A TEST OF POPULARITY 

The Yabo/Shagari poll is a litmus test between APC and PDP, reckons Altine Bello

Democracy has been largely defined as the government of the people, by the people and for the people. 

It is a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.

Going by the above, the important point of these definitions is that democracy is a system of government that is accepted globally as the form of government where the electorate holds sway. They only lend their mandate to their elected representatives.

It’s therefore incumbent to state that Nigeria has been on a democratic path for about 25 uninterrupted years  since 1999. Though a budding democracy, Nigeria is on the right trajectory, with successful civilian to civilian transitions.

 After the 2023 General Elections, winners emerged, and inaugurated, though not without some unpleasant  developments in some parts of the country. Indeed, the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections were conducted on Feb. 25,2023 across Nigeria including Sokoto State. Same was conducted in the Yabo/ Shegari Federal Constituency.

The election in the Federal Constituency on that  significant day was keenly contested by eight political parties. It was however more like a battle between the APC and PDP.

It could also be recalled that Abubakar Umaru of the APC scored 22, 472 votes while Umar Yusuf Yabo of the PDP got 24,792 votes. It was a close race.

During the polls, results from 26 polling units were cancelled due to overvoting and destruction of election materials, with 15,421 registered voters and 14,711 PVCs collected. 

In spite of the above, it was alarming that Umar Yusuf Yabo was declared the winner and was issued with a Certificate of Return by the nation’s electoral umpire, INEC. This was as contained in the letter of the Constituency’s Returning Officer, Prof. Abubakar S. Junaidu, who reportedly announced the result under duress.

It is still pertinent to recall that the candidate of the APC had decried the development, necessitating his application for a review of the declaration of the PDP candidate and the subsequent issuance of the Certificate of Return to him by INEC. His letter to that effect dated 2nd March, 2023, was also duly received and acknowledged by the INEC.

In view of the above, the status of the election was declared as “Supplementary” in the list of the House of Representatives Members-elect, 2023 as released in the portal of INEC.

Preparations for the then April 15,2023 re-run polls were ready by the political parties, but were shocked to hear that the sensitive materials for the re-run polls were not going to be supplied. INEC made this disturbing announcement during its meeting with the political parties on 13th April, 2023.

But the shock was when Umar Yusuf Yabo, the candidate of the PDP was issued with a Certificate of Return by INEC to the effect that he was returned elected. This was on the 15th of April, 2023, which is contrary to the provision of the nation’s electoral laws.

This unfortunate action by INEC drew the anger of many lovers and defenders of democracy. The Yabo/Shagari APC Youths Forum (YSAPCYF) authored an open letter to the National Chairman of INEC demanding an urgent review of the case. The forum was of the opinion that the people of Yabo and Shagari LGAs that make up the Federal Constituency should not be denied or robbed of the opportunity to elect a credible candidate to provide quality representation.

It is an incontestable fact that the forthcoming re-run poll in the Yabo/Shagari Federal Constituency scheduled for Feb. 3, 2024 will be a litmus test between the ruling APC and opposition PDP in the state in less than a year of the new administration of Dr Ahmed Aliyu in Sokoto State. This is sequel to many tangible and intangible factors that will work in favour of the APC and its candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Umaru, aka Danbukari.

So many things will help his election. In less than a year people of Sokoto State have witnessed the existence of a committed and dedicated leadership under Governor Ahmed Aliyu in terms of provision of infrastructural facilities.

Besides, the people of the Yabo/Shagari Federal  constituency were satisfied with the way their people- oriented Representative delivered uncountable dividends of democracy to them during his first four years between 2019 and 2023. Consequently, the Yabo/Shagari constituents are confident that Danbukari will replicate what he did in his first term in the second term. Another pervasive reason is the factor of the APC political leader, Sarkin Yamman Sokoto, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, and the fact that all the 26 affected poling units fall in the APC-dominated communities.

Wamakko as the Governor of Sokoto State provided  infrastructure, human capital development, social welfare packages and empowered all classes of the people of the state.

The forthcoming re-run poll is certainly a contest between a father of the state and accomplished leader. and an absentee PDP-leader who has abandoned his folks. 

  Bello writes from Sokoto