Kogi: Tribunal Secretary has compromised-Group alleges

A political cum economic pressure group under the auspices of Project Kogi Development, PKD, has called for the immediate sack of the tribunal secretary for the November 11 Kogi State Governorship election David Umar Mike.

Our Kogi State Correspondent, reports that the group who noted that, the embattled tribunal Secretary has been heavily compromised in his duty disclosed that, his claims that the opposition Social Democratic Party, (SDP) filed petition before the expiration of the legally provided window was not only found to be false, but very bias.

Addressing a press conference in Lokoja on Thursday, President of PKD Kamal Toyin stated that the tribunal Secretary whose watchword should be neutrality has been found wanting for allegedly supporting the SDP Governorship Candidate Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka for his own selfish interest.

According to Toyin, "A lot of things are not adding up in his story. Why did only the SD? know he was at the working on their purported petition as at the time of his alleged attack? Assuming but not conceding to the fact that he was treating their petition as claimed, what was a petition doing in a private residence of a Secretary when there is a Registry to transact such administrative business?

" Why was he treating a petition he claimed he received on Saturday on a Monday night? What was he doing on Saturday and Sunday? As far as we are concerned, the Secretary has turned himself to the Secretary of the SDF and not an unbiased Panel. 

"He has become a compromised interested party doing the dirty bidding of the SDP and its violent group work. The Secretary forgot the fact that the world has become very technical and confirmation of payment via Remita is just a click away. 

"All the material facts before us is that no payment was done via the Remita platform by the SDP before the expiration of the legally stipulated filing period. He can be compromised but he can't compromise Remita.

Toyin criticized the decision of the appeal Court President to move the tribunal sitting from Lokoja to Abuja, stating that, it was a bias measure to protect corruption. 

Continuing, Toyin said "The President of the Court of Appeal should have launched a thorough investigation into the allegations against the Secretary before moving the Panel to Abuja. 

"We want all parties to know that we shall continue to monitor proceedings and expose any act of corruption around what is happening in Kogi State.

"The Panel had been sitting in Lokoja without any form of insecurity. What the nate Secretary of the Panel also claimed to be an attack wasn't reported to have happened at the sitting of the Panel. Who gave the security advice to relocate the Panel? What was the rationale behind the relocation?

"As far as we are concerned and according to the provision of Section 134 of the Electoral Act, the SDP has no petition before the Panel. The party might have a petition with the Secretary which was given to him, ostensibly on Monday 4th December, 2023. We believe the President of the Court of Appeal and the CJN will be honorable enough to do what is fair, just and legal.

The group also queried the Nigeria Police Force, and the Department of State Services, (DSS) over their continuous silence on the activities of the SDP Governorship candidate since the announcement of the November 11 Governorship election, stressing that, his utterances and actions are dangerous to the peace and unity of Kogi State.

He said "His statement that a particular ethnic group is a common enemy is an invitation to crisis and breach of peace. It was reckless and unexpected of a person who was nursing the dream of leading a state like Kogi State.

" We witnessed the killing of an innocent lady in Kotonkarfe when Muritala Yakubu Ajaka went to Kotonkarfe to campaign. Till date, the Police have refused to arrest Muritala Yakubu Ajaka and his dangerous group for the dastardly act. During the election, a person identified as a member of the All Progressives Congress was gruesomely murdered for his political belief.

"It is a thing of concern to Project Kogi Development that since the declaration of the election results, the peace of the state has been threatened by those who lost the election. We also discovered that the attack on the residence of the Residence Electoral Commissioner followed a declaration by the SDP that they have no confidence in him. Was it that they decided to attack him and possibly eliminate him?

"Our worry has been that from the Okwo saga to the killing at Kotonkarfe and the attack on the home of the REC, the Police and the DSS have failed to arrest the perpetrators.

"There must be something the two agencies are hiding from us. Is Muritala Yakubu Ajaka above the law? Does he enjoy immunity by virtue of his status as an aspirant? The Police and the DSS have a lot to tell Kogites on why they are shielding Muritala Yakubu Ajaka from arrest despite all the atroctiies traced to him and his men".

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