Gov Okorocha’s Christmas Tree And Other Tales Of Political Vanity

By Moses Ochonu

Political vanity is a particularly Nigerian affliction and has been an ancillary scholarly interest of mine. I published an academic article in 2004 on the subject, citing several examples from Nigeria’s then fledgling experiment with civilian rule. The article dwelled extensively but not exclusively on the cases of late former governors Abubakar Audu of Kogi State and Mohammed Lawal of Kwara State.

*Okorocha

The former had an obnoxious penchant for naming every government project after himself and his family members. The latter was so consumed by a need to personalize his power that all mass transit buses belonging to the Kwara State government during his tenure were boldly marked with the moniker “UP LAWAL.”

Since the publication of that article, similar examples of personalized power and political vanities in high places have proliferated. I am reliably informed that in Kayode Fayemi’s Ekiti State, a remarkable record of infrastructural investments was marred by an inexplicable insistence on naming all projects after the former governor and his wife.

Public office holders in Nigeria adorn their offices with all manner of silly award plaques. One former minister, God rest her soul, had an entire wall of her office covered in awards from all manner of organizations — some of them concrete, others clearly made up by sycophants to curry her favor. She liked to take pictures against the background of this wall of vanity. The pictures made it to newspapers and then to the Internet, where they live to date. It was a vulgar form of political narcissism, a kind of self-deification.

The said former minister was so in love with her own image that she invested energy, time, and resources feting and garnishing herself in awards and other accouterments of self-validation. She built a shrine to herself, reveling in her own proclaimed greatness. Fortunately, she was a largely effective, achieving public servant, so her political vanities didn't matter that much. She could be forgiven for her vain indulgences.

Challenges Awaiting Kogi Governor-Elect, Bello

By A. S. M. Jimoh

The Kogi state gubernatorial election has come and gone, but the controversy that trailed it has refused to die. The whole scenario of the election has taught us important lessons. It has shown that power truly belongs to God, a cliché often use by our politician but never live by it. Secondly, our effort alone can never earn us our goal. We need a touch of the Divine.

*Yahaya Bello

While there are losses, angers, victories and jubilations, the man who smiles most is one young Alhaji Yahaya Bello, born approximately forty years ago. Following the death of Alhaji Audu Abubakar, him being the runner-up in the primary was picked by the party through constitutional provision to be Audu’s replacement. He is now the Governor-elect. If Allah wills, he will take the mantle of leadership of Kogi state on the 27th of January 2016.

Because of the triviality and complexity that surround Kogi politics, he will be navigating a very turbulent water. He will be faced by ethnic distrust and a comatose state with nothing to show in term of infrastructure and other indices of development. Nevertheless, if he has the mettle, he will sail through the troubled water to safety unscathed. For a man who deployed enormous resources to campaign, make promises, went to primary and finally winning the governorship, it is assumed that he has the vision to lead the state out of its current direction to an intensive care unit. But recent history has shown that many our politicians only invest in campaign, make promises, pretend a vision and when he/she wins, he/she turns out to be worse than a highway armed-robber and a pillaging army. Alhaji Yahaya Bello must show he is different.

Kogi: Faleke Rejects Nomination As Bello's Running Mate

Read Mr. James Abiodun Faleke's letter to the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun rejecting his nomination as Alhaji Yahaya Bello's running mate in the December 5 Supplementary Governorship election in Kogi State:  

“Re: My Purported Nomination As Deputy Governor”

“Information at my disposal from the National Secretary of our party, the All Progressives Congress, and my telephone conversation with your good self, confirmed to me that the party had issued INEC form and submitted my name as running mate to Alhaji Yahaya Bello in the forthcoming unusual and strange supplementary election scheduled for 5th December, 2015, covering 91 polling units in Kogi State to elect a “supplementary governor”.

“Mr. Chairman, you may recall that an election was conducted on the 21st November 2015, in which I was running mate to the late Prince Abubakar Audu: I therefore remain fully committed to that joint ticket which received the blessings of the party leadership, including your good self, evident from your attendance at the campaign rallies to ensure total victory for your great party through which the people of Kogi State massively and overwhelmingly voted for us.

Death, An Inconclusive Election And The Law (Part II)

By Kennedy Emetulu

 The first part of this piece was written immediately after the death of the APC candidate in the Kogi governorship election, Prince Abubakar Audu was first reported. In that piece, I expressed the view that despite the fact that there is seemingly no clear constitutional provision or provision in the Electoral Law 2010 to deal with a situation where a candidate dies during an election, INEC should do a purposive reading of sections 33 and 36(1) of the Electoral Act to provide a simple, fair, just and lawful resolution of the problem. Here is how I stated it: 

“…I think, even though it’s not a court of law, INEC should adopt a purposive approach to the interpretation of the statute, because that is likely how the court will view it if the matter comes before it. Should it take the matter to court for interpretation first before it continues with the election? That is a decision it should take in consultation with its legal officers, but if I were to advise them, I’d say no need, because the election is already on and the public policy argument must favour a quick and favourable conclusion, so as not to extend the tenure of the incumbent unduly, especially where he may likely not be the one ultimately elected. INEC must always act in the spirit of allowing the people to choose their Governor as at when due. It is the essence of choice in a democracy.

“A purposive reading of the Electoral Act will look at the provisions of Sections 33 and 36(1) and conclude that the mischief the Electoral Act is trying to cure with these provisions is to avoid a situation where death of a candidate frustrates the election. So, the oversight of not specifically considering what happens when a candidate dies during election should not take away the justice and fairness provided in the law for all situations where a candidate dies before or during the poll, especially where there is no material change in the situation between the time before the poll and during the poll when death occurred”.

INEC Under Yakubu Incapable OF Being Neutral – PDP

Communique Issued At The End Of The Emergency National Caucus Meeting Of The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Held On Wednesday, November 25, 2015.

The National Caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) met on Wednesday, November 25, 2015 in Abuja wherein it thoroughly considered the developments arising from the conduct of the inconclusive governorship election in Kogi state and resolved as follows;

INEC Chairman, Yakubu 

1.                   Completely rejects the decision of INEC in yielding to the unlawful prompting of a clearly partisan Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mallam Abubakar Malami, to allow APC to substitute a candidate in the middle of an election, even when such has no place in the Constitution and the Electoral Act.

2.                  Insists that with the death of its candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, the APC has legally crashed out of the governorship race as no known law or constitutional provision allows the substituting of candidates, once the ballot process has commenced.

3.                  Insists that with the unfortunate death of Prince Abubakar Audu, the APC has no valid candidate in the election, leaving INEC with no other lawful option than to declare the PDP candidate, Capt. Idris Wada as the winner of the election.

How To Resolve The Kogi State Constitutional Conundrum

By Inibehe Effiong

The sudden death of Prince Abubakar Audu, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State, on Sunday, 22nd November, 2015 has undoubtedly ignited a constitutional crisis. The tragic news which was first published by SaharaReporters has instigated controversy on what will be the possible legal implications or consequences of his death. 

*Audu

Among the issues arising from the death of Prince Audu are the following:

1. Whether the running mate to Prince Audu and the APC deputy governorship candidate can assume the position and status of the deceased as the candidate of the APC;

2. If the question in 1 above is answered in the negative, can the APC substitute the deceased as its governorship candidate; and

3. Whether it is legally permissible in the circumstance for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel the inconclusive election of Saturday November  21st 2015 and conduct a fresh throughout Kogi State.

This is unarguably a novel case. This is the first time in the course of a democratic transition that a validly nominated candidate of a political party in Nigeria will die after an inconclusive election but before and without paricipating in the supplementary election. It is unprecedented. The result is that there is no precedent that can be referred to which could aid in the resolution of the present case.