In Jigawa, a travesty of justice

And while Nigerians are celebrating the victory of the party at the just-concluded polls, in Jigawa Central Senatorial district the party willfully subverted its own cardinal principle in a case involving a seat of Jigawa North Central Senatorial District. The personality at the receiving end of this manipulation is 53-year-old Musa Suleiman, a retired civil […]

And while Nigerians are celebrating the victory of the party at the just-concluded polls, in Jigawa Central Senatorial district the party willfully subverted its own cardinal principle in a case involving a seat of Jigawa North Central Senatorial District. The personality at the receiving end of this manipulation is 53-year-old Musa Suleiman, a retired civil servant. For about two decades Suleiman served his country diligently and tirelessly. Harnessing the experience and exposure he has garnered over the years, he decided that the farming enterprise he chose to settle for will not enable him give his best to the people of his state in general and his community in particular. He, therefore, settled for politics.
Upon making up his mind he plunged into his new found vocation with vigor. He never looked back since then. At first he joined the Action Congress of Nigeria (A.C.N.) and secured the party’s ticket to contest for the National Assembly as a Senator. His dream was not realized. But he remained undaunted. After three years of waiting and planning, in 2010 he moved to the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC). There too, his perseverance and doggedness paid off as the party did not waver in granting him the same ticket he failed to turn into victory previously. Again, he lost.
Five years down the line, he staged a comeback again. This time he pitted his tent with the same ensemble, now enlarged and better re-positioned. He joined the All Progressives Congress (APC), an amalgam of the two parties he had earlier subscribed to- the A.C.N. and CPC; and more. His quest never lacked optimism or zest. As a committed progressive, he was as constant as the Northern star.  He again went for the same seat he has been pursuing all these years. Following due process he bought an Expression of Interest Form of the APC and filled it. Having fulfilled all the requirements of the party, he got a nomination to run for Senate from eighteen of his constituents spanning the length and breadth of the North-Central  Senatorial of Jigawa.
Those who nominated him, all of them card carrying members like himself, are specifically from Gwaram, Buji, Birnin Kudu, Jahun, Dutse and Kiyawa local government areas of the state. He had crossed another critical hurdle. And he confidently headed for the next, which was the screening of contestants. He was at the conclusion of the exercise certified as “grassroots politician with the capacity to deliver.” He scored 57 per cent. According to the report of the 5-man screening committee chaired by Alhaji Nasiru Adamu, last year, Suleiman was “cleared to contest the primaries having sworn to the party attestation.
At the senatorial district primary election, which was monitored by the Jigawa State branch of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Dutse on December 8, 2014, he was again successful. At the close of the hitch-free exercise, the APC 5-member committee headed by Chief Enobong T. Umanah returned him as the winner. He unanimously polled 1540 votes, being all the votes cast with none invalidated.
Then, all of a sudden, and out of the blue, he was declared unfit to run for the seat that he has followed all stipulated party rules and channels to secure. His name was expunged. In its place, that of another candidate, who was a late entrant to the party itself, was submitted to INEC to contest the election that was held March 28.
Being alive, willing to contest and not given a cogent explanation why his name was extirpated from the contest, he again acted lawfully, in tandem with the requirement of the party. On December 16, 2014, he petitioned the legislative election appeal committee. Although Nakudu never took part in the primaries, as indicated, but the party chairman favoured him. A couple of days afterwards, precisely on December 15, 2014, the state chairman of the APC, declared that the INEC form for contest was for Nakudu. Suleiman’s request for restitution hit a brick wall.  The chairman of the appeal committee, Hon. Baba Waziri replied that Nakudu, being a third-term member of the House of Representatives, and a popular candidate, “would be more acceptable to the people of Jigawa North Central Senatorial District than Musa Suleiman.”
The party took a cue from Waziri’s committee and Suleiman was not allowed to run for the election. His pleadings fell on deaf ears leaving him no credible option within the confines of the party. It was obvious that all his years of service, loyalty and strict abiding by party rules were not enough to give him succour. In a travesty of democracy, equity and good conscience the party and some elements within it used their clout to frustrate a just cause. They may have subverted the cause of constitutional democracy and party discipline. That is left for competent courts of law to decide. But what is obvious to a discerning mind is that Suleiman, an outstanding party adherent, with no record of decamping, any form of anti-party activity or indiscipline, would be meted such a treatment at a time when Nigerians saw through the folly of the erstwhile ruling party; and trounced it. What signal is this sending to Nigerians? My honest opinion is that the party should step up its act and do the needful. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.
Gwaram contributed this piece from Gwaram Local Government, Jigawa State.