•Legal fireworks begin next week All is now set for the beginning of the legal battle to determine the authentic winner of the contentious May 24 election of the Nigerian Governors' Forum, NGF.
This is as Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State has challenged Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State to make public the evidence that he voted during the election.
Shortly after the NGF Director-General, DG, Mr. Ashishana Okauru, announced Amaechi as the winner of the keenly contested, but rancorous election, having polled a total of 19 votes, a faction of the forum led by Akwa-Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio immediately rejected the result.
The Akpabio faction proceeded to announce Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State as the chairman of the forum.
Jang was said to have scored 16 votes.
The Acting Chief Judge, CJ, of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Justice Ibrahim M. Bukar, has assigned the case filed by Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, to Justice V. V. Venda of the Apo High Court.
When our correspondent visited Venda's court, an official, who craved anonymity, said considering the fact that not many cases were before his Lordship, coupled with the importance of the suit, it would be listed "next week".
The fight for the soul of the NGF – currently divided along the lines of pro and anti-Amaechi supporters, led to the current suit by the Lagos State governor.
Fashola, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), had, in his capacity as an NGF member, approached the court for an order restraining Jang from parading himself as the chairman of the forum.
Those listed as co-defendants with Jang are Okauru, the Sole Administrator of the Jang faction, Mr. Osaro Onaiwu as well as the Registered Trustees of the NGF.
The suit was instituted on behalf of Fashola by a former Attorney General of Lagos State, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN). It will commence via writ of summons.
The plaintiff is contending, among others, that all but Governor of Yobe State, Alhaji Ibrahim Geidam, participated in the election wherein, Amaechi was duly elected and returned as the forum's chairman, for a second term.
He is, therefore, praying the court to stop Jang from parading himself "as the elected chairman of the NGF in any manner whatsoever and howsoever".
Besides, Fashola also seeks a declaration that the first defendant, Jang, is to all intents and purposes, not competent to relocate the Governors' Secretariat, currently situated at Asokoro, a high-brow area of Abuja.
The reliefs sought also include "an Order of Injunction restraining the third defendant from parading himself as the sole administrator of the forum in any manner whatsoever and howsoever".
It was averred that the election of the NGF chairman took place at the Rivers State Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja on Friday, May 25.
Fashola also averred that: "The four candidates who submitted nomination forms for the election were the governors of Bauchi, Katsina, Plateau and Rivers states. The nomination forms will be relied upon at the trial of this suit.
"Before the said election, the governors of Bauchi and Katsina states withdrew from the election leaving the contest for the governors of Plateau and Rivers states. Thereafter, the 35 governors voted for the candidates of their choice.
"At the end of the voting, the Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, scored 19 votes while his rival, the Governor of Plateau State, Mr. Jonah Jang, scored 16 votes.
"Consequently, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State was declared the winner of the election. At the trial of this suit, the plaintiff will rely on the video recording of the election which has been broadcast by AIT and Channels Television stations."
But in Akure yesterday, Mimiko urged Amaechi to come out with the truth instead of feeding the world with falsehood.
He said Amaechi could not take ecclesiastic refuge to cover up his anti-democratic dispositions, adding that the governor should prove to the public that he voted through the same video he had been using to tell the world that there was an election.
National Mirror