News -- Buhari gives conditions for going to court

Presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) yesterday said that he would only challenge the results of the Aprill 19 elections at the election petition tribunal when it is proved that election truly held in certain states.

In Kaduna a major crack has developed in the ranks of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) over what should be the specific response of the Northern group to the controversy trailing the results of the April 12 and 19 elections.

Also yesterday, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais swore-in the last batch of the Election Tribunal members at the Supreme Court premises.

Buhari who insisted on his earlier position that the results of the presidential elections were unacceptable to him and his party, told supporters in Katsina that election did not take place in 15 states. He added that fresh elections must hold in the affected states before the ANPP can consider challenging the results at any tribunal set up by the government.

He said the ANPP would only go to court where it was convinced that elections held.

Buhari who addressed his supporters at the party office on the need to vote for ANPP at the next election said "you should go and vote for ANPP so as to check the executive arm of the government in the state."

He enjoined the supporters to protect their votes jelously and ensure that the votes are not stolen by the supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

Buhari later raised up the hands of ANPP candidate for the Katsina central constituency, Alhaji Abdullai Hassan Sauri. He also asked ANPP supporters to vote for him during the next poll in the state.

In his own address, the state deputy governor, Alhaji Ahmed Tukur Jikamshi, said although ANPP was defeated in the state at the last election but majority of the people in the state were still in support of the party. Jikamshi added that PDP leaders used money freely to seduce the people to vote for the party.

The deputy governor called on the people of the state to come out and vote for ANPP in the State Assembly election coming up on Saturday so as to check the excesses of the executive arm of government in the state.

Buhari and his entourage had been going to the various local government branches of the ANPP in the state to mobilise supporters for the party in Saturday's election.

Buhari's campaign organisation has also described the readiness of the PDP to set aside results of April 19 elections in six states as an admission of guilt.

PDP publicity secretary Venatius Ikem had Monday expressed the party's readiness to set aside election results disputed by the ANPP in six states. The states include Cross River, Rivers, Delta, Imo, Kaduna, and Enugu states

The party later made a quick clarification that Ikem's statement was hypothetical, that it won in those six states and is not ready to set aside the results.

In press release signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Uche Ezechu-kwu, the Buhari /Okadigbo Campaign Organization, said that apart from being a tacit acceptance that it rigged the election, PDP's readiness to forego the result is a vindication of the insistence of the other political parties that what took place on April 12 and 19 were no elections.

"Apart from being a tacit acceptance that it had rigged the elections as has been attested to by both domestic and international reputable election observers, as well as the other political parties which had participated in what turned out to be a charade, PDP has also shown its appreciation that the results of the elections can never stand, no matter what happens".

While stating that the organization would not accept measures that do not holistically address the fraud allegedly perpetrated by the PDP during the election, it called for outright cancellation of the results.

"Nothing short of the total cancellation of the elections will satisfy us and the millions of Nigerians whose votes were stolen in a daylight armed robbery operation", it maintained.

The organization also stated that ANPP is not contesting only the results from the six states but also the conduct and results of election in 14 other states.

It maintained that no election took place in the whole of South east and South South, just as that of North central is also unacceptable.

It, however, called on it supporters to participate in the May 3 House of Assembly election, adding that it would still forge ahead with its decision to challenge the disputed results through legal and legitimate means.

The division in the ACF came into the open yesterday as the meeting of the group held to deliberate on the election results dispersed without achieving consensus. Sourses close to meeting said different factions were propagating divergent views on the issue.

Yesterday's meeting was said to be the third held by the group within one week without a consensus. The source hinted that "the ACF is split. We don't know what is happening but one thing is certain, there is crisis within."

The third meeting of the group ended in disarray yesterday at the Arewa House, Kaduna as, according to the source, members engaged in heated arguments as each faction made spirited efforts to sell its ideas on the election results.

Apart from the ACF chairman and former Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Muhammadu Dikko Yusufu, some other prominent members at yesterday's meeting included former Inspector General, Ibrahim Coomasie, Alhaji Mohammed Goni, vice presidential candidate of the United Nigeria Peoples Party (UNPP), former Governor of Katsina State and currently UNPP chieftain, Saidu Barda, Senator Walid Jiboni, Deputy national financial secretary of the PDP Inuwa Abdulkadir, governorship candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP) in Sokoto State, Brig.-Gen. Jaafaru Isa (rtd), former Military Administrator of Kaduna State, as well as ACF Secretary General, Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd), among others.

Yusufu who was presidential candidate of the Movement for Democracy and Justice (MDJ) in the April 19 polls had stormed out of the meeting at about 3 p.m, bearing a long face and shunning the press.

According to the source, the bone of contention was the proposition to suport the re-scheduling of the governorship and presidential polls in certain states in the South following alleged electoral malpractices.

But, some of the members were said to have insisted that if the elections were conducted in those areas, the same must also apply in Jigawa, Borno, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States, all in the North.

With this development, the meeting ended unceremoniously after Yusufu made futile attempts to reconcile the group.

The ACF had last week, after its first meeting, asked Buhari not to accept results of the polls, alleging widespread irregularities.

The source explained yesterday that the initial resolve of the group was "hasty", a development which may have informed its statement last Tuesday in which the group said was engaged in consultations with parties concerned, over the elections.

The ACF had also promised to emerge with a definitive position after yesterday's meeting which somehow had ended in a deadlock.

Justice Uwais while swearing-in 90 election tribunal members, noted that the success of the tribunal was critical to the survival of any democracy.

He said when the tribunals fail public expectations, the consequences are usually grievous, often resulting in murder, arson and other violent activities.

The CJN dispeled public apprehension that the tribunals are incapable of dispensing justice to election petitions because they are appointed by government.

Uwais pointed out that the establishment of the Election Tribunals are constitutional provision, noting that, "The 1999 constitution is specific that there shall be established for the purpose of elections the Election Tribunals."

Reacting to the call for the constitution of separate Election Tribunals for the National Assembly and the presidential/gubernatorial elections, Uwais said this would not be possible given the shortage of judicial officers in the country.

He said there are about 185 judicial officers serving in the entire 36 states and if separate tribunals are constituted, the country would require about 370 judicial officers, which the nation can ill-afford.

"Another reason for not appointing twice as many Election Tribunals, is the cost of running the Tribunals since no judicial officer is to serve in his state of origin or the state in which he serves as judicial officer," he said. This step, Uwais said, is to enhance transparency of the members of the tribunals and to shield them from persons who may rely on their familiarity with any of the members to improperly approach them with a view to influencing their decision.