The revelations in the CTC of the judgment of the Court of Appeal on the Kano governorship race is the clearest indication that politics rather than law is determining judicial outcomes on election litigation. The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Moore Adumein had nullified Governor Kabir’s victory on the ground that he was not an authentic member of his political party, the NNPP. Consequently, the appellate court declared his closest challenger, Nasiru Gawuna, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the 18 March governorship election. However, the certified true copy (CTC) of the judgement issued by the Court of Appeal, states in some sections that Mr Yusuf won the election but also said the opposite in other sections, contrary to its clear ruling last Friday.
Browsing: Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim
On October 24, a statement by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres caused a sharp reaction by Israel. He had condemned in the strongest terms the massacre committed by Hamas on October 7, but also reminded the world that it did not take place in a vacuum. He explained that one cannot dissociate 56 years of occupation from our engagement with the tragedy that unfolded on that day. Israeli officials demanded Guterres’s resignation, claiming that he supported Hamas and justified the massacre it carried out. The Israeli media also jumped on the bandwagon, asserting among other things that the UN chief had demonstrated a stunning degree of “moral bankruptcy”. The Israeli position has been that the definition of anti-Semitism be expanded to include criticism of the Israeli state and questioning the moral basis of Zionism.
In 1994, representatives of two sworn foes stood before the world to accept the Nobel Peace Prize for their leadership in promoting a truce and peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine, the two arch-opposing camps. The Nobel Peace Committee recognized Yasser Arafat (1929–2004), the leader of the Palestinian people, and Israeli politicians Shimon Peres (1923–1923) and Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995) for their efforts to bring peace to the unstable Middle East.
The West African Sahel has recently been rocked by military uprisings and coups. In the past three years, rogue soldiers have taken over power in Chad, April 2021, in Mali (August 2020 and May 2021), in Guinea (September 2021), in Burkina Faso (January and September 2022) and in Niger, July 2023. This means much of the eastern Sahel is in the hands of the military. ECOWAS is greatly affected because its political map at the beginning of 2020 showed a West Africa where the political convergence principles directing all States to operate democratic regimes based on regular multiparty elections has been profoundly transformed and the Supplementary Protocol of Democracy and Good Governance that guides democratic practice profoundly breached.
On Wednesday, the Kano State Governorship Electoral Petition Tribunal sacked Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples’ Party (NNPP) as governor after deducting 165,663 votes from the total votes he scored during the election. The three-member panel of judges led by Oluyemi Asadebay ruled that the ballots containing the votes were not certified by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Despite the tribunal’s ruling, Mr. Yusuf will remain in office until the appeal court and possibly the supreme court gives a final ruling on the matter. I have not studied the judgement so I would make no comments on subtractions that go only in one direction but the outcome is concerning to many in Kano.
After some discussions on the encouraging story of a young entrepreneur on our Barewa Old Boys WhatsApp group, a couple of classmates and I decided to visit Mustapha Gajibo to better understand his engagement in renewable energy and project of the design and production of Nigerian electric vehicles. We were all impressed with his vision, drive, ambition and above all his commitment to seeking modern workable solutions to Nigeria’s challenges. From his base in Maiduguri, he has been producing electric cars since 2017. Recall that in 2017, there was no electricity in Maiduguri because the supply line had been blown up by Boko Haram. What audacity to think of producing electric cars in a city that did not even have electricity at the time I asked. His response was that precisely for that reason, it was important to seek solutions and if the city had no electricity it had a lot of sun which could be harnessed to charge the vehicles.
The coup in Gabon this week is most unlikely to be a regime change. Gen Brice Nguema, the head of the junta is a relation of the Bongo family and started his career as body guard to Omar Bongo, the father of the deposed President who had ruled for 42 years. The coup occurred minutes after President Ali Bongo had been declared winner of a rigged election. He had been incapacitated since he suffered from a stroke in 2019 and the optics of a president without the capacity to govern has been an issue since his stroke. The symbolism of someone who is incapable of exercising power rigging election after election posed the question of how much longer can the charade last. When there was an attempted coup in January 2019, the army responded immediately rounding up the culprits. As everyone knows, Gabon is too precious for France to allow regime change. In the coming days, it will become clearer who allowed this coup to succeed.
This week, the controversial Wagner Group leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died when his plane was blown off the sky. He was a man of many talents said the Russian President, Putin, his friend/enemy. Indeed, one of his greatest talents is developing elaborate and sophisticated ways of weaponizing the genuine and deep history of Francafrique terrible maintenance of its colonial grip on the governments and resources of Francophone Africa for its interest while pretending to propose liberation. The purpose has been to introduce in its stead Russian neo-colonial control of the said territories through the instrumentality of installing military dictatorships. His method has been through deliberate and sustained manipulation through the social media.
This week, the innocent sounding term: “All Eyes on the Judiciary” appears to seriously irritate the Tinubu Government, I wonder why? The anger is seen in the decision of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) to remove “All Eyes on the judiciary” billboards sponsored by a group known as the Diaspora’s for Good Governance. The hashtag is an excellent description of the state of mind of ALL Nigerians wondering, fearing, hopeful, frightened of the expected verdict of the judiciary on election cases currently in the tribunals. The main focus is on the presidential election tribunal which will soon deliver its verdict on the petitions challenging the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the general election. Is someone afraid?
The ECOWAS emergency summit yesterday started well. Chairman Bola Tinubu in his opening remarks called for a focus on the use of diplomatic channels and negotiations. As I was writing this column to commend the new approach, news broke out that ECOWAS, has ordered its standby force to restore constitutional order in Niger Republic. The President of ECOWAS, Omar Alieu Touray made the declaration while reading the resolutions of the meeting. He also called on the African Union, partner countries and institutions to support the resolution taken by the sub-regional body. ECOWAS said all efforts made to dialogue with Niger Republic military junta have been defiantly rejected by coup leaders as they condemn continuous detention of President Mohamed Bazoum and his family members. They then directed the committee of the Chiefs of Defence Staff to activate the ECOWAS stand-by force with all its elements immediately to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger. The path taken is that of escalation.