In what could be a boost to the claim by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that it is still the preferred party for Nigerians, the party has won by-elections conducted in three different states on Saturday. The by-elections were conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fill vacant seats in the National Assembly due to the death the occupants of the seat.
INEC on Sunday morning declared the APC’s candidate, Ahmad Babba-Kaita as winner of the Saturday by-election for Katsina North District.
Ahmad who is a member of the House of Representatives scored 224,607 votes to defeat his elder brother and close rival, Kabir Babba-Kaita of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who got 59,724 votes.
The election was conducted to fill the vacant seat for Katsina North Senatorial District following the death of Senator Mustapha Bukar, in April. Katsina North is the senatorial district of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Professor Hudu Abdullahi, INEC Returning Officer who announced results of the bye – election said, “that Ahmad Babba-Kaita of APC having satisfied the requirement of the law and scored the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected”.
Speaking on the outcome of the election, Mustapha Inuwa, Secretary to the Katsina State Government said the result was a clear indication that the APC would be victorious in the 2019 general elections.
Inuwa commended the people of Katsina North Senatorial District for coming out to vote for the APC candidate in the by-election.
He said the voter turnout was encouraging, considering the number of the accredited voters and the 294,050 people who cast their votes and described the keenly contested election as peaceful.
The Katsina State Chief Scribe noted that the result was a clear evidence that APC was in full control of the state, adding that, government appreciated the resilience and understanding exhibited by the electorate especially the party members.
Business Day gathered that out of the 855,092 registered voters, 308,500 were accredited at the 1825 voting points and 1,577 polling units and 128 wards in the district while 294,050 voted in the poll.
Also INEC on Sunday evening announced APC’s candidate, Haruna Isah as the winner of the Saturday Lokoja/Kogi Federal Constituency by-election in Kogi state.
Returning Officer for the election, Rotimi Ajayi who announced the results on Sunday in Lokoja said Isah of the APC polled 26,860 votes to defeat Bashir Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 14, 845 votes.
Ajayi also announced that Ahmed Imam of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) scored 2,916 votes while the candidates of the Accord Party and Alternative Democratic Congress (ADC) scored 149 votes and 2,984 votes, respectively.
“The Labour Party scored 90 votes; Democratic Alternative scored 159 votes; while Megga Party of Nigeria scored 50 votes.
Due to violence and other malpractices, 19,960 votes from 17 polling units were cancelled with 15 of the affected polling units in Lokoja Local Government Area, and two from Kogi Local Government Area. The Returning Officer said 51,669 voters were accredited for the election but only 50,036 voted.
The by-election was conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fill the vacant seat created by the death of the former occupant of the seat, Umar Jibrin, also of the APC in March.
In Bauchi, even final results were yet to be released as at the time BusinessDay was going to press, initial results released by INEC showed that the candidate of the APC in the by-election in the Bauchi South senatorial zone, which is also the zone where the Speaker of the House of Representatives comes from. Of the seven local governments announced as at Sunday evening by INEC, the APC won in six local governments.
The PDP won only in the local government area of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, which could be the clearest indication that the speaker is on his way to join the main opposition party.
But as the National Assembly prepares to reconvene on Tuesday, August 14 to consider approving the budget of the INEC for the 2019 elections, the National Working Committee (NWC)of the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC), has raised alarm that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Adams Oshiomhole has perfected plans to distort the Nigerian Constitution to illegally impeach the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, when the lawmakers reconvene.
In a statement titled “They Are At It Again” issued on Sunday by the National Publicity Secretary of the R-APC, Kassim Afegbua, he said that the APC leadership is bent on giving a nebulous interpretation to the provision of the 1999 constitution (as amended) by using the numbers of Senators present to provoke an impeachment.
“To this end, they have called on all APC Senators to make it a point of duty to participate at the plenary on Tuesday to pass a vote of “no confidence” on the Senate President. This will be followed by orchestrated rancourous plenary session from where impeachment motion would be raised and illegally perpetrated.”
“There have been two meetings of the leaders and the Senators in the last 48 hours to perfect this approach. The security agencies have also been briefed according to information reaching us. The APC factional chairman has been boasting and insisting that the Senate President would be impeached by whatever means because he no longer deserves to wear the “crown”.
“It is possible that the leadership of the factional APC now sees the National Assembly as a Palace, where crowns and beads are the instruments of authority. Needless to remind them that the National Assembly is an arm of government represented by elected persons who are vested with the responsibility of making laws for the good governance of the country. It is neither a kingdom of princes and princesses, nor is it a sanctuary for traditional doctrinaire where crowns and beads are used to impose monarchical authority,” the statement said.
The R-APC also condemned the blatant use of cash-for-votes which it said the APC has introduced into Nigeria’s electoral process adding that the just concluded by-elections in Katsina, Bauchi and Kogi states are testimonies to this fact. It said that this is a sad commentary for a government that preaches anti-corruption as its cardinal philosophy of governance, stressing that the desperation to win at all cost and the killings associated with the elections are bad signals towards 2019 general elections.
The R-APC therefore called on the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, to sack the current Inspector General of Police who, it alleged has shown a manifest incompetence in the discharge of his responsibilities.
“For example, how can an interim report of the Police on the Lawan Daura saga litter the pages of social media platforms when the investigation remains yet inconclusive? How can the Police exonerate itself from the act when it was reported that a Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG Habila was seen in a meeting with Senators at the Aso Drive private office of the factional chairman of APC Comrade Adams Oshiomhole? What was he doing there as early as 10a.m on that fateful morning of Tuesday, 7th August, 2018?” The R-APC queried.
The breakaway faction of the APC in the statement called for an independent Judicial Investigation Panel made of eminent jurists to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the failed political coup d’etat that clearly undermined the Legislature as an arm of government, and also the invasion of the private residences of Judges, siege on the residences of the Senate President and his Deputy.
“Getting the Police to do the job is to exonerate the Police bearing in mind their earlier siege on the residences of the Senate President and Deputy Senate President barely a week earlier.”
“We have continuously insisted that this APC-led government under President Buhari have “outsourced governance” to the cabals. We are however relieved that God has commenced the “Greatest Revelations” of all anti-democratic elements in this government, that made thousands of our members to break away. The NASS could upon resumption, also institute a high-powered Investigative Panel to unravel the several invasions that have become the operative themes in our fledgling democracy,” it said.
It condemned the high-handedness against its members who have defected to the political parties of their choice citing the deputy speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly as the latest victim of executive lawlessness in the past couple of days because he defected to from the APC. The R-APC also condemned the killings in Kogi state during the just concluded by-election pointing out that under the APC the Muhammadu Buhari led APC federal government, human lives have become cheap and of no value.
“We are calling on the Senate President to invoke the provisions of section 68 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in declaring the seat of Senator Godswill Akpabio vacant. It is not on record that there is division in the opposition PDP, hence this declaration will be a step in the right direction.”
“As the National Assembly plans to resume on Tuesday, we are calling on all Nigerians and lovers of democracy to be extra-vigilant before and during the plenary. The latest plans by the APC may yet again leave unsavoury taste in our mouths,” the statement said.
James Kwen & Innocent Odoh, Abuja
