Politics
Periscoping 2020 (2)
On Thursday, February 6, 2020, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), de-registered 74 political parties, leaving, only 18 as duly recognised political parties in Nigeria.
Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu who broke the news to journalists in Abuja at a press conference, said the decision of the commission was in line with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as well as the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).
According to the commission, those that are qualified to exist as political parties include: Accord Party (AP), Action Alliance (AA), African Action Congress (AAC), African Democratic Congress (ADC), All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Allied Peoples Movement (APM). Others are: Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), National Rescue Mission (NRM), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressives Party (YPP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
Prof. Yakubu said INEC de-registered the 74 political parties for failing to satisfy the requirements to operate as contained in the Fourth Alteration to the constitution and also fixed the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo on September 19 and October 10, 2020, respectively.
The Nigerian Senate, on Thursday, February 6, 2020, constituted a 56-member Constitution Review Committee to handle all bills seeking alterations in the provisions of the 1999 constitution.
Dr Ahmad Lawan, President of the Senate, said eight principal officers of the senate will serve as steering committee within the larger committee with the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege as chairman.
In the House of Representatives, the lawmakers passed for second reading, a bill seeking to give local government full financial and administrative autonomy.
After seven months in office, the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, for the first time, presided over plenary on Thursday, February 6, 2020, after the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan sought to leave the chambers to attend to other matters outside.
For the second time in three weeks, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), took its protest to the embassies of the European Union (EU), United Nations (UN) and France, condemning among other things, what it termed ‘threat to democracy’ by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday, February 11, 2020.
The protest which took off from the party’s National Presidential Campaign headquarters, Maitama, Abuja, attracted key members of the National Working Committee (NWC), led by the National Secretary of the party, Senator Ibrahim Tsauri.
The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, February 11, 2020, affirmed the Bayelsa State governor-elect, David Lyon, as the valid candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last governorship election in the state.
A five-man panel of the court led by Justice Mary Peter-Odili unanimously dismissed the appeal filed by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who had instituted his case, seeking to be declared the valid winner of the September 4, 2019, primary election of the APC in Bayelsa.
The Supreme Court, on Thursday, February 13, 2020, sacked the governor-elect of Bayelsa State, David Lyon and his deputy, Biobarakumo Degi-Eremieoyo.
The apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-man panel of Justices led by Justice Mary Peter-Odili held that Degi-Eremieoyo presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
It held that the Form CF 001 Degi-Ermieoyo submitted to INEC for the purpose of the November 16, 2019, governorship election in Bayelsa State contained false information of fundamental nature.
Friday, February 14, 2020, Senator Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was sworn-in as the 5th Executive Governor of Bayelsa State.
An Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, on Monday, February 17, 2020, restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from de-registering 31 political parties.
The restraining order followed an interlocutory motion that was brought before the court by two plaintiffs led by the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD).
The sacked governor-elect of Bayelsa State, David Lyon and the All Progressives Congress (APC), lost their bids to overturn the Supreme Court ruling of February 13, which removed Lyon as the duly elected governor of the state on February 28.
In a ruling, the Supreme Court dismissed the application for review of the judgment which rendered Lyon’s election invalid because of what the five-man panel of Justices attributed to the alleged certificate forgery committed by Lyon’s running mate, Senator Biobarakumo Degi-Eremieoyo.
According to Justice Amina Augie who read the judgment, the applications lacked merit, adding that the decisions of the court are final.
No fewer than four Hilux patrol vehicles loaded with battle-ready mobile and regular policemen, on Thursday, February 27, stormed the headquarters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja.
The arrival of the security agents forestalled a possible bloody clash of the pro and anti-protesters against the National Chairman of the ruling party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
A High Court sitting in Lokoja declared the removal of Elder Simon Achuba, as Deputy Governor of Kogi State by the State House of Assembly as null and void, adding that the subsequent nomination of Chief Edward Onoja did not follow due process.
Delivering judgment on the matter brought before the court by Elder Achuba on Thursday, February 27, Justice John Olorunfemi of the Lokoja High Court 4 declared the removal of the former Kogi State Deputy Governor from office by the Assembly as a violation of the constitution.
The Director, Legal Services of INEC, Oluwatoyin Babalola, on Monday, March 2, disclosed that the commission had proposed 34 amendments to the Electoral Act.
Speaking at the opening of a week-long retreat on the review of the electoral legal framework jointly organized by the commission, the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in Lagos, Babalola said there are certain shortcomings in the electoral legal framework that needed to be addressed through legislation.
On Monday, March 2, the sacked governor of Imo State and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), again asked the Supreme Court for an adjournment to a later date for the hearing of their application for a review of the court’s judgment sacking Ihedioha.
When the case was called, their lawyer, Kanu Agabi (SAN) said the 1st and 2nd respondents- Hope Uzodinma and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) – just served them some documents before the court began sitting.
The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said in Lagos, while declaring open a retreat on the Electoral Legal Framework, on Monday March 2, that the commission had begun to review a draft of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill that will include stringent punishments for election violators.
He said that the commission had in late 2019 received the draft of the bill from the senate committee on INEC which had earlier been presented to the executive for assent before the 2019 general elections.
A seven-man panel of Supreme Cout Justices led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, on Tuesday, March 3, voted six-to-one, with the majority agreeing to dismiss the application by Hon Emeka Ihediohas’s lawyer, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), that the court should review its judgment sacking his client as governor of Imo State.
A justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Chima Nweze, who gave a dissenting judgment, noted that the Supreme Court is permitted by law to overrule itself.
“The reasoning in the judgment will, sooner or later, haunt our electoral jurisprudence” Justice Nweze said, adding that his argument was an appeal to the “brooding spirit of the law”.
Reacting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the verdict of the Supreme Court on the review of its judgment on the Imo governorship election was a disconcerting endorsement of electoral fraud, which places a huge burden on the court and the Lord Justices.
The PDP, however, noted that in the face of the sad verdict, Justice Chima Nweze’s judgment presented a glimpse of hope for the nation’s judiciary.
On Tuesday, March 3, the Oyo, Ogun, Lagos and Osun States, Houses of Assembly, respectively passed a bill to establish a regional security outfit codenamed ‘Amotekun’.
The Oyo State House of Assembly passed the Oyo State Security Network Agency Bill, 2020 Codenamed Operation Amotekun. In Ogun State, the state House of Assembly also passed the State Security Network Agency and Amotekun Corps Bill.
In Lagos State, the state House of Assembly, at plenary, passed the bill to create Amotekun Corps as a special unit of the Lagos State Neigbhourhood Safety Corps, while in Osun State, the State House of Assembly passed the Osun Security Network Agency and Amotekun Corps Establishment Bill 2020 after it was read for the third time.
The House of Representatives, on Tuesday, March 3, resolved that the National Assembly should suspend plenary for two weeks to enable the management install facilities to screen and detect coronavirus.
A Federal Capital Territory High Court, on Wednesday, March 4, gave an order restraining Comrade Adams Oshiomhole from parading himself as National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In his ruling, Hon. Justice Senchi Z. Danlami gave an order of interlocutory injunction restraining Comrade Oshiomhole from parading himself as the National Chairman of the APC pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
After weeks of speculation and suspense, governors of South-South States of Rivers, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River, on Thursday, March 5, agreed to establish a regional security outfit to tackle peculiar challenges in the region. This came on the heels of the passage of the bill for the establishment of South-West security network, Amotekun, by State Houses of Assembly in states of the region.
Addressing journalists in Asaba at the end of the meeting of the Forum of Governors in the South-South, Chairman of the forum and governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, said the governors had agreed to resuscitate the BRACED Commission, a regional economic and integration platform.
By: Opaka Dokubo
The former two-term governor went down memory lane to recall how they founded the APC but were used and dumped.
In his words, “…those calling on us to join APC, we have agreed to join the APC but on clear agreement that protects and respects the interest of my party, NNPP and my political movement, Kwankwasiyya. No state where you go that you don’t have NNPP and Kwankwasiyya. We have gubernatorial candidates, senatorial candidates and others.
“We are ready to join APC under strong conditions and promises. We will not allow anyone to use us and later dump us.
“We were among the founding fathers of the APC and endured significant persecution from various security agencies while challenging the previous administration.
“Yet when the party assumed power, we received no recognition or appreciation for our sacrifices, simply because we didn’t originate from their original faction.
“We are not in a hurry to leave the NNPP; we are enjoying and have peace of mind. But if some want a political alliance that would not disappoint us like in the past, we are open to an alliance. Even if it is the PDP that realised their mistakes, let’s enter an agreement that will be made public,” Sen. Kwankwaso stated.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has dismissed long-standing claims that he once sought to extend his tenure in office, insisting he never pursued a third term.
Speaking at the Democracy Dialogue organised by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, Ghana, Chief Obasanjo said there is no Nigerian, living or dead, who can truthfully claim he solicited support for a third term agenda.
“I’m not a fool. If I wanted a third term, I know how to go about it. And there is no Nigerian, dead or alive, that would say I called him and told him I wanted a third term,” the former president declared.
Chief Obasanjo argued that he had proven his ability to secure difficult national goals, citing Nigeria’s debt relief during his administration as a much greater challenge than any third term ambition.
“I keep telling them that if I could get debt relief, which was more difficult than getting a third term, then if I wanted a third term, I would have got it too,” he said.
He further cautioned against leaders who overstay in power, stressing that the belief in one’s indispensability is a “sin against God.”
On his part, former President Goodluck Jonathan said any leader who failed to perform would be voted out of office if proper elections were conducted.
Describing electoral manipulation as one of the biggest threats to democracy in Africa, he said unless stakeholders come together to rethink and reform democracy, it may collapse in Africa.
He added that leaders must commit to the kind of democracy that guarantees a great future for the children where their voices matter.
He said: “Democracy in Africa continent is going through a period of strain and risk collapse unless stakeholders came together to rethink and reform it. Electoral manipulation remains one of the biggest threats in Africa.
“We in Africa must begin to look at our democracy and rethink it in a way that works well for us and our people. One of the problems is our electoral system. People manipulate the process to remain in power by all means.
“If we had proper elections, a leader who fails to perform would be voted out. But in our case, people use the system to perpetuate themselves even when the people don’t want them.
“Our people want to enjoy their freedoms. They want their votes to count during elections. They want equitable representation and inclusivity. They want good education. Our people want security. They want access to good healthcare. They want jobs. They want dignity. When leaders fail to meet these basic needs, the people become disillusioned.”
The dialogue was also attended by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Touray, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto diocese of Catholic Church among others who all stressed that democracy in Africa must go beyond elections to include accountability, service, and discipline.
The Rivers State House of Assembly yesterday resumed plenary session after a six-month state of emergency imposed on the state by President Bola Tinubu elapsed on Wednesday midnight.
President Bola Tinubu had lifted the emergency rule on September 17, with the Governor of the state, Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and members of the state assembly asked to resume duties on September 18.
The plenary was presided over by the Speaker of the House, Martins Amaewhule, at the conference hall located within the legislative quarters in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
The conference hall has served as the lawmakers’ temporary chamber since their official chamber at the assembly complex on Moscow Road was torched and later pulled down by the state government.
The outgone sole administrator of the state, Ibok-Ete Ibas, could not complete the reconstruction of the assembly complex as promised.
Recall that on March 18, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers following the prolonged political standoff between Fubara and members of the House of Assembly loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
He subsequently suspended the governor, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and lawmakers for six months and installed a sole administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd.), to manage the state’s affairs.
The decision sparked widespread controversy, with critics accusing the president of breaching the Constitution.
However, others hailed the move as a necessary and pragmatic step.
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