Governorship election may not hold in five states this April following a ruling by a federal high court in Abuja, yesterday, extending the tenure of the incumbent governors. Presiding judge, Adamu Bello, said any such election in Kogi, Sokoto, Adamawa, Cross River and Bayelsa states will have to wait till next year.
The ruling also set new dates for the termination of the tenures of the governors. Ibrahim Idris, Kogi, will stay on till April 5,2012; Aliyu Wammakko, Sokoto, remains till May 28,2012; Timipre Sylva, Bayelsa, leaves the next day on May 29, 2012; Liyel Imoke's tenure in Cross River terminates on August 28, 2012; and Murtala Nyako, Adamawa, gets his tenure elongated till April 30th, 2012.
The five governors had gone to court to challenge the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct governorship elections in their states this year. They said their tenure only began after they won the run off in their states and so should not be terminated in April 2011. They named INEC and the Peoples Democratic Party as first and second defendants respectively..
Electoral commission waits
When contacted last night, the electoral chairman's spokesperson, Kayode Idowu, said the commission will not be rushed into taking any decision until it has made further consultations on the judgment. "When we receive the judgment, we will have to sit down with our lawyers to study the decision. Taking a decision now will be too sudden." Mr. Idowu said.
The counsel to the five governors: Lateef Fagbemi, Kanu Agabi, Sunday Ameh, Ladi Rotimi Williams and Paul Erokoro had asked the court to stop INEC and the PDP from conducting elections in the five states, citing Section 180 (2) of the 1999 Constitution. They said the law that the four-year tenure of office for a governor begins from the day the person takes an oath of office and oath of allegiance is a sacrosanct provision and cannot be abridged or ignored.
In opposing the governors' request, the government urged the court to dismiss the case for lack of merit.
Mr Bello however held that since the 2007 elections were nullified and set aside by competent courts, the oath of office and allegiance subscribed to by the five governors have all been nullified and set aside along with the elections. He said, "the tenure of governors start counting from the day they took their oath of office and oath of allegiance." The judge further said that in line with section 180 of the 1999 Constitution, the tenure of the governors legally commenced in 2008 when they were sworn in after their first elections were annulled and rerun ordered.
According to Mr Bello, the 2007 elections used by INEC to determine the tenure of governors were legally declared null and void by competent courts of law.
Differing views
Adeniyi Akintola, who stood in for the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, argued that no tenure elongation should be granted to any of the governors since the amended 1999 Constitution was opposed to such a move.
But the PDP, represented by its national legal adviser, Olusola Oke, said the tenure of any governor in Nigeria today legally begins from the date the governor takes the oath of office and oath of allegiance.
The party claimed that the 2007 elections that brought the five governors to office in the first instance were voided and set aside for fresh ones by courts. The party therefore insisted that the oath of office taken by the affected governors have been voided along with the elections and were of no effect whatsoever in law.
INEC had announced that the tenures of governors who were re-elected after their 2007 elections were cut short by tribunals would end on May 29, 2011, like those of other governors.
What the law states
In the recently amended 1999 Constitution, Section 135 of the Principal Act, which deals with the issue of governors' tenure, has been altered in subsection (2) with the insertion of a new paragraph which states that: "in the determination of the four-year term, where a re-run election has taken place and the person earlier sworn in wins the re-run election, the time spent in the office before the date the election was annulled, shall be taken into account."
However, in justifying the ruling by Mr Bello, Jiti Ogunye, a Lagos-based lawyer said the new amendments cannot have an effect on incidents before it. According to him, "That amendment does not cover this kind of case, because any law cannot be applied retroactively."
Victory for the rule of law
Reacting to the judgment, Doifie Ola, spokesperson for the Bayelsa State governor, described the court ruling as a victory for the state and the rule of law in the country. He said, "The extension will give the administration more time to deepen development and democracy in the state." In Cross River, the PDP lauded the judgment while the opposition parties under its umbrella body, Conference of Nigerian Political Parties [CNPP] said the court ruling was a setback to the quest for a change in the governance of the state.
Cross River State Commissioner for Information, Patrick Ugbe, described the judgment as the best thing that has happened to the administration and commended the judiciary for righting the wrong caused by the Court of Appeal sitting in Calabar on July 14, 2008.
‘'We are happy with this judgment. It has strengthened our faith in the judiciary and our position that INEC was wrong in interpreting our tenure. The first oath of office taken had become a nullity. Therefore the second oath suffices, meaning Governor Liyel Imoke commenced his first term on August 26, 2010. The law cannot take retroactive effect'', he said.
