Supreme Court ruling: Sadness, joy over change of fortunes in Katsina CPC
Similarly, a seven-man panel of justices led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Dahiru Musdapher last Friday dismissed the appeal on grounds that courts have no jurisdiction to hear and determine the matters in dispute. The court maintained that, where there is a dispute, to which of two primaries of a political party produced the […]
Similarly, a seven-man panel of justices led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Dahiru Musdapher last Friday dismissed the appeal on grounds that courts have no jurisdiction to hear and determine the matters in dispute. The court maintained that, where there is a dispute, to which of two primaries of a political party produced the nominated candidate, that dispute is not justiciable under the provisions of Section 87 (4) of the Electoral Act 2010.
The apex court maintained that going by the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 and the 1999 constitution, as amended, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), ought not to have recognized the ousted lawmakers as authentic candidates of the CPC for the April general elections in Katsina State, as according to the court, they were not validly nominated by the party.
Crux of the matter
Crisis concerning genuine candidates of the National Assembly elections under the platform of the CPC in Katsina State started since January 2011, when two warring factions of the party conducted separate primary elections. The primaries were conducted on the 13th and 15th of January, 2011.
While the former Speaker of House of Representatives, Aminu Masari-led faction conducted its primary on the 13th, the Danmarke camp conducted its own primary on the 15th of same month. But when it was clear that Masari and co were the recognised candidates by the party, Lado-led group went to the Federal High Court, Abuja and challenged the party and the candidates as well.
The court Justice Abdullahi Kafarati ruled in favour of Danmarke-led group, but in less than one month, Masari camp also filed an appeal challenging Justice Kafarati’s judgment. But the election date was fixed before the Appeal Court could deliver its judgment and INEC was left with no option than to recognise the Lado-led group as genuine candidates of the CPC based on the judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The twist
In another twist of politics, after winning election, candidates of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state filed their case before the Election Petition Tribunal challenging the authenticity of the candidature of the CPC candidates.
The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in its ruling on the 28th September, 2011, nullified the victories of two serving Senators and eight House of Representatives members, who won the April 9 election under the platform of the CPC.
The two-man panel of Justices Solomon A. Akintaye and Halim Saleeman also ordered INEC to repeat elections in the affected constituencies within 90 days of the judgement. The tribunal upheld that, the 10 affected lawmakers were not validly nominated candidates of the CPC because the Court of Appeal had set aside the January 15, 2011 CPC’s primary election that gave them tickets to stand in the polls. The judges upheld that, “In view of exhibit B (Court of Appeal’s judgement) tendered in evidence before the tribunal by the petitioner, all the affected legislators did not qualify to contest the last April elections.”
They reaffirmed, “The Appeal Court judgement had set aside the January 15, 2011 primary election conducted by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Katsina State, which saw the affected Senators and House of Representatives members as the party’s flag bearers in the last April election. The judgement has made them to be unqualified.”
The tribunal pointed out that it relied on Section 141 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, and Sections 135 and 65 of the 1999 Constitution, which provide that a candidate should only contest election on sponsorship of a political party to cancel the elections of the affected lawmakers.
The judges also maintained that the tribunal was not unaware of the pending case at the Supreme Court of Nigeria involving the affected legislators, saying the judgement of the Supreme Court could only be effected from the date it was passed hence nothing could affect the tribunal’s verdict then.
However, a three-man Appeal Court panel of Justices Amina Adamu Augi, Abdu Aboki and Teresa Orji-Abadua set aside the judgement of the election petition tribunal on November 15, 2011 on grounds of lack of jurisdiction by the tribunal to entertain the case.
Led by Justice Amina Adamu Augi, the Appeal Court upheld that “obviously the tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain the petition,” adding, “the main ground of the petition which holds that the respondents were not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast at the election is an election matter which the tribunal should have focussed its attention, rather it went on its own and dabbled into pre-election matter.”
The judges maintained that, the Akintaye-led tribunal had wasted its time and efforts on a matter which it had no jurisdiction and neglected or overlooked the matter that it had jurisdiction over, an election matter that the tribunal was established to look into. The Appeal Court upheld that, the only order it could make in the circumstances was to uphold the objection filed by the respondents and set aside the entire judgement of the tribunal.
“The proceedings of the election petition tribunal and its judgement delivered on the 28th September, 2011 is hereby set aside and the appeal is therefore allowed,” ruled the Appeal Court.
Before the verdict of the Appeal Court, a renowned legal practitioner, Barrister Abbas Abdullahi Machika faulted the tribunal judgement, saying it could not fly because of some defects it contained. Machika in an interview with Sunday Trust maintained that, “one, the judges ruled that, they had allowed the petition on the basis of the judgement of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria which upheld that candidates of the January 13, 2011 CPC primary election were the rightful candidates and not those that were returned by the INEC.”
He argued that the problem here was the election of the National Assembly was conducted on the 9th of March 2011 before the judgement of the Appeal Court is delivered. What was on ground then was the judgement of the Federal High Court Abuja, which recognised the January 15 CPC’s primary election and consequently ordered INEC to replace the names of CPC candidates of the January 13 primary election with those elected on the January 15.
Machika opined that since the elections had been conducted and the candidates of January 15 primary of the party won the election, then the candidates can only step into the shoes of the victory of that election, noting that, there were many cases of this nature decided by the Supreme Court and the notorious among them were Ameachi vs INEC, Ebedo vs INEC decided in 2008.
Reacting to the Supreme Court Judgement, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Babba Kaita, one of the affected candidates from the Masari-led camp who ran the election for Kankia/Kusada/Ingawa federal constituency, described the judgement as a step forward to the right direction in Nigerian politics.
Kaita thanked the Almighty God for the victory, saying “the judgement has evidently shown that it is only God that gives power to whom He wants and is He takes same from whoever He wants.”
Kaita attributed the success in the legal tussle to Almighty God and the commitment of the judiciary. He commended the public for their support to them, saying, “our people are with us throughout the struggle and we thank them for that.”
Turning to the defeated lawmakers, Kaita said, “The verdict will be a pointer to the electorate about who is a true CPC member and who is not. When the court ordered us to stop parading ourselves as CPC candidates we stopped and we remained in the party. Now that the Supreme Court as returned our mandate to us we will see whether the defeated lawmakers will stay in power.”
Kaita pointed out that some of the members of the party from the Lado-led group had started fleeing the party and this was an indication their interest was not the party but to climb to power under the party’s name.
He, however, appealed to them to consider the verdict as destiny, saying “when the Appeal Court ruled in your favour we followed due processes in seeking the mandate of the electorate and since it has become clear that we are the rightful candidates, you should then support us so that we can move the country, Katsina State and the CPC forward.”
It would be recalled that internal crisis over candidates in the general elections rocked the Katsina State chapter of CPC sometime in 2010.
Alhaji Mamman Abubakar Danmusa, who is chieftain of the party in Katsina State told Sunday Trust that the predicament of CPC in the state wascaused by two top ranking officers of the party, Engineer Buba Galadima and Alhaji Sule Yahaya Hamma.
Danmusa explained, “When it became clear that Masari was governorship candidate, we held a meeting in Kano State on the 24th April, 2011and resolved not to support him.
“I sent word to Governor Ibrahim Shema that I would like to discuss issues with him. We met in the presence of Alhaji Dahiru Mangal, Senator Lado Danmarke, Senator Yandoma and Alhaji Aminu Makera. We sealed our agreement that we would help him win the election and in return he would allocate four slots of commissioner, nine local government chairmen and other positions to us.”
On Friday August 29, Governor Ibrahim redeemed his part of the agreement entered with Danmarke-led faction by appointing four CPC men, including the son of Alhaji Mamman Danmusa, Alhaji Jamilu Muhammad Danmusa as commissioners. Other beneficiaries are Alhaji Husaini Yammama as commissioner for Lands and Survey, Alhaji Jamilu Muhammad Danmusa as Water Resources Commissioner, Alhaji Aminu Abdulmumini for Commerce and Alhaji Tijjani Auwalu Zango as Commissioner of Rural and Social development.
The recent appointment of Danmarke by the federal government it was gathered was part of the agreements he entered with the federal government to support Governor Shema win the election.
Change of batton
However, with judgment of the Supreme Court, Senator Abdu Umar Yan-Doma and Senator Ahmed Sani Stores of Katsina North and Katsina Central are to vacate their seats from the Senate chamber. They are to be replaced by Alhaji Sadik Abubakar Yar’Adua, (Katsina Central) and Alhaji Hadi Sirka (Katsina North) respectively.
At the House of Representatives, Abdu Dankama (Jibia/Kaita), Murtala Isa (Faskari/Sabuwa/Kankara), Mukhtari Dan-Dutse (Funtua/Dan-Dume), Musa Salisu (Kankia/Kusada/Ingawa), Aminu Ashiru (Mani/Bindawa), Umar Adamu Katsayel (Daura/Mai-Adua/Sandamu), Muhammad Tukur Sada (Katsina) and Tasi’u Doguru (Mashi/Dutse) were sacked and are to be replaced by Alhaji Salisu Salisco, Barrister Abbas Abdullahi Machika, Dr. Mansur Abdullahi, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Babba Kaita, Alhaji Isa Lawal Doro, Alhaji Salisu Ado Daura, Sheikh Umar Abubakar and Alhaji Sani Bello respectively.