The war of words over the Kogi governorship tussle is still raging.A group under the aegis of Kogi Destiny Defence Forum (KDDF) has called on Mr. Jibrin Isah alias Echocho to stop distorting a clear judgement of the Supreme Court “as it affects the December 3rd governorship election which produced Capt. Idris Wada as governor of Kogi state.
“The position of the court is clear and coherent enough to any discerning mind. The apex court simply declined to give any consequential order while maintaining that a consequential order must instantly flow from an original judgment. According to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) who read the unanimous verdict, a consequential order must also be based on reliefs sought by parties in a matter ab initio. Thus the court declined to oblige the PDP and other litigants including one Jibrin Isah alias Echocho any order whatsoever,” the group stated.
The 2-page statement was signed by its President, ThankGod Onu, Secretary, Comrade
Kelvin Okah as well as the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) aspirant for the post of National Youth Leader in the forthcoming national convention of the party Adeyemi Olabode John. He doubles as the Publicity Secretary of the group. The group expressed shock that Jibrin Isa was still parading himself as flagbearer of the party or even hopeful that he will govern the state noting that his attitude and comments are unstatesmanly .
According to Onu, Jibrin Isa had himself effectively reliquished the mandate he is laying claims to “when on September 18, 2011 he travelled all the way to Lafia, in Nassarawa state to submit himself for screening, preparatory to the PDP primaries that later produced Wada as the party’s flagbearer.” The statement also added that Jibrin Isa contested the said primaries where he scored 1 vote.
“As hard as they labor to obfuscate issues, they cannot run away from the established fact that jibrin Isa voluntarily went to the PDP headquarters in Abuja to collect a refund of N5million he deposited to buy nomination form to contest the so-called January primaries. That the said Echocho purchased a new expression of interest (EO) form, a new nomination form and submitted himself for screening, travelling all the way to Nassarawa state on September 18, 2011 for the exercise . The said Jibrin was also in Lokoja moving from one hotel to the other on the night of September 21 up to the wee hours of September 22 and went into the polls where he scored a single vote in an election that was televised,” the
statement noted.
While expressing sympathies over claims by Echocho that he would have won the governorship elections if it took place in April 2011, KDDF stated that as attractive as the PDP may be and capable of guaranteeing electoral victory “we daresay that in recent memory, our party has suffered defeat in some states simply because the candidates presented were either unpopular or had baggages which the electorate abhored or inferior to candidates of other parties. It is obviously in realization of this that the PDP delegates in Kogi chose Idris Wada when INEC asked for nominations to conduct election into the office of the governor of the state.”
