Following various court pronouncements across the country regarding the crises rocking All Progressives Congress (APC), attention has already shifted to the Supreme Court as political stakeholders and their supporters in Kwara State look forward to the final verdict on the protracted crisis that has rocked the party. HEAD POLITICS, MUMINI ABDULKAREEM writes on the issue.
Will the crisis rocking the Kwara State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) assumed another dimension as the Supreme Court is expected to make a final pronouncement on the issue expectedly this month? Will the Governor-elect, AbdurRahman AbdulRazaq and the thirty-three other elected members of the party have a short-lived celebration as winners of the poll or the apex court will have their election validated at the end of the day? Better still, irrespective of where the pendulum swings, will there be a possible political solution to the issue at the end of the day? These and many other questions will agitate the minds of the electorate from both divides when the court sits to deliver its final judgment on the protracted issue. Already, members and leaders of the ruling and main opposition parties have looked forward to the final judgement with bated breath, especially after the recent pronouncements of the various courts across states on APC crises.
The ground for the anticipation of the Kwara State’s situation followed the recent judgment of the court regarding the APC crises in Rivers, Delta and Zamfara states which appeared to have put the party on the spotlight for the wrong reasons.
APC suffered major loss in Zamfara as the Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division, on Monday, reportedly set aside the judgment delivered by the Zamfara High Court, allowing the All Progressives Congress (APC) to field candidates in the 2019 Elections.
The appeal filed by Kabiru Marafa, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) and 129 others through his counsel, Mike Ozhekome (SAN) had Kabiru Liman-Danalhaji and 139 others as respondents represented by Mahmud Magaji (SAN) as lead Counsel.
Delivering the lead judgment, which was adopted by two other justices, Tijjani Abubakar and Jamilu Tukur, Justice Tom Yakubu held that the lower court failed in its duty to properly evaluate the evidence before it, adding that federal, states and FCT High Courts have jurisdiction to entertain such matter.
The judges agreed that the judgment should serve as “bitter lesson” for political parties as they ought to follow legitimate guidelines and rules, adding that “Domestic affairs of political party activities must act within the confines of the law in dealing with party members and elections”.
A Zamfara High Court recognised the primary election that produced governorship, state and national assembly candidates held by APC in the state and declared that INEC should accept the party’s candidates for the elections. Unsatisfied with the State High Court’s decision, the appellants, approached the Appeal Court challenging the decision on the ground that the State High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit among others. Based on the initial court ruling, INEC allowed the APC to field governorship and parliamentary candidates and the APC went ahead to win the governorship and parliamentary elections in Zamfara. However, unless Monday’s Appeal Court ruling is upturned by the Supreme Court, the APC may lose the positions.
In Kwara State, the APC appears to be threading the mill with contrasting circumstances and awaiting a judgment that is expected to have serious consequences on the fortunes of the party and its members.
Unlike the Zamfara episode where the Appeal Court upturned the judgment of the State High Court, the opposite was the scenario in Kwara with all parties now waiting for the judgment of the Supreme Court.
While the State High Court recognised the executive committee of the Ishola Balogun-Fulani led APC as the authentic arm of the party in the state, the Appeal Court nullified that decision.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Taoheed S. Umar, of the State High Court held that the purported dissolution of the executive committee of the APC led by Balogun-Fulani was illegal, null and void.
Balogun-Fulani and Christopher Ayeni (secretary) had instituted a suit against the APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the APC, APC National Working Committee, the Independent National Electoral Commission and Hon Bashir Bolarinwa over the dissolution of the executive.
Justice Umaru, held that the APC NWC had no power to dissolve the executive led by Balogun-Fulani. According to the judge, there is no lacuna in the party, adding that the Balogun-Fulani executive was duly elected on May 5, and sworn in by National officers of the party on June 4. Justice Umaru, therefore, ordered INEC to recognise all candidates presented by the Balogun-Fulani faction to contest the 2019 elections. He declared as null, void and unconstitutional all actions taken by the Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa faction since June and granted a perpetual injunction against the Bolarinwa executive from carrying out any function as chairman of the party in Kwara.
But curiously, while INEC followed and acted upon the judgment of the High Court in Zamfara State, it refused to do same in Ilorin citing a “Court Order” which counsel to the Balogun-Fulani led faction, Yusuf Ali (SAN) found “curious” and complained to the commission through a letter. The action of INEC made some stakeholders and analysts in the state accused it of partisanship and questioned its neutrality in the case.
But before the last general elections held in February and March, 2019, the Appeal Court in Ilorin dismissed the High Court judgment on the matter and affirmed Bashir Bolarinwa as the authentic Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Kwara State, upholding the position of the APC National Working Committee. The judgment came exactly one week after the same court in an interlocutory appeal upheld the nomination of AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as the APC governorship candidate in Kwara. The Appeal Court in the judgement read by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa upheld the expulsion of Ishola Balogun-Fulani and his executive members from the party by the National Working Committee of the party adding that the state executive committee of a party is only an appendage of its national headquarters and is not imbued with the powers to conduct primaries for national elections.
The three-man panel affirmed that the high court ruling was built on nothing as the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the Balogun-Fulani’s case challenging his dismissal as the APC chairman in the state.
The appeal court struck out all the orders earlier granted by the lower court because the court lacked the jurisdiction to issue such reliefs. The appeal court held that the State High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter because various conditions precedent were not met, saying the court had acted in error to hear it at all.
In addition, the APC had further suffered from its internal crisis in Rivers State as it was finally barred from fielding candidates during the last General elections because of power tussle between Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abu. The Court in a judgment delivered in the main appeal filed by the APC on the contentious issue that emanated from the congresses and primary elections of the party in Rivers, held that the appeal of the APC was status barred.
In an unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Amir Sanusi, the Apex Court agreed with the respondents led by Ibrahim Umar, that the suit was a pre-election matter and that the appeal filed by the APC was done outside the 14 days required by law. The Supreme Court consequently struck out the appeal for being status barred and having becoming an academic exercise. Justice Sanusi announced that reasons for the judgment would be available in three months time.
Umar and 22 others believed to be loyal to Senator Magnus Abbe had filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt to challenge their unlawful exclusion by the Rotimi Amaechi faction of the APC from participating in the congresses of the party designed to produce delegates for the primary elections.
Justice Chiwendu Ifeoma of the Federal High Court had in his judgment upheld the claims of the group and barred the APC from proceeding with the conduct of the Congresses and the primary election. The APC, however, went ahead with the primary election and later appealed against the decision of the trial Court at the Port Harcourt division of the Court of Appeal. At this stage, the Rotimi Amaechi faction led by Tonye Patrick Cole sought to join in suit but were refused by the Appellate Court on the grounds that they were not parties at the trial Court. This prompted the group to approach the Supreme Court to reverse the decision. The Supreme Court, however, in its judgment insisted that the matter was a pre-election matter and that the appeal was filed out of time and subsequently struck it out thereby preventing it from fielding candidates for the general election.
The APC has found itself in troubled waters in the above mentioned states, including Delta State by shooting itself in the foot due to power struggle among political juggernauts who unnecessarily flexed muscles at a very crucial time to the detriment of the party. With the ongoing narrative that has seen the party at the receiving end in these states, analysts and stakeholders are looking forward to the judgment of the Supreme Court on the issue in Kwara and how it will impact the political environment in the state.
