Wada is Kogi gov, INEC says : Polls to hold in Adamawa, others in Feb

Written by Daily Trust Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Captain Idris Wada is the authentic governor of Kogi State, the Independent National Electoral Commission said yesterday, apparently reversing the order given by Federal attorney general on Friday that the speaker should take over with the ouster of former Governor Ibrahim Idris.

Wada won the governorship election held in December, and was waiting for Idris to leave by April when the Supreme Court last week declared that the former governor’s tenure ended since May.

This triggered a power tussle between Wada, who was sworn in on Friday by the Customary Court President, and speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly Abdullahi Bello, who was sworn in as acting governor by state Chief Judge.

In its first reaction to the Supreme Court judgement, INEC yesterday said Wada should be allowed to take over as governor, having won the election last year.

INEC chairman Professor Attahiru Jega, who announced the commission’s decision, said also that governorship election in the four other states affected by the Supreme Court judgement would hold next month, starting with Adamawa State on Saturday.

He said the commission took the decision after a brief by its lawyers who studied the judgement.

“The Kogi State governorship election which took place on December 3, 2011 is a concluded election and therefore, the governor-elect should be sworn in immediately,” Jega said.

He also confirmed the dates for the remaining governorship election as follows: Adamawa (February 4); Bayelsa (February 11); Sokoto (February 18) and Cross River (February 25).

Jega said only candidates who emerged after the Court of Appeal judgment of April 15, 2011 would be recognised for the scheduled elections.

This effectively means President Jonathan’s man Henry Dickson would be the PDP candidate for the election in Bayelsa, and not former governor Timipre Sylva, who is claiming the candidacy on the basis of the January 2011 primaries.

Before INEC issued its position yesterday, confusion held sway in the Kogi State capital Lokoja as both Wada and the speaker continued to claim the governorship position.

Rumours circulated that Wada was going to be at the stadium to take another oath office, and soon people trooped in there to witness the event but they were dispersed by the police.

Spokesman for former Governor Idris, Malam Zakari Adamu, told Daily Trust that Wada was at the Government House to begin work as new governor at about 12pm.

But earlier yesterday, the acting governor Abdullahi Bello announced the sack the secretary to the state government and all political appointees of the former governor, directing them to hand over to senior officers in their departments.

The House of Assembly passed a resolution also yesterday, presided by acting speaker Emmanuel Omebije, urging Attorney General of the Federation Mohammed Bello Adoke to clarify his earlier directive that speaker Bello should be sworn in as acting governor.

Wada addressed journalists in Lokoja yesterday, saying he would chart a new course for the state.

“No matter where we came from we are to chart a course for the state.

What will count is how we come out of it. Though the matter is volatile, we must carry on with civility,” he said.

He said the challenges that came with the Supreme Court judgment were among problems of democracy, adding that “every step we took was guided by

the consciousness that it is about the mandate our people gave to us.”

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