The recent development in the politics of Akwa Ibom state is very unfortunate and worrisome. Although that handwriting on the wall is very clear that the nullification of the entire election that brought Mr Udom Gabriel Emmanuel into office as governor by the Appeal Court is a judicial gang-up by the ruling All Progressive Congress APC . This is orchestrated at the Federal level by APC to capture the oil rich Akwa Ibom state they have been planning to have.
Frankly speaking, the Appeal Court ruling of Friday 18 December 2015 on the Akwa Ibom governorship election was a federal rape on the people of the state who out of conviction and a careful assessment of candidates on the April 11, 2015 poll, entrusted their future and mandate to Mr Udom Emmanuel by electing him as governor of the state.
True to his good nature and humane disposition, Mr Udom Emmanuel within the last six months in office has tried to keep his campaign promises to the people of the state. He started very well as one who has good visions for the state. The governor had traverse the entire state, breaking grounds and laying foundations for take-off of his industrializati
It is important to note here, that the about to be aborted government of Mr Udom Emmanuel via federal might holds even greater promises to Akwa Ibom people who have never in their 28 years of existence as the state never tested the fruit of industrializati
The emergence of Mr Udom Emmanuel as governor once again rekindled the people’s hope on an industrialized Akwa Ibom after years of broken promises and deceit.
For those who could see through the future, had long predicted that the ruling APC will gang-up against the PDP in their desperate bid to claim the oil rich Akwa Ibom and Rivers states they always wanted. That was why when Mr Udom Emmanuel was busy smiling,
romancing, and taking pictures with President Buhari, it did not get those how could see through the window of the man’s heart to be convinced that Mr President does not actually love or want to work with Akwa Ibom governor. It’s on this foresight that your’s faithfully made bold to advised Mr Udom Emmanuel to beware of evil behind the smiling eyes of Buhari some months back.
They have carefully map out their strategy to capture the states, that was why the National Chairman of the APC boast last week that the party will stop at nothing in making sure that they capture Akwa Ibom and Rivers states. They started with the nullification of elections in 18 local government areas of the state through the tribunal. The second game plan was unfolded last week with the Appeal Court cancelling elections in all the 31 local government areas of the state.
Although the governor believes his God is not a god of appeal but a supreme God, but the fact remains that the judiciary acted the already prepared script for them by the ruling APC. This script, the governor must understand that is not limited to the Appeal Court but has also been extended to the Supreme Court. They are waiting to use federal might to ambush the governor in ill conceived rerun.
This questionable judgement by the Appeal Court on the Akwa Ibom governorship election is a serious indictment on the sanctity and integrity of the Nigeria judiciary system. The 2015 electoral cases have continued to witness delivery of conflicting judgments on the same matter that supposed to have been treated equally. Today, court judgements on electoral matters vary from state to state. They have made the usage card reader machine mandatory for PDP control states while it is not compulsory for APC states.
When followed the court judgements delivered in APC states where the compliance with card reader is waved aside, one begins to wonder the rationale behind the tribunal and Appeal Court judgement which forced it on Akwa Ibom. Even in the just concluded governorship election in Kogi and Bayelsa states, the malfunctioning of card reader machines cannot be over emphasis, let alone the election that took place in more than 32 states in the federation.
The Appeal Court in Lagos had upheld that faulty card reader cannot be a ground for invalidating an election.
The court held that the Electoral Act (2010) as amended does not recognise the malfunctioning of a card reader as one of the factors that can lead to the nullification of an election.
This, the appellate court held, is because the Electoral Act predates the introduction of the card reader.
The Court of Appeal stated this in a verdict on a cross-appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenging parts of the Governorship Election Tribunal’s verdict in the case of Jimi Agbaje versus Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and others.
Justice Obande Festus Ogbuinya of Appeal Court while delivering judgement on Agbaje vs Ambode (APC), declared categorically that the Card Reader has no Life of its own, and as a result, cannot be used to determine the result of an election, since it is not contained in the Electoral Act, 2010, as Amended.
The other justices on the Court of Appeal panel were A. J. Abdulkadir, Mohammed Danjuma, Emmanuel Agim and Saidu Hussaini.
But the Appeal Court last week ordered cancellation of governorship election in the 31 Local Government of Akwa Ibom State on grounds that the election did not substantially complied with the use of card reader. With this submission of the learned justices on the issue of card reader, it’s therefore becomes very unfortunate that the incident forms that were provided by the INEC to cover-up and compliment card reader where it fails was not admitted by the tribunal, neither the Appeal Court.
It is wrong for the Appeal Court to conclude that it was a paltry 437,128 people were accredited for the governorship election in a state of over 2 million people. This statistic shows that the tribunal and the Appeal Court only admitted the card reader figure and despise the incident forms. If the use of incident forms were needless in the election, why was it being introduced in the first place?
How could it just be concluded that over six hundred thousand people who used incident forms were not part of the election? The issue of over voting based on their analysis which hanged on the number shown on the card reader machine is baseless since incident forms were provided, and they failed to acknowledge. This is a clear act of disenfranchisin
This lopsided judgement cooked up by the ruling APC and foisted on Akwa Ibom people is the beginning of the APC gang-up against the state. This is not about Mr Udom Emmanuel, it’s about the prosperity, peace, development, happiness, and destiny of the Akwa Ibom people.
It is true that Akwa Ibom does not need a ruling party, but a governor with the right passion and vision for development. Akwa Ibom needs a governor who has the collective interest of the people at heart, and the right approach and connection for development.
It takes sacrifice to move Akwa Ibom to where it is today, and achieve what Mr Udom Emmanuel has achieved within six months with the depleting financial situation in the country. Like the governor said, that when the passion is right, nothing is impossible. Udom’s right passion and approach to developments in the state has made Akwa Ibom the talking point today and where development is taking place. He is the only man that has all it takes to improve the Internally Generated Revenue for the state when his industrial projects must have taken-off.
They have succeeded in using the judiciary to upturn the will of the people so that they will have the opportunity to manipulate INEC which they control in a rerun to foist their stooge on Akwa Ibom people who will come and do the bidding of APC instead of the will of Akwa Ibom people.
But because Udom’s governorship is anchored on a divine mandate, it therefore means that God is in charge. And since God is the chief corner stone of Udom Emmanuel’s mandate, there is no gang-up, be it by the judiciary or rerun that will take away Udom’s divine mandate. The will of God and the desires of Akwa Ibom people will certainly stand. God bless Udom Emmanuel.
#AkwaIbom
0 comments :
Post a Comment