Kogi guber tussle: Save me from Echocho, Governor pleads with PDP chairman

[MrVan]

Kogi State governor, Capt. Idris Wada, yesterday, stormed the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), pleading with the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, and the National Working Committee (NWC) to intervene in the electoral petitions against him by the winner of the January 9 primary election of the party, Alhaji Jibrin Isah, also known as Echocho.

But, in a  reaction, Isah urged the party to ignore Wada as the matter is  in  court, insisting that the best way out is for PDP to allow justice and rule of law to prevail in his various petitions currently before the courts.

Before the emergence of  Wada as the governorship candidate of the PDP in the state election of December 3 ,2011,  Isah was the elected candidate of the party at the January 9, 2011  primary election held at the Lokoja township stadium and was so,returned as the flag bearer of the PDP for the April 26, 2011 general elections.

But the Court of Appeal ruled that the tenure of five governors including Kogi had not expired, hence the postponement of the gubernatorial election in the state and four others.

This became the bearing of Echocho's suit at the Federal High Court where he is asking that,since his name was forwarded to INEC by the PDP as its flag bearer in respect of the governorship election in Kogi  before the election was abruptly halted by Suit No. FHC/ABJ/646/2010 filed by Alh. Ibrahim Idris for his tenure elongation and with the dismissal of the said suit by the Supreme Court in SC/357/2011 vide it's judgment of  27 January, 2012.

Wada should stop presenting and parading himself as governor based on a purported election held on  3 December,2011 during the life and pendency of INEC'S appeal at the Supreme Court.

Judgment on the matter is expected to be delivered by Justice Abdu Kafarati of the Federal High Court Abujaon 29 June.

Speaking when he paid a courtesy visit to the National Chairman of PDP, Wada said, "Mr. Chairman, I will be deceiving you if I tell you that all is well within our party in Kogi State. Despite all my efforts and reconciliation, Mr. Chairman, a member of our party still has four cases against me in our court system.

"I think that is wrong and I call on you to intervene as quickly as possible. Guidelines of our party with regards to going to court is very clear and I have read the guidelines of gubernatorial electoral elections in the party very carefully and it states very clearly that any issue must be resolved through the internal system of resolution in the party. Elections were held in December and we are now in June Mr. Chairman".

However in a statement by Isah, signed by his Special Adviser, Phrank Shuaibu, he appealed to the PDP to stay off as the matter is in court and it would be against natural justice, rule of law for the party to intervene.

He said that reconciliation shall not be "at the expense of justice, fairness and the rule of law", stating that "Wada's demand on the National Chairman for reconciliation between himself and Jibrin Isah is to say the least baffling. This is because Wada's sudden realization that Jibrin Isah Echocho is NOW vital to his continued stay in office is very difficult to explain at this time".

Vanguard Nigeria