Facts have continued to emerge about how
insider sabotage by elements loyal to the ruling All Progressives
Congress, APC, at the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC
orchestrated plans to derail the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the
forthcoming Ondo governorship elections have begun to emerge.
When all the pieces come together, it
paints a dark picture and a grave danger to Nigeria’s democracy. When an
institution meant to be a neutral umpire is clearly partisan, it is
cause for worry.
According to insider information from the electoral body, the decision to replace the name of the authentic candidate
of the main opposition party in Nigeria, Eyitayo Jegede, with a rival
Jimoh Ibrahim, is the handiwork of Amina Zakari, a national commissioner
of the INEC and relative of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The action by INEC has sparked violent protests in Ondo State with
youths taking to the streets to demand that the electoral body rescind
its decision to replace Jegede with Ibrahim on the candidate list. Party
sources say Ibrahim is not even a registered member of the PDP.
Legal Advice Jettisoned
Our investigations revealed that a
consortium of senior lawyers who act as a legal advisory body to INEC
had advised the commission not to replace the name of the PDP candidate
with that of controversial billionaire businessman. The lawyers – all
senior advocates of Nigeria – had documented their legal advise and
submitted it to the head of the legal department with the chairman of
INEC, Mahmood Yakubu in copy.
But, the INEC boss, acting in
collaboration with Zakari, a woman known to be closely affiliated with
the All Progressives Congress, APC, decided to ignore not just the
strong legal position of the lawyers, but to also ignore superseding
court orders countering the controversial Justice Okon Abang ruling.
“The body of lawyers had recommended
that INEC recognises Jegede as the authentic candidate of the PDP and
subsequently, the legal department of INEC had adopted the legal opinion
of the SANs,” a top source who is familiar with the internal workings
of the electoral body told The Trent on Friday, October 28, 2016.
“Consequently, a memo signed by the head
of the legal department was sent to Yakubu [the INEC chairman]. The
memo was discussed at an intense meeting on Thursday,” the source, who
didn’t wish to be named, said.
The Explicit Legal Issues
Part of the memo, as revealed to our
reporter indicated that Jegede was the rightful candidate for the PDP
because his emergence complied with the Electoral Act and the primaries
in which he emerged was monitored by INEC in line with the law. The memo
also indicated that Ibrahim’s name was forwarded to the commission by
an unrecognised faction in the PDP and the faction did not comply with
the provisions of the electoral act.
Moreso, the conduct and communication of
the factional PDP group contravened the position of the Supreme Court
in Emeka vs Okadigbo, a landmark case that held that it is the national
executive of a political party that can forward the name of a candidate
to INEC.
The legal opinion noted the Justice Okon
Abang order demanding that Ibrahim be recognised as the PDP candidate
to be dubious because not only did it contradict the Supreme Court’s
position on the subject, but it also did not recognise that Ibrahim did
not participate in the process to obtain a nomination as the party’s
candidate in the November polls.
Specifically, there is no evidence
before the commission that Ibrahim participated in PDP primaries or met
any other condition to be validly nominated by his party as its
candidate.
The legal department also brought up the
existence of a restraining order from a high court in Ondo addressed to
INEC barring the commission from enlisting Ibrahim as the candidate of
the PDP.
This court order was the most recent to
Thursday, the day the INEC boss took the decision to ignore the court
order and go ahead to push the agenda of the ruling party in naming the
billionaire businessman as the PDP candidate.
“The commission must do what is
ethically and professionally right by not recognizing Jimoh Ibrahim as
the PDP candidate since it is clear to the commission that only the
primaries that produced Eyitayo Jegede followed the provisions of the
Electoral Law,” part of the memo said.
Our source revealed that at the meeting,
Ms. Zakari slammed the submission of the legal department and revealed
that the attorney general of the federation, Abubakar Malami, a bonafide
member of the Aso Rock cabal, had ordered that the name of Jegede be
removed and replaced with Ibrahim.
“She said that that was the decision of
the presidency at the meeting,” our source revealed. “Several members of
the legal department had raised objections to her open support for
Jimoh Ibrahim at the meeting. Out of frustration, because she was losing
the argument, she dropped the “Aso Rock” bomb.”
The Hand of Aso Rock
Another newspaper reported that Amina
Zakari had attended a meeting with the INEC chairman at the Aso Rock and
President Buhari was in the meeting with members of “the cabal”. It was
at that meeting that “clear instructions was given to the commission to
announce the name of Jimoh Ibrahim as the candidate of the PDP”.
“It is not that the APC believe that
Ibrahim can win the election or they are siding with him, the action was
taken to road rail the PDP in the elections by causing disaffection in
the Ondo chapter of the PDP,” another source closely following this
development told The Trent.
A source who spoke with our reporter
confirmed that Abubakar Malami, the federal attorney general, was
present at the meeting and advised that Jegede’s name be replaced with
Ibrahim’s for the purpose of giving the crisis-filled ruling party an
edge at the poll.
The Role Of Buhari’s Niece In INEC
According to sources, Amina Zakari, a
niece of President Buhari, is the “most powerful woman in INEC”. She was
due for retirement in 2015, but Buhari kept her in INEC against the law
so she could continue her work sabotaging the electoral body for the
APC.
“You dare not oppose Zakari,” a staff of
INEC disclosed. “She is the most powerful person here [INEC] now. The
president listens to her and she nominates most of the president’s
appointment to the commission.”
Zakari was appointed a national
commissioner of INEC by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. She
was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari, after the former president
asked the military dictator to forward a name for the position.
Buhari appointed her acting chairman of
the commission on June 30, 2016, after the expiration of the tenure of
Attahiru Jega, the INEC boss who oversaw the elections of 2015. Her
appointment led to an outcry of nepotism against the president. She was
relieved of the post in October of the same year, when Yakubu was
appointed.
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