Supreme Court: Binani And The Anticlimax Of A Primitive Desperation

By; MODI CHUBADO 

The recent Supreme Court judgment in respect of Adamawa State governorship tussle has finally shot down the kite of primitive desperation flown for too long by the self styled governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aishatu Binani who thought the Supreme Court is a playground of election manipulators and power merchants.

The judgment has shown that the Supreme Court is not an enclave for antidemocratic vampires ostensibly cloaked in democratic attires to attain their tenuous, capricious and selfish political agenda. 

The verdict also marked the thunderous fall of a woman with insatiable appetite for power and unbridled arrogance who think with a political mileage attained on the alter of gender and a huge war chest at her beck and call, anyone including the temple of justice could be compromised.

But alas, she has come to learn albeit with profound regrets that not everything that glitters is gold, although that realization must have come belatedly having wasted significant resources and man hour in a wild goose chase.

Although one must appreciate the courage of the political amazon for her audacity to venture into a male dominated arena where women usually take the back seat, some of her actions before, during and after the governorship election are real barriers to the emancipation of true and egalitarian democracy.

It beats one's imagination that in the pursuit of power, Binani, the exponent of "Wujja Wujja" school of thought announced her readiness to occupy the Dougirei seat of power by hook or crook even if it means getting power through the backdoor.

If you think that pronouncement was a joke, then a shocker awaits you. A number of people were dazed beyond comprehension to realize that what the woman said was not a mere ruse as she walked her talk by becoming a willing party to a brazen daylight democratic coup contrived by the rogue Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barr Hudu Ari who seemed to have perfected a script to announce Binani as the winner of the highly disputed election at a time when collation of results was still ongoing.

As if by the sleight of the hand, Binani as a willing partner in the electoral heist without self introspection, delivered an acceptance speech and thereby giving her stamp of authority to an election that was neither concluded nor conducted in tandem with electoral laws.

Only the peak of desperation could make a woman to accept an election in which the result of 10 out of the 21 local government areas were yet to be announced. Only desperation will make a candidate to accept a governorship election declared by the REC not the state returning officer.

The active role played by Binani was the singular reason why Adamawa governorship election assumed notoriety in lawlessness and made it the most controversial election in Nigeria's democratic history and a reference point in odium and travesty.

In her democratic journey, Binani has contested several elections from 2011 to 2023. With the exception of the one in 2023 which she, in cahoots with the REC and some willing security agents bastardized, none of the results of the other contests she was involved in was declared when collation was ongoing. By accepting such a discredited process, Binani portrayed herself as a model for double standards and political opportunism.

My surprise in all this is the audacity of Binani who is not new to electoral contest to think it is expedient in 2023 governorship election to change the goal post midway into the competition. I'm even more surprised that Binani and her honchos became so much emboldened to the extent of thinking that they would ram their phantom delusions and crass disrespect for constitutionality down our throats, believing that the court will ratify the illegal action and quash Fintiri's election based on Hudu's obtuse, infernal and illegal pronouncement.

In her rather self styled and injurious political brinkmanship, Binani inflicted more political damage than good to her beleaguered integrity. How a woman who practiced politics of bitterness would want support of others in her hour of needs beats my imagination! There are copious examples of such follies. For instance, Binani and her political acolytes will always blame Malam Nuhu Ribadu for their woes but the same band will always relish and celebrate Ribadu's political adversities and yet think Ribadu must come to their rescue in their hour of needs.

In the build up to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's key appointments, the Binani's honchos made Nuhu Ribadu the butt of lurid and coarse jokes when president Bola Tinubu appointed him as SA on security. They celebrated, wined and dined over what they perceived as the humiliation of Ribadu by Tinubu, yet the same Binani in her delusions believed that Ribadu must support her in her hour of need.

In the same vein, Binani blatantly refused to rejoice with Ribadu when he was appointed the NSA, she also refused to felicitate with the Minister of Education, Professor Mamman Tahir and even the new APC chairman in Adamawa State and yet she still envisaged these people to come to her rescue at her hour of needs. But despite her open belligerence to them, she still expect a pat on the back from them and thinks such expectation is not looking for too much from them.

Another misrepresentation that has reigned supreme in the Binani camp is the widely acclaimed myth that Ribadu used his vantage position (sic) to frustrate Binani's legal suit. It will be apt to lecture Binani and her undiscerning followers here. In 2019, Governor Muhammadu Umaru Jibrilla Bindow as the sitting governor contested against Fintiri, yet he was defeated at the polls despite the fact that the former first lady, Aisha Buhari, the minister of FCT as well as many other appointees hail from Adamawa.

Bindow and APC lost their legal battles to supplant Fintiri despite the federal might of the APC government as well as the presence of highly placed federal government appointees from the state. Bindow and APC lost all their cases from Tribunal to the supreme court. Was Ribadu responsible for Bindow's electoral and litigation misfortunes in 2019?

Just recently, the Supreme Court declared Eng Abba Kabir Yusuf of NNPP as the duly elected governor of Kano State despite the fact that the national chairman of the APC and two ministers hail from Kano. In addition to that, APC emerged winner at both the tribunal and court of appeal judgements, yet I didn't hear Kano APC blame Ribadu for their legal misfortunes.

If the Supreme Court has reasons to nullify the victory of APC in Kano, it has more compelling reasons not to allow the daylight democratic coup that took place in Adamawa State to stand because that will serve as the premise upon which other rogue RECs will usurp the powers of Returning Officers and declare election outcomes even when the process is not completed in the future.

It is for that singular reason that former president Muhammadu Buhari and INEC ordered the immediate suspension and prosecution of the rogue REC for bringing the electoral process to a new low. In the same stead, the NTA has to pull down the broadcast of Binani's acceptance speech which has already gone viral while some of the staff were queried for alleged conspiracy in the sordid development. It is also the reason why the illegality hoisted by Hudu was condemned even by local and international election observers.

Binani should stop thinking that getting away with over voting which she hoisted during party primaries at the appeal court doesn't give her the assurance that she will survive another illegality at the supreme court. Instead of falsely accusing others for her misfortunes, Binani should do herself good by looking at the mirror to see the real person behind her political ordeals.

Chubado, writes from Yola.