include a former Attorney general of the Federation. Their briefs took into consideration the likelihood of Appeals at both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme. They have in turn been paid their legal fees up to the Apex Court. Anyone asking for funds to pay lawyers on this case at any level is just a fraud”.
Alhaji Umar Mustapha Madawaki, a.k.a Otunba of Ekiti who has all through been participating at the tribunal revealed to this medium that Binani has obtained approval from the national leadership of the party to challenge the governorship election petition tribunal’s judgment before the court of appeal without any attempt at replacing her legal team.
Otunba has called on the Adamawa indigenes in Abuja faithful to the APC to be wary of fraudsters who exploit the scenario, to intimidate with a certain office and name for extortion in the pretext of raising money for appeal against the tribunal’s judgment at the apex court, saying that it isn’t Binani’s character and certainly not in the interest of the national leadership of the party.