Back in The saddle
By Anza Philips, Abuja Bureau
Monday, May 05, 2008
Murtala Nyako, People's Democratic Party, PDP, candidate wins the re-run gubernatorial election in Adamawa State
For the second time in less than one year, Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd) was sworn in as the governor of Adamawa State on Wednesday April 30, in Yola, the state capital. He had been declared the winner of the, April 26, re-run election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Nyako's earlier election on April 12, 2007, on the platform of the People's Democratic Party, PDP and consequent swearing-in on May 29, 2007 was nullified by the Adamawa State Election Petitions Tribunal headed by Justice Akin Akinwalere. The tribunal's judgment was upheld by the Court of Appeal sitting in Jos. This was sequel to a petition by Ibrahim Bapetel, Action Congress, AC, gubernatorial candidate in the April 2007 election. Bapetel had complained that he was illegally excluded from the election by INEC.
Nyako had in the re-run election on Saturday, April 26, polled 361,729 votes to beat his closest rival Bapetal who polled 201,765. Abdul Bulama, resident electoral commissioner for Adamawa State who doubled as the chief returning officer declared Nyako as duly elected on Sunday, April 27. He said Nyako won the election in the 21 local government areas in the state.
Speaking immediately after being sworn-in, Nyako called on all opposing political parties to join him in a unity government in the concerted efforts to develop the state. He said he was poised to transform Adamawa State which to him is the second most backward state in the North-East in particular and the country at large.
He promised that his administration would operate on open door policy, and promote the spirit of love among the various ethnic and religious groups with a view to integrating them for rapid socio-economic transformation of the entire state.
Nyako advised indigenes of the state to establish a network that would woo investors to the state, rather than thinking of contracts, that they would corner from the state government. He added that his administration would be fair and just to all people of the state, promising that there would be no deliberate decision taken to victimise anybody based on party affiliation.
While calling on the opposition to join hands with him to move the state forward, the governor expressed his commitment to correcting the mistakes of the past and to change the outlook of governance.
Nyako expressed his readiness to improve the living conditions of the people in the state through the provision of social amenities, promising to engage the youth in productive ventures. He commended the electorate for their courageous step in giving him back the mandate he had earlier lost to the election petition tribunal and the Court of Appeal, Jos, and enjoined the Adamawa populace to continue to support his administration to enable him deliver the much need democracy dividends.
Nyako pledged his determination to promote complementary relationship with all arms of government to enhance the rapid development of the state.
In his remarks, James Barka, speaker of the state House of Assembly who acted as the governor of the state before the re-run election expressed gratitude to God for giving him the opportunity and courage to piloting the affairs of the state, describing the intricacies of governance as very challenging.
He said that his greatest achievement was that he relinquished power in peace. According to Barka, but for the courageous step his administration took, the opposition was prepared to destabilise the state.
Action Congress, the main opposition party in state rejected and dismissed the declaration of Nyako as the winner of the re-run election. Bapetel had in a press statement shortly after the result was announced his rejection of the results on two grounds. The first ground, according to him, was because ballot papers for the election were designed to disenfranchise AC supporters. He said INEC presented voters with ballot papers that were clearly designed to put AC in jeopardy. "The ballot paper was designed in such a way that many voters who thought they were voting for the AC ended up thumb-printing on the edge of the slot of the MRDD, a party that had no candidate in the election. Besides, many of the snatched ballot papers were thumb-printed for the MRDD to create the impression that the election was decided by voided votes. These explain the unprecedented high number of invalid votes in the election. Never in the history of elections in Nigeria have we had about 20 percent of the votes returned as invalid," Bapetel said.
The second reason for the rejection of the result, the AC candidate said was violence that characterised the election in most parts of the state. He said ballot boxes were snatched and stuffed by PDP agents while security officials looked the other way while this was being done. In other areas, he said PDP agents openly bought votes while security agents ignored complaints by the AC agents. In the northern part of the state, Bapetel alleged that voting did not hold in the mountainous areas while PDP hijacked ballot papers and wrote the result as the party, PDP wished.
As a result of these irregularities, the AC candidate said his party believed that the election was designed to be won by PDP. However, he said that the party decided not to challenge this false result and declaration of Nyako as the governor-elect in the tribunal again. This action was informed by what he termed the decision of the PDP to turn the election into a vicious circle and that the AC has decided not to make itself part of this circus any longer.
But John Manassa, the secretary to the State government dismissed the claims by the AC. He told Newswatch that even if the number of votes declared as invalid were added to the total votes polled by AC, the party would have still lost to PDP.
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