Governor Yahaya Bello and the Perversion of a Court Made Mandate.

Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello of Kogi State is one of the most dangerous and uncultured political leaders to emerge in the Nigerian political scene in recent memories. Socially and politically, he is unpolished, brute, and morbidly unhinged. His morbid fascination with vergence and crude jabs smack of opportunism and insecurity. He is the ultimate local champion and a can of worms -  a threat to national peace, religious tolerance, and a formidable obstacle to sustainable development in Kogi State.

Kogi State is a Gateway State, a Nigerian microcosm to boot. Given the antiquated state of the infrastructural facilities in the two major cities,  the state deserves a political leader who understands the rudimentary of urban development and renewal, as well as, the creation of new markets and the expansion of the existing ones. 

With a massive seafood industry made possible by the presence of River Benue and River Niger, coupled with its proximity to Abuja, Lagos, and Benin City, Kogi State ought to be the number one hot spot or stop shop for out of state migrants and property developers. 

The State is abundantly endowed with some very rare mineral/natural resources deposit that, if appropriately exploited, would catapult Kogi State to one of the top IGR earning regions in Sub-Sahara Africa. (I covered the state briefly in my "International Mining and Comparative Law" class in graduate school).

Governor Bello is young, and maybe, educated. Brash? Not all. My own my, that dude is to ghetto. He has a diabolical sense of pride. And most often, he threads the path of feuds and resentment, when compromises and handshake are most desirable. 

He is a Governor today by accident. He participated in the APC Gubernatorial Primaries and was defeated. He was the first runner-up. The gentleman who won subsequently picked his deputy in accordance with the provisions of our Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution as amended. And both of them proceeded onto the campaign trail as a joint ticket.

On the eve of the election, but before the declaration of the winner, the winning candidate (the APC guy) died. Though APC, as a political party, was eventually declared the winner, there was no Governor-elect to take the Crown. And impasse developed.

Like a bolt from the blue, Mr. Bello came into the scene to harvest where he did not sow any seed. He was defeated at the Primaries. Besides, his name was not on the ballot, either as a gubernatorial candidate or as a deputy.

The Court declared Yahaya Bello, who did not participate in the Gubernatorial race and was not on the APC ticket, elected. And was sworn in accordingly. Reason: he participated and came second in the Primaries, but the Deputy who shared a joint ticket with the deceased candidate did not participate. And I disagreed with that judgment then and today for two reasons. The Primaries has been overtaken by events. And two, his name was not on the ticket at the governorship stage. Therefore, at this stage, vesting rights cannot be supplanted.

The Primaries are normally conducted between candidates of the same political party. The Gubernatorial race is the real race. And it is between candidates of the various political parties, each fielding its own governorship candidate and the deputy, consistent with the provisions of our Electoral Act and the Constitution. These names are appropriately submitted to INEC within a specified time frame. That's all it takes for a mandate to vest following a winning vote counts. Not what happened at the primaries.

I strongly believe that upon satisfying the appropriate registration legal requirements, the joint ticket so formed, automatically enure to the benefit of both candidates - the Gubernatorial candidate and his Deputy. Because the Constitution and the Electoral Act have already given effect to that unison prior to the election and prior to the death of one of the candidates. 

The joint ticket, as well as the rights and privileges emanating from it or accompanying it has been so recognized by laws. The fact that they have not been declared the winners and duly sworn as Governor and Deputy Governor respectively is irrelevant. After all, Bello was not even on the ticket or on the Ballot. The decision, once again, in my humble opinion, was a miscarriage of justice.

Be that as it may, I must cut the Court some slack on the decision they took. Because the arguments and the case presented by the Lawyers who represented the unfortunate Deputy were completely different from the common sense arguments I put forward on this essay. It's all about the legal strategy - defining the case, framing the arguments, and finding the laws in the books to buttress your case. 

Here, it was a novel case - no laws, no statutes, and no precedents in the book. What was required, therefore, was a common sense and persuasive arguments on the part of the Deputy's lawyers.  The Supreme Court does make laws, called case laws. These are decisions not based on precedents, laws, or legislation, but on reasonable and informed judgment, and common sense.

• So, it is the responsibility of the lawyers to urge the apex court to find reasons and wisdom in its lawmaking process, through case law pronouncements, and rule for your client - the Deputy. Because his name was on the ballot, on the ticket at the actual election. 

Giving the mandate to the one who left the scene at the Primaries is legally and equitably unthinkable. It doesn't make any sense. Unfortunately, those were not the arguments or case argued by the Lawyers who represented the Deputy before the court.

The Judge cannot help you to define your case. It is the facts and the issues you presented that define the trajectory of the case. Legal strategy comes first before the laws. The same reason Yahaya Bello is the Governor of Kogi State today is the same reason EFCC is losing most of its important cases in Nigerian courts. 

Governor Bello is a time bomb waiting to explode. Kogi State needs pragmatic thinking, internationally exposed, or business-oriented individual to run the State as a profitable organization. Not a local champion who is suffering from a persecution complex and unleashing political tension and manufacturing hostile business environment in his State and beyond. It's sad to see a guy who couldn't win at the Primaries, got elected by the court and now perverting the legal gift he got, and setting the clock back in a state that ought to be a leading light in industrialization in Nigeria.