By; ADAMA JOHN, Lokoja
The Kogi State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) have again locked horns in a battle of wits this time over an alleged attack on the Secretary of the Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal, Mr. David Mike.
The attack of the two parties this time around was inspired by SDP’s allegation that there was an attack on the Election Secretary on Monday by hired political thugs in down town Lokoja.
A statement issued yesterday by J.S.Okutepa SAN and counsel to SDP, stated that at the time the attack occurred, the Secretary was with copies of the election petition filed on 2/12/2023 by the legal team of Alhaji Murtala Yakubu and the SDP.
He alleged that some very uninformed and political miscreants who can accept to do any dirty jobs just for peanuts went to town in the name of an amorphous NGO that claimed to be non partisan and non political to misinform the public that SDP and its candidate did not file petition within time.
“As a legal practitioner on the legal team that prepared and filed the petition, I did not see any sense in the sponsored press statement issued by these legal gentlemen if indeed they are lawyers. They should have known better”, he said.
He expressed fears that the desperation being exhibited by some politicians in Kogi State are afraid of allowing the conduct of the so called election of 11/11/2023 to be judiciously examined.
“These anti democratic forces and agents of darkness have done everything since after that election to stop the examination of the said election”, he opined.
“The said petition”, he said, “was filed on 2/12/2023 with No: EPT/KG/Gov/03/2023 and was duly received and stamped on 2/12/2023 and certified by Mr U. D. Mike on the said date”.
According to him, “by the provisions of Section 285(5) of 1999, election petitions are to be filed within 21 days after the date of the declaration of the result of the election”.
But to APC stalwarts in Kogi, “the alleged attack has “exposed SDP to its own atrocities against democracy”
This was epitomised in a statement issued by the Director, Media and Publicity of the APC campaign council, Kingsley Fanwo who doubles as the Commissioner for Information and Communication, stressing that the alleged attack was nothing but desperate moves by the SDP in Kogi State and ethnic jingoists to paint the state unsafe by orchestrating supposed attacks on the Secretary of the Tribunal, Mr Mike David.
He alleged that the move was, “to cover up their already exposed plans of filing a petition against the November 11 election outside the period allowed under the Electoral Act”.
Fanwo said that the alleged attack was “concocted lies and warped strategy of the SDP, as the purported attack on the Tribunal Secretary was said to have occurred on the day their dubious and anti-democratic plan was exposed”.
“Why was he not attacked before the midnight of December 3, 2023 when the 21 days window closed? Why is the SDP the first to know about the purported attack? How did they know that he was working on their so-called petition at the time he was allegedly attacked?
More surprising to the Commissioner is, “Why has the SDP turned themselves into the advocates for the Secretary?
“The public”, he said, “cannot be misled adding that the people know exactly what is happening in the state”.
