Prof. Jega and the rule of law

One is particularly impressed by his ability to be fair to all parties by resisting blackmail or intimidation by politicians. A recent Abuja Federal High Court ruling, confirming Senator Yakubu Lado Danmarke as the legitimate winner of the CPC gubernatorial primary election in Katsina State has vindicated Professor Jega that political parties must obey the rules of fair play. The CPC leadership, which perceives itself as a parade of saints, can now no longer cast the first stone at the PDP or ANPP. The CPC national chairman Chief Tony Momoh, has accused the Professor Jega-led INEC of interfering in the internal affairs of his party because the electoral body has rejected the names of losers of primaries as candidates of the party submitted to INEC.

A case in point was the submission of Colonel Lawal Jafaru Isa’s name to INEC as the CPC gubernatorial candidate for Kano State, despite being comprehensively defeated by Mohammed Abacha at the January 12th governorship primaries. Mohammed Abacha defeated Colonel Isa with 144,000 votes. Curiously, Colonel Isa, who won only 78,000 votes, was submitted to INEC as CPC gubernatorial candidate for Kano State. Despite the fact that INEC monitored the election and knew the winner from the beginning, the CPC national leadership shamelessly insulted the sensibilities of the voters by submitting the name of a loser as the party’s candidate to INEC.

When INEC eventually published the names of party candidates, it was Mohammed Abacha who was recognized as the legitimate winner of the CPC governorship primary election in Kano State. The CPC leaders had thought that they could achieve injustice through the back door by submitting the names of losers of election as party candidates. Like a wounded lion, the national chairman of the CPC, Chief Tony Momoh, castigated INEC, accusing it of interference in the internal affairs of his party. An Abuja Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Abdul Kafarati, made nonsense of Momoh’s self-serving arguments while delivering a judgment on the suit filed against the CPC leadership by Senator Yakubu Lado Danmarke. According to the learned Justice, “the issue is no longer an internal affair of the party since the rights of the plaintiff were infringed upon.” This court declaration is unambiguous even in the eyes of a layman.

Again, section 87 of the electoral act provides that candidates should emerge through the transparent process of election and that a person with the highest votes should be declared the winner. As a lawyer himself, Tony Momoh should know better than the rest of us about the implications of these provisions and the constitutional rights of candidates, or any other Nigerians for that matter, to seek the court intervention to protect such rights. Are these provisions written for the fun of it? Why is Tony Momoh staking his professional reputation on the altar of injustice against any party member? His loyalty to the truth, his conscience and the fear of God should be supreme above selfish political considerations. Why should the CPC leadership sacrifice the will of the voters to please the ego of certain powerful vested interests in the party?

How can Colonel Jafaru Isa, Aminu Masari, Hannatu Musawa and Aliyu Tuggar confront their conscience when they know deep down that they were given party tickets won by someone else? How can CPC elders face Mohammed Abacha, Senator Lado Danmarke and Hadiza Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman, whose mandates were taken away by undemocratic means? Can the CPC leadership take the high moral ground to castigate the PDP and ANPP any more for being evil parties? Mahatma Gandhi, the famous Indian sage, said: “He is only an elder in whom resides the truth and justice; you are not an elder by a mere lock of grey hairs.”

The unjust policy of imposition and substitution of candidates has inflicted the greatest damage to the perception of General Buhari as a fair-minded person. If the CPC leaders had any valid reasons to doubt the qualification or competence of those substituted, why did they allow them to run in the primaries in the first place? But the fact that they were allowed to participate and won, the choice of the voters must be respected. We had cases in this country where barely educated persons defeated rivals with Master’s degrees or doctorates. Does Aminu Masari have a degree? Yet he was elected to the National Assembly where he became a Speaker. Even in America, the constitution doesn’t say you must be a PhD. or professor to qualify for elective office. Sovereignty belongs to the voters and their choices must be respected.

The biggest mistake the clique around General Buhari is making is to assume that they are morally superior to the voters. How many of these opportunists can win election in their immediate neighbourhood? No wonder, they have a mentality of seeking to impose candidates that lost elections. In fact, the assumption of moral superiority is one of the reasons that exposed the hypocrisy of the former Obasanjo administration. The messy handling of CPC elections at all levels, which is characterized by imposition and substitution of candidates, has exposed the cloven hooves of the party. What then is our hope when a party we trusted as a credible alternative to the PDP cannot do justice to its own members?

Dogondaji wrote from 35, Gen. Gado Nasko Road, Suleja-Niger State. [email protected]