President Muhammadu Buhari failed to see Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abubakar and his Adamawa State counterpart, Jibrilla Bindow, when the duo visited the Presidential Villa yesterday.
Both men face an
electoral battle in about a week, following a declaration by the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the results of the
March 9, 2019 gubernatorial election in the states were inconclusive.
On
Tuesday, three days after the election, All Progressives Congress (APC)
governors, Kashim Shettima (Borno), Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa), Yahaya
Bello (Kogi) and Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and
Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) also visited the Villa.
No reasons were given for both visits.
The
Guardian learnt that Abubakar and Bindow arrived in the Villa
separately and sought to see Buhari. They met a brick wall however, as
the president was not favourably disposed to seeing them. Thereafter,
they held audience with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo behind closed
doors. Emerging over an hour later, they declined questions from
reporters.
Some observers may see the meeting as a move by the
governors to curry the president’s favour, to keep their states from
slipping into the hands of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP).
The fight to retain the APC’s hold on Kano State also
continued yesterday as Commissioner for Local Government Murtala Sule
Garo debunked an allegation that the state government withdrew a large
sum of money aimed at influencing voting when incumbent Governor
Abdullahi Ganduje faces PDP challenger, Abba Yusuf, in the March 23,
2019 re-run.
A group, Kano Civil Society Situation Room, had
claimed the government released N235,500,000 to APC members for the
alleged purpose. It, therefore, petitioned the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking an investigation into what it
described as organised crime.
“We wish to draw the attention
of the EFCC to a suspicious withdrawal of N235,500,000 from the Kano
State government treasury, through the Ministry of Local Governments.
The said amount has been allocated to different local governments where
INEC is scheduled to hold a re-run election.
“We hope that the
EFCC will investigate the matter, while also putting some measures (in
place) in those communities to ensure that vote-buying does not
influence the outcome of the gubernatorial re-run poll,” the group’s
coordinator, Abdulrazaq Alkai, told journalists in Kano.
Garo
however insisted that the group’s alleged mission to dent the
government’s image was dead on arrival. “It is not true. It is gross
misinformation,” he exclaimed.
According to him, “The money
released is part of normal allocation from government treasury since
both state government and local councils operate a joint account. We
need not buy votes because the people are already with the state
government.”
He added: “And if they say we released money to
compromise the election, the allocation was meant for 13 Local
Government Areas (LGA’s). The re-run will however hold only in nine.
Kabo, Tsanyawa, Dawakin-Tofa and Kumbotso LGAs will all benefit from the
money but the re-run will not hold in these places. How can we book
money to nine out of 30, if at all the claim is anything to go by?”
INEC meanwhile has said that no court has the power to restrain it from holding the re-run in Adamawa.
The
clarification came after a court order obtained by the Movement for the
Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD) and its candidate, Eric
Dollars following the alleged omission of the party’s logo during the
March 9, 2019 polls.
“Although we are not aware of any court
restraining INEC, let me nevertheless tell you that court order will not
stop any election,” Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC)
Kassim Gaidam told journalists in Yola yesterday.
Citing Section
87 Sub-section (10) of the Electoral Act to buttress his point, he
said: “This is a clear attempt to murder the rule of law. Judges should
put their personal interest aside and give respect to the provisions of
the constitution. It is embarrassing to hear that the court is stopping
INEC from concluding an election it started.”
Gaidam urged the
National Judicial Commission (NJC) to ensure that judges who make such
pronouncements are punished to serve as a deterrent to others.
In
a related development, INEC said it would begin work immediately on a
post-2019 elections review. INEC Chairman Mahmud Yakubu dropped the hint
in his opening remarks during the presentation of certificates of
return to lawmakers in Abuja yesterday.
He stressed that delaying electoral reform, especially the review of the electoral framework, until polls arrive leaves the commission with little time to develop processes, regulations and guidelines and also make required consultations with stakeholders.
Source:- Guardianng
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