Facts have continued to emerge about how insider sabotage by elements loyal to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, at the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC orchestrated plans to derail the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the forthcoming Ondo governorship elections have begun to emerge.
When all the pieces come together, it paints a dark picture and a grave danger to Nigeria’s democracy. When an institution meant to be a neutral umpire is clearly partisan, it is cause for worry.
According to insider information from the electoral body, the decision to replace the name of the authentic candidate of the main opposition party in Nigeria, Eyitayo Jegede, with a rival Jimoh Ibrahim, is the handiwork of Amina Zakari, a national commissioner of the INEC and relative of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The action by INEC has sparked violent protests in Ondo State with youths taking to the streets to demand that the electoral body rescind its decision to replace Jegede with Ibrahim on the candidate list. Party sources say Ibrahim is not even a registered member of the PDP.
Legal Advice Jettisoned
Our investigations revealed that a consortium of senior lawyers who act as a legal advisory body to INEC had advised the commission not to replace the name of the PDP candidate with that of controversial billionaire businessman. The lawyers – all senior advocates of Nigeria – had documented their legal advise and submitted it to the head of the legal department with the chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu in copy.
But, the INEC boss, acting in collaboration with Zakari, a woman known to be closely affiliated with the All Progressives Congress, APC, decided to ignore not just the strong legal position of the lawyers, but to also ignore superseding court orders countering the controversial Justice Okon Abang ruling.
“The body of lawyers had recommended that INEC recognises Jegede as the authentic candidate of the PDP and subsequently, the legal department of INEC had adopted the legal opinion of the SANs,” a top source who is familiar with the internal workings of the electoral body told The Trent on Friday, October 28, 2016.
“Consequently, a memo signed by the head of the legal department was sent to Yakubu [the INEC chairman]. The memo was discussed at an intense meeting on Thursday,” the source, who didn’t wish to be named, said.
The Explicit Legal Issues
Part of the memo, as revealed to our reporter indicated that Jegede was the rightful candidate for the PDP because his emergence complied with the Electoral Act and the primaries in which he emerged was monitored by INEC in line with the law. The memo also indicated that Ibrahim’s name was forwarded to the commission by an unrecognised faction in the PDP and the faction did not comply with the provisions of the electoral act.
More so, the conduct and communication of the factional PDP group contravened the position of the Supreme Court in Emeka vs Okadigbo, a landmark case that held that it is the national executive of a political party that can forward the name of a candidate to INEC.
The legal opinion noted the Justice Okon Abang order demanding that Ibrahim be recognised as the PDP candidate to be dubious because not only did it contradict the Supreme Court’s position on the subject, but it also did not recognise that Ibrahim did not participate in the process to obtain a nomination as the party’s candidate in the November polls.
Specifically, there is no evidence before the commission that Ibrahim participated in PDP primaries or met any other condition to be validly nominated by his party as its candidate.
The legal department also brought up the existence of a restraining order from a high court in Ondo addressed to INEC barring the commission from enlisting Ibrahim as the candidate of the PDP.
This court order was the most recent to Thursday, the day the INEC boss took the decision to ignore the court order and go ahead to push the agenda of the ruling party in naming the billionaire businessman as the PDP candidate.
“The commission must do what is ethically and professionally right by not recognizing Jimoh Ibrahim as the PDP candidate since it is clear to the commission that only the primaries that produced Eyitayo Jegede followed the provisions of the Electoral Law,” part of the memo said.
Our source revealed that at the meeting, Ms. Zakari slammed the submission of the legal department and revealed that the attorney general of the federation, Abubakar Malami, a bonafide member of the Aso Rock cabal, had ordered that the name of Jegede be removed and replaced with Ibrahim.
“She said that that was the decision of the presidency at the meeting,” our source revealed. “Several members of the legal department had raised objections to her open support for Jimoh Ibrahim at the meeting. Out of frustration, because she was losing the argument, she dropped the “Aso Rock” bomb.”
The Hand of Aso Rock
Another newspaper reported that Amina Zakari had attended a meeting with the INEC chairman at the Aso Rock and President Buhari was in the meeting with members of “the cabal”. It was at that meeting that “clear instructions was given to the commission to announce the name of Jimoh Ibrahim as the candidate of the PDP”.
“It is not that the APC believe that Ibrahim can win the election or they are siding with him, the action was taken to road rail the PDP in the elections by causing disaffection in the Ondo chapter of the PDP,” another source closely following this development told The Trent.
A source who spoke with our reporter confirmed that Abubakar Malami, the federal attorney general, was present at the meeting and advised that Jegede’s name be replaced with Ibrahim’s for the purpose of giving the crisis-filled ruling party an edge at the poll.
The Role Of Buhari’s Niece In INEC
According to sources, Amina Zakari, a niece of President Buhari, is the “most powerful woman in INEC”. She was due for retirement in 2015, but Buhari kept her in INEC against the law so she could continue her work sabotaging the electoral body for the APC.
“You dare not oppose Zakari,” a staff of INEC disclosed. “She is the most powerful person here [INEC] now. The president listens to her and she nominates most of the president’s appointment to the commission.”
Zakari was appointed a national commissioner of INEC by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. She was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari, after the former president asked the military dictator to forward a name for the position.
Buhari appointed her acting chairman of the commission on June 30, 2016, after the expiration of the tenure of Attahiru Jega, the INEC boss who oversaw the elections of 2015. Her appointment led to an outcry of nepotism against the president. She was relieved of the post in October of the same year, when Yakubu was appointed.
