Adeyemi, ex-gov’s son, others demand cancellation of Kogi APC primary

Senator Smart Adeyemi (Kogi West); son of former Kogi State governor, Shuaibu Abubakar; and three others have demanded the cancellation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary poll for the November governorship election.

The plaintiffs, in a chat with journalists at the Federal High Court in Abuja, where suits were filed, called on President Muhammadu Buhari; the president-elect, Bola Tinubu; his running mate, Kashim Shettima and the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) to intervene and save democracy in Kogi.

In the suits marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/556/2023 and FHC/ABJ/ CS/557/2023, filed by Adeyemi and Abubakar respectively, the plaintiffs are asking the court to declare as illegal, unlawful and invalid the direct primary election purportedly conducted by APC, which produced Ahmed Ododo as the governorship candidate.

For the aggrieved governorship aspirants, the alleged unlawful selection of Ododo ran foul of Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution and Section 29 and 84 of the Electoral Act as well as Article 20 of the APC’s constitution.

Apart from Adeyemi and Abubakar, other aspirants who are challenging the outcome of the primary include former Minister of State for Education, Prof. Stephen Ocheni; Deputy National Publicity Secretary of APC, Murtala Ajaka and Dr. Sanusi Ohiara.

The plaintiffs, among others, are praying the court to invoke Section 177 of the Constitution, Section 29 and 84 of the Electoral Act and Article 20 of the APC constitution, to declare the primary poll invalid.

They also asked the court for an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to recognize Ododo as APC governorship candidate on the grounds that he emerged from an invalid primary election.

The aggrieved aspirants also prayed for another order compelling APC to conduct a fresh primary election and to give all aspirants equal opportunity as prescribed by the Electoral Act 2022.

Adeyemi’s suit and that of Abubakar are instituted on their behalf separately by Dr. Adekunle Otitoju. Abubakar stated that what happened in Kogi during the purported primary election was contrary to the constitution, and should not be allowed to stand.

They accused Governor Yahaya Bello of manipulating the whole process, claiming that Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, who ought to preside and announced the winner of the primary election, “left Kogi in annoyance to dissociate himself from the falsehood that characterised the primary election.”