Zamfara Governor Bello Matawalle Risks Contempt Of Court

By A.O OTITOJU Ph.D

FOLLOWING A WIDELY CIRCULATED REPORT IN THE Daily trust newspaper on Friday the 2^nd of April 2021 CAPTIONED “APC EXTENDS REGISTRATION AS MATAWALLA SET TO JOIN PARTY”, this gives us the impetus to review the circumstance that lead to the emergence of the present Governor of Zamfara  state Bello Matawalle, and to unequivocally state the likely consequence of his intending action.

It is worthy of note that for any person to emerge as governor of a state apart from the court ordered Governor, the returning officers after the collation of results will announce to the public that “Mr  K  having  pulled the highest number of votes cast in the gubernatorial election and  having satisfied the  law is hereby returned  winner of the election”.

Curiously that was not the case of the present Governor of Zamfara state, Bello Matawalle. His situation is so peculiar as he was returned by the judgment of the Supreme Court in suit SC/377/2019 wherein the Supreme Court declared that the All Progressive Congress, which the Governor is proposing to join did not to hold a valid primary election and in turn sacked all the candidates put forward by the APC. For this reason, all candidates put forward by the APC were invalidated by the judgment of the Supreme Court including their Governorship candidate at the time. The Supreme Court held that APC could not have won any election in Zamfara State including the post for the Governor of Zamfara state. The Judgement of the Supreme Court meant that Gov. Bello Matawalle who is the candidate of the PDP who pulled the second highest number of votes in the election was declared winner by the Supreme Court; Since APC failed to fulfill the combined provisions of Section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, and section 31 of the Electoral Act.

Section 177 ( c)   stipulates that for a candidate to contest for election he must be a member of political party and must be sponsored by that political party, section 31 of the Electoral Act also ensures that  political parties must conduct primary election and the person who wins the primary election is sponsored by the Political Party to participate in the General Election. This situation was absent in Zamfara State in the last election for APC thereby robbing them the opportunity to hold any political position in Zamfara state.

The Supreme Court sacked all the APC seats won during the 2019 general

Election not just for fun but for the purpose of keeping to the tenet of the law; the proposed intention of Governor Bello Matawalle to defect right now will undermine the decision of the Supreme Court which he has benefited from, he must be seen to ensure the complete satisfaction of the judgment rather than frolicking with judicial pronouncements or trying to castrate the order of the Apex court.

Interestingly, Governor Matawalle benefitted from the judgment of the Supreme Court as he was the candidate that was second in the poll during the last General Election held in 2019. Having enjoyed the benefit of the judgment he must not be seen to invalidate the judgment by his action or his proposed intention to join the APC that the supreme court had already sacked from occupying any political posts in Zamfara for a period of four years.

The Learned Justice of the Apex court, Justice Paul Adamu Galumje, JSC did not mince his words when he declared as follows  that   “for avoidance of doubt  a party that has no candidate in an election cannot be declared the winner of the election , this being so the votes credited to the alleged candidates of the 1^st appellant  in the 2019 general election in Zamfara are wasted votes for that reason it is hereby ordered that candidates of parties other than the 1^st appellant with the highest votes and the required spread stand elected into the various offices that were contested for in Zamfara state in the 2019 general election”

The compelling question judging from above is why would Gov. Matawalle want to invalidate and castrate the judgment by defecting from his Political Party the PDP to the All Progressive Congress which the Supreme Court has Sacked for a period of 4 years? It is also worthy to note that Section 180 of the 1999 Constitution settled the tenure of office of the Governor and puts it at 4 years fixed term. What it means is that for the period of 2019 to 2023 Gov. Bello Matawalle and any other candidate that occupies the sacked seats of APC candidates must remain there with their party affiliation till the end of that tenure.

It therefore follows that any attempt by the Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle to defect from the PDP to APC will not only be contemptuous of the Judgment of the Supreme Court which gave his party PDP the seat  but it would also mean that he resign from the seat for the next in line according to the provisions of the Constitution which in this case is the Deputy Governor.

It is clear that by the decision of the Supreme Court the APC is forbidden from seating in any of the contested seat during the last general election, therefore any attempt of the governor to circumvent the judgment of the supreme court by defecting to APC is contemptuous.

In summary the proposed actions of Gov. Matawalle could result in at least four grievous consequences:

1. It would be seen as gravely contemptuous and way of frustrating and castrating the apt Judgment of the Supreme Court in Suit SC.377/2019.
2. It would most likely lead to Gov. Matawalle losing his office and going by the provisions of Section 191(1) of 1999 Constitution as amended, the office becomes that of the Deputy Governor Should he remain with the PDP. However, should Gov. Matawalle defect together with his Deputy, then in line with Section 191(3) the office passes to the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
3. Any attempts by the Governor of Zamfara State, with his other colleagues, to defect from the PDP to APC will not only be contemptuous of the judgment of the Supreme Court but will also mean that he resigns from the seat for a bye election to be conducted.
4. Also, as a party that has invalidated and castrated the judgment of the Apex Court which made him Governor, Governor Matawalle could be made to refund all the benefits he has enjoyed on the basis of this judgment which he is now seeking to invalidate.

It is strongly advised that in order for the Zamfara State Governor not to open a potential can of worms through his actions, it is best that he remains with the PDP in compliance with the Judgment of the Supreme Court in Suit SC.377/2019.

Written By A.O OTITOJU Ph.D