The January 27, 2012 Supreme Court judgement came with its full weight on the affected five states, Kogi inclusive, but the scenario in Kogi remains a watershed in political history. Sam Egwu examines how two governors emerged in Kogi and the unfolding events.
Kogi state which is popularly known as the confluence state following the confluence of Rivers Niger and Benue in Lokoja will go down in the history of the nation as a state where two governors were sworn-in the same day.
Already some observers have put a comic tail on the issues as they note that such should be expected. To them, if the state has two rivers which meet and mix calmly in the confluence, then the state can as well borrow a leaf from the waters and have a political confluence by having two governors at the Lord Lugard House.
However, waters do not know politics. While Niger and Benue mixed with no ado, the emergence of two governors in the state for the time the tussle lasted kept the state on its toes as tension heightened by the day.
It started when the Supreme Court sacked the governors of five states of Cross-River, Sokoto, Adamawa, Bayelsa and Kogi on the ground that the ruling of the lower courts which elongated their tenures beyond May, 2011 was erroneous.
Immediately the news reached Lokoja, there was confusion regarding the interpretation of the ruling as to who would hold the reign of power in the place of the sacked governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris.
The pendulum swung between the then governor-elect, Capt, Idris Wada and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Abdulahi Bello, who some elements insists that by virtue of certain provisions of the Constitution he should hold power as acting governor in the event that the governor and the deputy were oust from power.
When the news got to Lokoja at about 11.30 am, security was further beefed up around the government house with top government officials gathering to adopt the next line of action.
Initially, there appeared to be a consensus that Wada should immediately be sworn-in as governor since his election has been concluded and he was only waiting to take over in April.
However, trouble started when some members of the state House of Assembly rejected the decision to swear-in Wada arguing that the Speaker and not Wada was the rightful person to be sworn-in as acting- governor.
Immediately, there was pressure on the Chief Judge of the State, Justice Nasir Ajanah, whose statutory duty it was to perform the ceremony, as two camps emerged with one supporting Wada and the other routing for the Speaker.
The situation worsened when news came that the Attorney General of the Federation Mohammed Adoke, had directed that the Chief Judges of the affected states should swear-in the speakers as acting governors.
A hot debate ensued and milieu, resulting in the decision of the Chief Judge to leave the venue.
It was at this point that the pro-Wada elements said to have had the backing of the former governor brought the President of the Customary Court of Appeal in Lokoja, Justice Ibrahim Shaibu Atadoga to the executive hall of the governor's office to administer the oath of office and allegiance on Captain Idris Wada and his deputy, Yomi Awoniyi.
Hardly had that ceremony ended and Wada began giving his address with top government officials waiting for the next line of action, when news filtered in that the Chief Judge of the state was preparing to swear-in the Speaker at the Lokoja High Court opposite the state House of Assembly complex.
Immediately, confusion set in and stakeholders were forced to start a new set of political alignments laced with uncertainties. Some hours later, the Chief Judge had sworn-in the Speaker and Kogi became a state with two governors sworn-in by judicial officers.
Interestingly, those present at the swearing in of Capt Wada, apart from the outgoing governor, Ibrahim Idris and his deputy governor, Chief Philip Salawu and SSG Alhaji Musa Amadu, the others were also at the High court complex to witness the inauguration of the Speaker.
At that moment, the state and security agencies were thrown into serious confusion as they did not immediately know who to recognise as the new helmsman as security men were also drafted to man the Speaker as acting governor.
The major area of contention was that the Supreme Court in its ruling did not give clear cut directive on who takes over as it did not take cognisance of the election conducted in December 3, 2011, in Kogi state which produced Capt Wada and Awoniyi.
There was then the argument on the competence of the President of the Court of Appeal to perform the ceremony as some pro-Speaker element sinsisted that his action lacked competence especially in the face of the directive from the Attorney General.
This was especially as some persons had already started giving extended interpretation to the ruling as they argued that the ruling implied a reversal to the January, 2011 primary which was won by Alhaji Jibrin Isa for the botched April, 2011 election which could not hold due to the extension of the tenure of the governor by the Appeal Court.
There were arguments that either there should be a new round of electoral process including new primaries or directly giving power to Isa since he was the holder of the ticket which was invalidated by the extension.
However, the pro-Wada elements had insisted that such should not be the case as they argued that all events relating to the January 2011 primary and the botched April 2011 elections have been overtaken by time.
However, as the arguments raged, emboldened by the directive of the Attorney General which warranted his inauguration by the Chief Judge, the Speaker went ahead to start governance activities as he announced the sack of all political appointees who served under Idris Ibrahim.
While the tussle raged in Lokoja, the Speaker took his team to Okene to meet the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Alhaji Ado Ibrahim where he was said to have informed him that he had taken over the governorship of Kogi state and was seeking royal blessing though Wada was already in full control of the State House.
However, as forces in Lokoja continued to lock horns, decisions were being made in Abuja in favour of Wada. The first was the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which declared that it was not ready to conduct any fresh election in Kogi as it insisted that the December 3, 2011 election which produced Wada as concluded and as such, Wada should be sworn in as governor.
INEC’s position was also followed by a meeting of political stakeholders in Abuja where top brass of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Vice President Namadi Sambo was said to have brokered truce among the warring parties.
This was even as there were insinuations by some pro-Wada elements that the Attorney General, who is from the state extended his directive to Kogi for some undisclosed reasons which they insisted had to do with the power tussle among certain ethnic groups in the state.
However, in all, it appears that the odds and the evens were in favour of Wada as it is thought that the issuance of the Certificate of Return to Wada by INEC is to ensure that there will be no vacancy in the state.
By all indications, INEC is not ready to withdraw the certificate unless compelled by a court of law at the highest level.
These trails from the decision of the commission to conduct after the Appeal Court endorsed the elongation of the tenure of the governors though it went to the Supreme Court to challenge that extension.
However, with the April 15 2011 primary election of PDP, according to INEC, all primary elections before then had become null and void and of no effect.
Currently, the actions of the two judicial officers have become a subject of discourse in the state as some stakeholders have continued to seek interpretation on the issues. In fact there are apprehensions that there could be firework of legal works on the matter.
Commenting on the issue, a political analyst, Abdulahi Ochalla, noted that Wada in the eyes of the law remained the validly elected governor. He added that the arguments by some people that the speaker would have been given the three months of ninety days were mere wishful thinking since the same INEC which produced the speaker also produced the governor elect. He further said that the speaker would have had a claim to that seat if there were no elected governor.
On the whole, the citizens of the state wants an atmosphere of political tranquillity to enable the state to move forward.
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