KEY stakeholders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) have continued to give divergent opinions and legal interpretations to the pronouncements by Supreme Court Justices on the eligibility of the Yobe State governor and chairman caretaker and extraordinary convention planning committee, Mai Mala Buni to hold both elective and party positions.
On Thursday, two of President Muhammadu Buhari’s aides joined the league of APC chieftains smarting for the dissolution of the caretaker committee. Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the October 10, 2020 governorship election, Eyitayo Jegede, in his petition, had argued that Buni, according to section 183 of the constitution and Article 17(4) of the APC, could not function both as governor and acting chairman of the APC concurrently. His prayer was hinged on the fact that the acting national chairman of the APC and Yobe governor was the one who forwarded Akeredolu’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the candidate of the APC.
The PDP candidate asserted that Akeredolu’s nomination breached the law and as such, his election should be nullified. Justices Mary Peter-Odili, Justices Ejembi Eko and Ibrahim Saulawa, in their minority judgment, declared that Akeredolu’s election should have been nullified while the appellants, (PDP and Jegede) declared winner of the October 20 poll.
Against the backdrop of the minority judgment, Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, in a private memo to the party stakeholders, which had since went viral, called for a halt to the ward congresses slated for Saturday, while he equally demanded that machinery be set in motion to see to the exit of Buni-led committee from APC national secretariat. The PDP, in a similar vein, called for the dissolution of APC interim leadership.
In a joint statement, Senators Babafemi Ojudu and Ita Enang, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, respectively asked stakeholders in APC to shut the gate of APC national secretariat against Buni and his team.
The duo argued that the minority judgment should not be disregarded as they claimed that it has far-reaching implications on the party in the face of forthcoming governorship elections in Anambra and other offseason elections. They called for a halt to Saturday ward congresses, slated to hold across the country. Chief Adeniyi Akintola, one of the lead counsels of Governor Akeredolu in the election petition at Supreme Court, however, differed.
Addressing newsmen on Thursday at the APC national secretariat in Abuja, Chief Akintola faulted the position canvassed by Chief Keyamo and certain chieftains of the party. He told newsmen that no court in the land would attach value to a minority judgment, as he noted that it was of no value.
He maintained that by the pronouncements of the election petition tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which was affirmed by the apex court, Buni could combine both party and elective positions.
“In 2008, Abubakar Atiku versus Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, there was a minority judgment given by Justice George Oguntade, Justice Walter Onnoghen and one other justice, while Justice Niki Tobi delivered the majority judgment. So, there has always been precedence.
“There is no value attributed to minority judgment. So, what happened yesterday isn’t strange. We are worried that some lawyers are attaching value to it. Section 183, according to the justices, wasn’t violated by Buni. That was the reasoning of the tribunal. The Court of Appeal even affirmed the election petition stance that Section 183 wasn’t breached,” he said.
He affirmed that the congresses can go on as scheduled.
Also speaking, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, secretary of the committee, maintained that party faithful had nothing to worry about, while assuring that the ward congresses fixed for tomorrow would not be halted. He alleged that certain aggrieved chieftains of the party are anxious to cause confusion and instigate crisis in the party by giving conflicting interpretations to the judgment of the Supreme Court.
“Some people want to use the judgment to vent their anger. I want to assure you that the congresses will be held across the country. We shall be fair to all, and be firm. We remain committed and loyal to the Buhari administration. We won’t be used to bring down the government of Buhari. We would hold the congresses as scheduled,” he said.
Deputy Senate President and senator representing Delta Central, Ovie OmoAgege, aligned with the position of Chief Akintola and Senator Akpanudoedehe.
In a statement he personally signed and made available to newsmen in Abuja, Omo-Agege said the party has no reason to entertain any fear over the eligibility of Governor Buni to hold party and elective positions, concurrently.
Source: TribuneOnline
