It was gathered that because of the dispute on who the authentic governorship candidate of APC was in the recently concluded general elections and the court case instituted by Hon Emmanuel Jime who was in January adopted as the party’s consensus governorship candidate, Senator JKN Waku, and others at the Federal High Court, Abuja in suit number FHC/ ABJ/ CS/1057/14, the PDP had gone to the Benue governorship election petition tribunal in Makurdi to claim that APC had no candidate at the time of the election and as such, its candidate Terhemen Tarzoor be declared winner of the poll.
The tribunal had already admitted evidences from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to support the claim that indeed the state governor, Dr Samuel Ortom was never nominated at any party primary. Consequently, Saturday Sun had last week reported that the APC was on the verge of losing its electoral victory at the tribunal.
Faced with this challenge, President Buhari, it was learnt moved in immediately by setting up a 10-man committee headed by himself to intervene in the Benue crisis with a view to saving the APC from losing the North Central state to PDP.
Saturday Sun gathered that apart from Buhari, other members of the committee include the Speaker of House of Reps, Hon. Yakubu Dogara who will serve as head in the absence of the president, governors of Sokoto, Nassarawa, Imo and Plateau; Aminu Tambuwal, Tanko Al-Makura, Rochas Okorocha and Simon Lalong, respectively. Three members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC; the Deputy National Chairman (North), National Vice Chairman (North Central) and National Women leader, were selected to be part of the committee.
It was further learnt that the committee has started work immediately. The first meeting between the aggrieved parties in the dispute was held on Thursday with Hon Dogara presiding. Resolutions of the meetings will then be presented to the president at a final meeting, it was gathered.
There are, however, still fears that if the dispute is not urgently resolved and the suit filed by both Waku and Jime withdrawn, the election petition tribunal sitting in Makurdi may deliver its ruling days after the adoption of written addresses by all parties before the tribunal, which had already September 7 for that.
Sensing the danger of losing the party’s electoral victory to the PDP, the APC’s National Legal Adviser, Dr Muiz Banire, had about eight weeks ago drawn the attention of the party’s leadership to the imbroglio through a letter addressed to its National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
According to the letter dated June 17, 2015 and titled- “Re: Legal tussle over the governorship seat of Benue State: a call for urgent action”, a copy of which was sighted in Oyegun’s office at the party’s headquarters in Abuja, the legal adviser urged the leadership to step into the matter before the party is embarrassed by a judicial pronouncement.
“Please, recall that after the emergence of Dr. Ortom Samuel Ioraer as the governorship candidate of our party for the April 11, 2015, governorship election in Benue State, other governorship candidates who felt aggrieved by his emergence, protested against the alleged non-compliance with the provisions of our party’s constitution and guidelines for the conduct of primaries. Eventually, four of the governorship candidates jointly commenced an action in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1057/2014 by which they challenged the process of the emergence of Dr. Ortom Samuel Ioraer as the party’s governorship candidate. This suit is still pending in court.
“It is equally imperative to draw your attention to the fact that, upon the conclusion of the election, the PDP candidate filed a petition challenging the election of Dr. Ortom Samuel Ioraer. Part of the grounds of the Petition for challenging the election is that the process, which produced Dr. Ortom Samuel Ioraer as our party’s candidate, breached the provisions of the Electoral Act. To substantiate his petition, the petitioner is also relying on several documents which the Plaintiffs in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1057/2014 pleaded in support of their case.
“Mr. Chairman, there are grave issues which are at the root of this impasse which I have constrained myself from revealing through this medium but which I shall share when the leaders of the party are gathered. Suffice however to say that with the present happenings in the various courts, we may be endangering that seat in favour of the opposition People’s Democratic Party.
“It is in the light of the foregoing that I humbly advise that the party considers setting up a high-powered panel to intervene in this Benue State impasse urgently with a view to reconciling all the parties and saving our party from public opprobrium”, the letter read in part.
One of the APC leaders from Benue, Tor Gowon Yaro had earlier written a letter to the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu intimating him about the legal moves that could rob the party of the Benue governorship seat if urgent interventions are not made.
The letter written by Yaro urged Tinubu to rally other party leaders and abort an imminent unpleasant judicial pronouncement that will embarrass the party.
In his words: “Kindly indulge me, Your Excellency, to draw your attention to the dire situation our great party has been plunged into in Benue State due to the illegal selection of our governorship candidate. As I write, some aggrieved governorship aspirants are pressing on in court in suits filed against the party, while the PDP has equally filed a different suit to take advantage of this crisis and claim that the APC had no candidate in the April 11, 2015 governorship election in the state. Both suits, no doubt, portend great danger for the electoral success recorded by the APC and the image of our party.
“Having seen this ahead, you will recall Asiwaju that early in January 2015, I drew your attention to the emerging crisis in Benue APC over the selection of our governorship candidate. As a result, you had called for a meeting of all governorship aspirants and some stakeholders involved in the dispute, a parley which held at the Lagos House, Abuja on the 11th January, 2015.
“At the meeting held under your able chairmanship with the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun as well as other prominent leaders of the party in attendance, the following resolutions were proposed, debated and voted upon to adopt a consensus and signed by all the governorship aspirants, with myself as a facilitator:
“That Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Jime be and is hereby adopted as the APC consensus gubernatorial candidate for the 2015 gubernatorial election in Benue State.
“That the APC National Secretariat be and is hereby put on notice and informed of this consensus arrangement. That the APC National secretariat may wish to forward the name of Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Jime to INEC as the gubernatorial candidate for the 2015 gubernatorial election in Benue State.
That these resolutions be forwarded to the APC National secretariat and INEC for the necessary action.
“Four clear months after this agreement was reached, it is disheartening to note that these resolutions are yet to be implemented and in my opinion, based on critical legal opinions sought, this development constitutes a grave risk to our party’s chances in Benue State, notwithstanding a favourable outcome of the gubernatorial election.”
While drawing the party leader’s attention to what may likely be the outcome of the ongoing court cases, Yaro said: “If party leaders decide to close their eyes to the ugly development in Benue, the consequences will be too expensive and painful for all to bear after a sweet success at the polls.
“No court will close its eyes to the overwhelming evidence establishing the fact that no gubernatorial primary election held in Benue state as stipulated in Section 87 (1), (2), (3) and 4 (b) 1&11 of the Amended Electoral Act 2011. A protest letter dated December 12, 2014, addressed to the National Chairman, HE John Oyegun and endorsed by four out of the five APC governorship aspirants in Benue State, namely; Messrs Emmanuel Jime, Mike Iordye, Joseph Waku and Steve Ugbah attests to this. In addition to this, a report by the Babade Olukolade-led Electoral Committee on the Monitoring of the APC Gubernatorial Primary in Benue State held on the 5th December, 2014 at the IBB Square, Makurdi further confirms this.”
He added: “Further silence by national leaders of the party on this brazen robbery on internal democracy will not only rubbish the gains made so far by the party but will equally dent the integrity of the incoming Muhammadu Buhari administration and worse still, sow a seed of discord similar to the one that ultimately led to the downfall of the ruling PDP at the state and federal levels.”
On the way out of the crisis, he advised: “The only solution I can proffer to this crisis is to revert to the resolution adopted by all the five bona fide APC governorship aspirants at the meeting held at Lagos House, Abuja on January 11, 2015. This will save the party of any painful and embarrassing judicial pronouncement and ultimately heal all wounds and entrench unity among party members as well as leaders in Benue State.”
“I am, therefore, as a very concerned member of our great party and stakeholder in Benue State, calling on you and the leadership of the party, to urgently act so as to guard against an irreparable occurrence that may embarrass our great party in Benue State”, the APC chieftain added.
Culled from The Sun
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