Barrister Muhammed Bello Mustapha’s joy knew no bounds when he was declared as winner of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) governorship primaries in Taraba State held between February 11 and 12. He is a relatively unknown quantity in Taraba’s political scene.
Alas it turned out to be a pyrrhic victory! Hardly had the footsteps of political well wishers who visited to felicitate with Mustapha over his victory at the CPC governorship primary faded away than the Lawyer turned politician realised that his victory song was a mere tune lacking in staccato. Soon after Mustapha’s declaration, his co contestant for the ticket, Chief Ezekiel Irmiya Afukonyo, cried foul; alleging the polls were inconclusive.
Afukonyo chronicled what he termed to be his dissatisfaction with the outcome of the primary election through a petition and forwarded it to a panel set up by the party in the State to look into complaints arising from the conduct of the CPC governorship primary election in Taraba State.
Consequently, Mustapha’s name was substituted with that of Chief Afukonyo who, characteristically, took his turn to roll out the drums in celebration over the transfer of the contentious ticket to him.
Expectedly, an aggrieved Mustapha then headed for an Abuja High Court seeking to restrain the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognizing his opponent as the CPC ticket bearer for Taraba State in the April governorship election. In the suit, Mustapha also prayed the court to compel Afukonyo to stop parading as the governorship candidate of the party in Taraba State.
But if Afukonyo thought that he was the last man standing as far as the Taraba CPC governorship ticket is concerned, then he was wrong. On Wednesday March 10 when the CPC held its Presidential campaign rally in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, Afukonyo watched aghast as the governorship flag was presented to a completely different person.
It was Ahmed Yusuf, hitherto a chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Taraba State whose hand was raised by the CPC’s Presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari as the party’s governorship flag bearer for the North-East State.
Yusuf, a man with a legendary reputation for political craftsmanship in Taraba State, was said to have “sneaked” into the CPC after failing to secure the ACN governorship ticket which was “grabbed” by Senator Joel Ikenya, representing Taraba South at the upper House. Ikenya had opted out of the PDP in search of an alternative platform to challenge incumbent governor, Danbaba Suntai…
Basking in the euphoria of his ‘victory’ as the “brand new” standard bearer of the CPC governorship ticket in Taraba State, Yusuf explained how he got the ticket even without participating in the primaries.
Hear him: “I became the ACN governorship candidate for Taraba State by way of substitution. You know that substitution is allowed and there are procedures to be followed in substituting a candidate and there is no problem at all as to the circumstances that led to my substitution as the CPC governorship candidate for Taraba.”
He further said: “If there is substitution you have to find out whether it falls within the provisions of the Electoral Act. For instance, if there is voluntary withdrawal or in the event of death of a candidate. But like I said earlier, I don’t want to be talking about details; these are things that you can find out either from the party or INEC. It would be self serving for me to say this is what happened. I am not saying I don’t know what happened but it is better to hear it from the Horse’s mouth. All I can tell you is that we have fulfilled all the requirements for the substitution; the party, the candidate and INEC.”
Even though Yusuf’s name is among the list of candidates released by INEC, there are fears that he may not be the last man standing as far as the contentious Taraba CPC governorship ticket is concerned. While Mustapha is still in court challenging the earlier declaration of Chief Afukonyo as the flag bearer, the latter has now petitioned the INEC, alleging that his purported substitution with Ahmed Yusuf was illegal.
“The Electoral Act has clearly spelt out the procedures of substituting a candidate. One of the conditions is either when the candidate is dead or incapacitated or voluntarily seeks to withdraw his candidature. In my own case I am alive and I cannot die now. So I want to state clearly that my purported substation is an exercise in illegality and the so called substituted candidate is just parading himself”, Afukonyo said.
While vowing to follow constitutional means to ensure that he retrieves his ticket from Yusuf, Afukonyo said: “We have a man of integrity heading INEC, Professor Jega. He certainly will not succumb to illegality. More so the Electoral Act is quite clear that once the name of a candidate is already submitted to INEC it is no longer within the purview of the political party again. The time given for parties to effect substitutions and withdrawals of candidates, if any, had lapsed. So why should they go to INEC and substitute my name with someone else who is not even a registered member of the party? So the party has a right to substitute but there is a procedure that was not followed and the time provided for such a substation had lapsed.”
Given the cloud of uncertainty that has now suffused the Taraba political landscape over the CPC governorship ticket; many analysts believe that it is not yet Uhuru for Ahmed Yusuf who has since commenced his campaigns across Taraba State ahead of the April polls.
By press time, the case brought against Chief Afukonyo by Mustapha had been transferred from the Abuja High Court where it was initially instituted to the Federal High Court in Yola where judgement was being expected.
As supporters of the contending candidates of the CPC governorship ticket in Taraba State await the outcome of the case in Yola on one hand; and as Chief Afukonyo await the determination of his petition on “wrongful substation” by INEC, the big question remains: who among Mustapha, Afukonyo and Yusuf would be the last man standing as far as the disputed CPC governorship ticket in Taraba State is concerned?
