From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The quest for elective tickets of political parties in the country ahead of the 2023 elections is literally over and the candidates for various positions of these parties are well known.
But the case of Kano State, one of Nigeria’s most populous and complex states, is different given the number of disputed governorship cases, some of which are in court or are undecided by their political parties.
For instance, the gist from the leading opposition party in the state, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), indicates that the dust is yet to settle regarding its standard bearer for the gubernatorial race.
The news, on some regular and gossip media, is that the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) has recognized Mohammaed Abacha, son of Nigeria’s former Head of State as the authentic candidate of the party in the state.
To illustrate that, the claim is often accompanied by a picture of a smiling Mohammed Abacha, showcasing his purported INEC’s certificate of recognition.
But at another turn, the narrative reverts in favour of Saqid Wali, the gubernatorial candidate of the party’s faction led by Ambassador Aminu Wali. This faction is preferred by the national headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), which has since fallen apart with the Sagagi – led executive faction that turned up Abacha as its candidate.
For the past few months, the battle for the gubernatorial ticket of the PDP in the state has been raging and has produced an enthralling picture of intrigues, desperation and betrayal. The battle has been fought in the fields of Kano State and in Abuja, with all sides pulling the necessary strings to emerge triumphant. And as at date, a clear winner has not emerged.
It would be recalled that months before the primaries, the National Working Committee of the PDP had dissolved the Kano State Executive led by Shehu Sagagi even though their tenure had not expired.
That executive, as is public knowledge, was handpicked by Kwankwaso, who was entrusted with the leadership of the party in the state in the recent years.
When their mentor renounced the PDP, it was expected that they would move on with him. But they stayed back, fuelling the impression they had remained in the party to undermine its progress.
The Sagagi-led state executive, subtly assisted by some of the party’s presidential aspirants particularly Wike and Saraki, fought back and secured a restraining order stopping their sack.
Their reinstatement unfortunately led to the conduct of two congresses by the two factions of the party in the state and created a very delicate situation for any arbitrator to resolve.
While the Sagagi -led congress that produced Abacha as their gubernatorial candidate was monitored by INEC, the exercise did not have the backing, participation or recognition of the national headquarters of the party.
On the other hand, the Wali- led congress, conducted by the duly appointed returning officers from the national headquarters of the party was not monitored by the INEC for reasons beyond their control.
Kano State Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC, Professor Risqua A Shehu while speaking on the emergence of two governorship candidates for the party, explained that INEC was not empowered by the Electoral Act to recognize candidates for political parties.
He added that their role was to monitor party congresses, record the conduct and report their observations to their headquarters.
He explained that, “it is purely the responsibilities of the political parties to conduct their party primaries. The law says that INEC shall monitor such conducts. I am sure you are aware of the problems PDP has been facing in the state with so many litigations and claims of leadership.
“As at the time the primary election for PDP was conducted, the Sagagi led faction was the recognized faction by law. We received a letter from the Commission requesting us to monitor the conduct of party primary. It is expected that any political party would communicate to the Commission’s headquarters stating the date, time and venue. In respect of the PDPs letter which was sent to us, there was no statement of venue and time. It only mentioned the names of the people coming from the PDP headquarters to supervise the election”
“Now the chairman of the state chapter of the PDP (Sagagi) came with a copy of the same letter that was sent to us carrying the names of the same people that were to come from the headquarters. And he gave us a letter saying this is where the congress would take place and this is the time” he stated.
“So, we were under obligation with such information to attend and we sent out a team to monitor the primary election conducted by the Sagagi led group” he stated.
“However, later on the same day around 3pm, the team that came from the national headquarters of the party came and said that we should go and monitor the conduct of another primary of the same party and we said no.
“We cannot go to any other place than the one that we sent people because our team was already there and they have started the process.
“As far as INEC is concerned, we monitored the PDP primary election which was conducted by the state leadership. Of course, there was nobody from the PDP headquarters in that election. And that is their own internal issue to settle. And that was the report we sent to the Commission in Abuja”, he said.
Analysts have since faulted INEC’s decision to proceed with the monitoring exercise, especially when the returning officers of the party from the party’s headquarters were absent at the congress.
“In the absence of the accredited returning officers from the PDP national headquarters, whatever they monitored was not a Kano PDP congress, but anything else”, said a member of the Wali Campaign committee.
All of these obstacles have constituted a big bottleneck to Abacha’s gubernatorial ambition on the ticket of the party.
According to investigations, Mohammed Abacha’s biggest challenge however may be outside the political space.
An ongoing case at the Court of Appeal may hold the ace on whether he becomes the governorship candidate of the party in the state or not.
One of the lawyers involved in the case that came up this Friday told Daily Sun that the party’s national headquarters has since appealed the judgement of the Federal High Court sustaining the life of the state executive, adding that they had attempted to serve the lawyer of the plaintiffs in the case, but he rejected the service.
The Court of Appeal decided that we should publish it in the newspaper, but again they didn’t appear on Friday when the case came up at the Court of Appeal.
“The court has confirmed that we have published and therefore asked us to go ahead with our appeal.
“ We asked the court to proceed to determine the case as we told the court that the national officers, state officers and others that emerged courtesy of their leadership are still claiming to be the authentic candidates of the party and unless the court decides on the matter, they would still be parading themselves as the candidates.
“I also insist that the Sagagi -led faction of the party does not have powers to conduct the governorship elections. The power to conduct this election is reserved in the National Working Committee of the PDP and their returning officers” he said.