Abass Adetunji’s place in public affairs analysis as a Nigerian Journalist with vast interest in other skills, for example figures and statistics, cannot be looked down upon. Currently contributing from the Diaspora, he has consistently made fantastic deployment of social media, particularly the Facebook, in positively in advancing his the course he believes in. The current argument regarding the Supreme Court verdict on Imo State governorship election is not exempted from his areas of interest as he joins with a view to making some clarifications. Excerpts:

 

You cannot deploy the results of the state House of Assembly polls which held same day with the gubernatorial polls in Imo, and in which the APC fared badly, to justify your devious narrative that the PDP actually won the polls. Or that it reflected the views of the people in the gubernatorial and, therefore, it gave the PDP a ground to still insist that it won even if it would remain an academic exercise which has been consigned to the dustbin of history, considering the finality of our Supreme Court judgments

The grounds are not far-fetched: the House of Assembly polls are nothing more than what they are and will always remain: the HoA poll, a local poll where people choose their representatives from the local areas and may or may not reflect the people’s wishes in their choice of governor.

What about the Kaduna 1979?

In the 1979 gubernatorial polls in Kaduna state for instance, the National Party of Nigeria was the party to beat going by the results of the HoA polls where they had garnered sixty- nine seats , with the People’s Redemption Party, PRP, going home with thirteen seats.

The anti- NPN coalition was subsequently formed and all parties directed their parties to vote the PRP’s candidate and he won the gubernatorial election impressively.

Ote d’ ola for Michael in 1991!

The fierce battle between the Social Democractic Party’s aspirants , Segun Agbalajobi and Dapo Sarumi, in the 1991 gubernatorial primaries , will be the talk of the electoral miracles for several years to come. Babagana Kingibe, who had a secret ambition to contest for the presidency and, therefore , sought to re- position his men wanted Sarumi, while the PSP’s faction desired Agbalajobi. And to cut the story short, Yomi Edu emerged victorious, and he was poised to become governor until an alliance of the progressives stopped him, and after some horse trading, he walloped Sarumi at the polls, but the SDP had won twenty- six out of the thirty available seats, leaving the NRC with four!

The Imo State 2007 Gubernatorial Polls and House of Assembly Polls!

The gubernatorial election held with the House of Assembly election in 2007 , nationwide. In Imo state, while the HoA election was upheld by INEC, the gubernatorial was cancelled and a re- run ordered! It was the re- run that made Ikedi Ohakim to emerge victorious while Martins Agbaso and Ifeanyi Ararume lost their deposits( they had claimed they won the first ballot). The confirmation that the polls ard difference can also be seen here.

Kano 2019!

Even if our memory has failed us, then what happened in kano state in 2019? The APC had swept all the polls , including the HoA polls which held on the same day with the gubernatorial, but Ganduje was trailing the PDP’s candidate before the INEC ordered a supplementary polls in which Ganduje emerged victorious. The finality of who won the gubernatorial will be known on Monday!

Sokoto 2019!

While the two main parties ran neck- to – neck in the gubernatorial polls, it was different in the HoA where the APC had an unassailable lead.

So, you may ask your representatives to sponsor a bill where it will be stated that the HoA should henceforth determine what obtains in the governorship. The latter should be rested!