Nigeria: Mixed reaction as S/Court throws out Sylva’s suit against PDP

Mixed reactions yesterday trailed the Supreme Court’s  decision upholding the nomination of Seriake Dickson as the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for Bayelsa State in the February 11, 2012  governorship election won by the incumbent governor, Mr Seriake Dickson in the state, saying that the nomination of candidates for elective positions were exclusive preserves of political parties. In its judgement delivered by Justice John Fabiyi, the apex court further dismissed the ex-governor’s cross appeal which prayed for an order of the court for his suit to be heard at the Federal High Court for it lacks merit.
The court maintained that the fact that the Sylva paied N5.5million, presented himself to the Screening Committee of his party, and campaigned extensively for the fresh primary elections fixed by his party for November 19, 2011, to choose its candidate to stand for governor of Bayelsa in elections fixed for February 12, 2012, indicated that he had abandoned the results of the primaries he won in January 2011.
“Furthermore, the primaries that the 1st respondent (Sylva) won in 2011 fades into insignificance since the elections for which the said primaries was conducted were cancelled.
“The 1st respondent (Sylva) won the primaries conducted in January 2011 and his name forwarded to PDP as the PDP’s candidate for the elections slated for April 2011. With the cancellation of theWith the cancellation of the elections of April 2011, the primaries conducted in January 2011, is no more of any relevance.
“INEC has the sole responsibility to fix dates for elections, and to my mind if INEC fixes a date for elections and for whatever reason, be it logistic, I do not think anyone has a cause of action against INEC for cancelling an election (not held) and rescheduling elections for another day.
“Furthermore, INEC fixed the elections for April 2011 on its understanding that the 1st appellants term would end in 28/5/11, but with the court’s judgment that 1st appellant tenure would end on 18/5/12, the need to cancel elections for April 2011 was justified.
“Courts in Nigeria do not have jurisdiction to question the nomination and sponsorship of a candidate for election,” the court said.
Apart from upholding the nomination, the Supreme Court also unanimously upheld the PDP’s appeal which challenged the decision by the Court of Appeal over the former Governor Chief Timiprey Sylva’s suit against Dickson’s nomination.“In sum, the 1st respondent is/was no longer the PDP’s candidate for gubernatorial elections held on 12/2/12 simply because he did not take part in the primaries for that election which was held on 19/11/11.
“Since the general elections fixed for April 2011 were cancelled by INEC, the provisions of section 33 and 35 of the Electoral Act are no longer applicable. With the cancellation of the general elections, primaries held In January 2011 are irrelevant for determining PDP’s candidate for governor of Bayelsa state,” the court held.
Meanwhile, the apex court yesterday, insisted that the case of Sylva was clearly distinct from the decided case-law in Amaechi v. INEC, emphasizing that whereas Governor Ameachi contested the primaries and won, but was barred from contesting the general elections, his party, the PDP was unable to give cogent and verifiable reasons why he was not allowed to contest the election.
It noted that in the instant case, “Sylva contested primaries in January 2011 for a general election fixed for April 2011. The general election was cancelled. Fresh primaries were fixed by this party, but he was not allowed to contest.
“There is thus no similarity in Ameachi case and this case. In Amaechi’s case, he was barred from contesting the general election. In this case Governor Sylva was barred from contesting primaries of his party.”
However, former governor Sylva has reacted to the judgement, describing it as not only injustice but ‘’a dark moment,’’ for the nation’s democracy and justice system in the country. Sylva also cursed those involved in scuttling his ambition to run for his second term in office, adding that, ‘’Everyone involved in the Bayelsa State governorship matter shall still face the judgment of history and the judgment of God. Neither history nor God will condone impunity” even as his successor, Seriake Dickson praised the Judiciary for being the last hope of the common man.
According to Dickson, “By this judgment today (yesterday), the Judiciary has once again demonstrated its relevance as the pillar of democracy. We commend the judiciary for upholding the essence of justice, equity and fairness without which democracy and the political system would be in danger.
“Indeed, today’s judgment is victory for democracy, the good people of Bayelsa State and Ijaw nation. Justice has again been done. We congratulate the PDP and its team of lawyers for their resilience and observance of due legal process which led to this victory.
“We assure you that the trajectory of peace and rapid development which the new government has brought about is guaranteed. We are dedicated to your service and we will not let you down on the delivery of our restoration agenda,’’ Dickson said.
The ex-governor in a statement signed  by his Media Aide, Doifie Ola, however, pointed out despite the set back at by the Supreme Court judgement, he remained optimistic that his future political carrear was bright just as he accepted the judgement of the apex court as a democrat.
The statement read, ‘’As a democrat, Chief Timipre Sylva accepts today’s (yesterday’s) ruling of the Supreme Court. He however considers the decision of the apex court as dark moment for democracy and justice in Nigeria.
’’Sylva believes today’s ruling is only the judgement of man and, certainly, not justice, (of God). He says after this, everyone involved in the Bayelsa State governorship matter shall still face the judgement of history and the judgement of God. Neither history nor God will condone impunity.
‘’Sylva thanks his teeming followers in Bayelsa State and lovers of democracy across Nigeria and beyond, especially, in Bayelsa State, who held out despite intimidation, threats, and pressure to abandon the part of democracy and justice.
’’He extends his special gratitude to members of the Bayelsa State caucus of the National Assembly, who stood firm on democracy, as well as members of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, seniors citizens from across the country, and all his supporters. He commends the media and the human rights community for speaking out on the side of truth and justice.
‘’Sylva remains confident that he still has a long and bright political career ahead of him.”
However, Governor Seriake in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson said, “We want to caution all politicians in the state to face issues of leadership and governance and eschew political divisions and rancor. And above all, they should not play politics with the Judiciary.
“To the citizens, we enjoin them not to fall to the antics of those who have misused state resources and public power as well as those who are desperate for power at all cost, who now resort to misinformation and propaganda to create instability and to distract us from pursuing our restoration agenda.”
It is a victory for democracy—ACN National Youth Leader
The National Youth Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Comrade Ebikibina Miriki has also described the apex court’s verdict as a welcome development
But a resident of Yenagoa who simply identified himself as Daukore told Saturday Vanguard, “if you look around town you will discover that the ordinary folks are not concerned about the court. What the masses want is good governance and infrastructural development. It is our expectation that since this matter has been finally put to rest, Governor Seriake Dickson will go full blast on his restoration agenda for the state. We want to see Yenagoa, the state turned into a huge construction yard.”

Nigeria: Emotions flow as Benue 22 are laid to rest

Tears flowed freely yesterday at Adamgbe, Mbayongo in Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue State as the remains of the 22 worshippers who were crushed to death when the aged building of St. Roberts Catholic Church collapsed on parishioners in an Easter eve (April 8), church service were laid to rest at a mass burial.
The huge crowd that witnessed the burial were made of parishioners of the Catholic Diocese of  Makurdi thronged Adamgbe as early as 5am to participate in the service and also bid farewell to their dead members, mainly women and children.
The requiem service for the deacesd and final burial ceremony which were held in an open air service within the premises of the ill fated church was conducted by the Auxiliary Bishop of  Makurdi Catholic Diocese, Most Reverend William Avenya.
The Bishop who was assisted by over 200 Catholic Priests and Reverend Sisters took his reading from the chapters of the Bible John 11 (44) where Jesus Christ raised Lazarous from the dead and urged Christians to hold firmly to the promises and dictates of Christ so as to resurrect with Christ on the last day.
While consoling the bereaved families, Bishop Avenya implored them to take solace in the fact that all humans would some day return to their creator.
He urged all Christians to live in peace and love their neighbors adding that the race for heaven could not be won by those who engage in evil in total negation of the dictates of the word of God.
“As Christians, we must learn to live in peace and love, knowing fully well that we shall some day go back to our creator with an account of how we lived our lives on earth”, the Bishop counseled.
Earlier in his funeral oration, Governor Gabriel Suswam said that Friday, April 20, 2012 would remain indelible in the memory of all Benue indigenes, as it had become a watershed in the history of the state.
Represented by his Deputy, Chief Steven Lawani, the Governor said “Today (yesterday) is a day we will always remember because it is a day we committed to mother earth 22 of our indigenes who lost their lives while in a Church service were they had gone to pray for the peace and development of our dear state”.
He recalled the global shock and disbelief that greeted the tragic collapse of the church and the death of worshippers at the Easter Eve service adding “We could not hold ourselves when the news got to us in Makurdi, and when we got here to see things for ourselves we could not hold back tears.”
Suswam urged the bereaved families to take solace in the fact that those who died in the disaster lost their lives on Easter day when the world was celebrating the victory of Christ over death. ”What this symbolizes is that though these people died, their death was onto glory”.
The Governor then announced that the Federal Government has undertaken to rebuild the collapsed  church building and pledged  that his administration would immediately embark on the provision of social amenities for the people of the community.
Suswam further said, “The Federal government has undertaken to reconstruct the church for the community and the state government would assist in that regard.
”This unfortunate incident has opened up this community to a lot of visitors and it has also drawn government’s attention to its lack of social amenities and I assure you that we are moving into this community immediately to address these challenges.”
In her condolence message on the occasion, the wife of Benue State Governor, Mrs. Yemisi Suswam who lamented the devastation urged the bereaved families to take solace in the fact that those who died in the tragedy did so in the house of God.
Mrs Suswam later donated food stuff and relief material to the bereaved families after meeting with the Catholic Women Organization, CWO, saying that the devastation had provided every Benue son and daughter a rallying point.
”This incident has provided a rallying point for Christians. And it has also elicited a massage of hope love and unity among the people. This incident has attracted attention from all socio-ethnic divisions across the state. It is time for us all to show love. Let there be unity among the various ethnic groups in our state”.
“This unfortunate incident has also provided a platform for political unity in our state, let us capitalize on this to also bury our political differences. We must come together to show love to everyone irrespective of religion or political inclination”, she said.
Meanwhile as the corpses of the 22 victims were lowered  to their graves at about 1:45pm.  Saturday Vanguard spoke to some of the bereaved who never ceased to weep and wail as the remains their loved ones were being laid to rest, just about 50 meters from the building were they met their untimely death.
Juliana Iortim who lost her daughter in- law and grand child in the tragedy said her late daughter in law left behind two other children. She said the death has cost her so much grief as she also lost her son not too long ago, pointing out that she had been left to cater for the surviving children without any source of income.
In their reaction, Raymond Terkimbi Ageshi and his wife, Priscilla, who also lost their two year old daughter in the disaster said the incident was still like a dream to them.
According to Agishi, his wife witnessed the death of theier child whom she said died instantly when part of the collapsing roof crashed on her.
He said his wife had not been eating regularly since then but added with consolations and persuasion by men of God, she was gradually overcoming the shock.
Mores, Mathias Igbatim, a 33 year old secondary school leaver, who said his mother died during the incident, said he could not believe his eyes when he arrived the church and saw her mother lying dead.
Igbatim said eyewitnesses told him that the roof of the church hit his late mother on her chest and head causing her instant death.
He said the death has caused him so much trauma even as he thanked both the state government and the Catholic Church for ensuring that the victims of the incident were accorded befitting burial.