By Ezomon Ehichioya
In one of the greatest ironies of
Nigeria’s political development, the “defeated” candidates of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general election in Zamfara State
were on Monday, May 27, and Friday, May 31, 2019, issued with certificates of
return by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
It’s in consummation of the judgment of the Supreme Court, which voided the
votes, and victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 23
and March 9, 2019, polls, respectively.
Having determined that the APC didn’t conduct “valid primaries” to
merit its “landslide triumph,” the apex court on Friday, May 24,
“declared elected” the runners-up (political parties) in the
governorship, and national and state assembly ballots.
As the votes cast for the APC were “wasted votes,” the INEC, as the
court ordered, recognized the political party with the second highest votes,
and required spread in the elections, and the lot fell on the main opposition
PDP, and its candidates.
Recipients of the certificates of return were the Governor-elect, Bello
Matawalle; Deputy Governor-elect, Mahdi Gusau; the three Senators-elect; seven
House of Representatives Members-elect; and 23 House of Assembly Members-elect.
Also recognized as a Member-elect, and given a certificate of return was the
candidate of the National Rescue Movement (NRM), Kabiru Hashimu, representing
the Maru South state constituency.
Novel as the Supreme Court verdict is, and shocking to many members of the APC,
keen watchers of the polity had anticipated the political melodrama in the
Zamfara chapter to end like its counterpart in Rivers State.
Both chapters were enmeshed in alleged manipulation of the congresses/primaries
to select candidates for the governorship and legislative seats in the general
election.
While the courts barred the Rivers chapter from fielding candidates, the
Zamfara APC got a last-minute reprieve from the state High Court, enabling it
to present candidates for the polls, which it won.
It’s a gamble, though, that crumbled on Friday, May 24, at the behest of the
Supreme Court, which, in concurrence with the lower courts, ruled that the
Zamfara chapter didn’t conduct valid primaries in line with the party guidelines.
Because the APC placed “something on nothing,” as the legalese goes,
the court voided its victory in the national and state assembly, and the
governorship contests.
Thus, in absolute terms, the APC, without a fight, lost Zamfara and Rivers, as the
courts punished the chapters for breaching the party guidelines, and
injunctions that put the primaries on hold.
Yet, the case of Zamfara is pathetic, as the APC was given a
“lifeline” by a high court to field candidates for the elections, and
it won all positions, beating the PDP to a distant second place.
For instance, in the governorship, APC’s candidate, Mukhtar Idris, polled
534,541 votes to defeat PDP’s Matawalle, who got 189,452 votes – a margin of
lead of 345,089 votes.
Ironically, Matawalle is the new governor of Zamfara, as the Supreme Court
ruled that the governorship and legislative seats be inherited by the
runners-up at the polls. This gave the PDP the chance to proverbially
“reap where it did not sow.”
That’s why the APC national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, described as
devoid of justice, and undemocratic the court verdict he said relied on
“technicalities” to “impose strangers,” that the people
didn’t vote for, to govern Zamfara.
Whether Oshiomhole is on solid ground to criticize the court verdict is a
matter for another day. But as usual, the PDP has joined the fray, unabashedly
claiming that “justice” was done in the matter.
Which justice is it parroting? That of losing woefully at the polls even when
the odds were stacked against the APC in Zamfara throughout the campaign
season? Or is it another case of a “stolen mandate” for the PDP?
Were APC’s “wasted votes” not discountenanced to meet the new
realities, the PDP knew its candidates had no chance in hell of meeting the
thresholds to be declared, and returned elected.
Surely, the party can gloat, as it’s got “justice” through the back
door, courtesy of the supremacy fight between former Governor Yari and Senator
Marafa, none of whom cared for the party’s fortunes.
Indeed, in the lead-up to the polls, Marafa declared: “I don’t give a damn
if APC loses the elections in Zamfara… It will be better to have another
(governing) party in Zamfara than to have APC.”
And that’s happened. So, rather than Yari and Marafa to lower their heads in
shame, show contrition, and apologize for their anti-party activities, they’re
busy, invoking the “will of Allah,” or “justice being
served” to rationalize the outcome of their do-or-die for power for
themselves or their cronies.
Without a doubt, the APC problems in Zamfara and Rivers began when Yari and
former Governor Rotimi Amaechi wanted to “impose” anointed
candidates, but met their match in former Senators Marafa and Magnus Abe, who
also aspired to be governors.
As leaders of the APC in the states, Yari and Amaechi accusingly sidelined the
Marafa and Abe factions in the congresses/primaries of the chapters.
And with a common thread binding them, Marafa and Abe took the APC to court,
and in the process, acted as if they belonged in the PDP. Their factional
members not only sat with PDP members in the gallery, but also celebrated
together all rulings against the APC.
Theirs resembles the two biblical women, who claimed ownership of a child.
While the biological mother wanted the child spared, and given to the other
woman, the latter urged that it be divided so both women would have one-half
each of the (dead) child.
Relate this scriptural scenario to the claims by Marafa and Abe: that their
factions mainstreamed the APC in Zamfara and Rivers. If that were so, why would
they want the party divided, barred from contesting, defeated, or its
“victories” voided, as in Zamfara?
Which raises a frightening possibility: Marafa and Abe could have pursued,
“to a logical conclusion,” if the primaries to validate the
nomination of President Muhammadu Buhari were part of their claims in the
courts!
This is despite their professed loyalty and support to Buhari, whose interest,
as the leader of the APC, and running for re-election, they didn’t consider in
their pursuit of the court cases that resulted in APC’s “zero
participation” in the 2019 polls in both states.
Unless, of course, as alleged in some quarters, the president gave a tacit
approval for their actions, which tallied with his statement that those
dissatisfied with the outcome of the primaries shouldn’t resort to self help,
but seek legal remedy.
Well, the recourse to legality that the president advised is the fiasco of the
APC in the elections in Zamfara and Rivers. Still, the chapters’ debacle isn’t
what Senator Marafa ascribed to the “non-interference” of the
president in the party matters, or legal issues therefrom.
Buhari never wanted a division in the APC that he’s using for his second term
bid. But his appeals fell on the deaf ears of the likes of Marafa and Abe, and
Yari and Amaechi – all of whom Karma has visited with “political
failures” in the elections.
| Ehichioya lives in Lagos |