Few hours from now, 2019 will be
over. The year has been very eventful, full of intrigues, suspense and
debacles. Being a political year made it more exciting as several heavyweights
in the political arena were deflated and rendered useless.
There were many debacles in 2019.
Some bigwigs aspiring for greatness suddenly met their Waterloo. They become
the biggest losers of the outgoing year. These are:
I. Atiku Abubakar
Former Vice President, Atiku
Abubakar appears to be the biggest loser of 2019. Atiku, who was one of those
instrumental for the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, suddenly
quit the All Progressives Congress, APC, and returned to the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, where he launched his presidential ambition to unseat the
incumbent, Buhari. He was so sure of winning, especially when the masses were
disenchanted with the Buhari’s government. The APC’s campaign slogan hammered
on Atiku’s ‘corruptness’ to persuade Nigerians not to vote him. The former Vice
President was dubbed not being able to travel to US, but somehow, he did go to
the US to the consternation of all.
The election was held on 23
February, 2019. Buhari was re-elected for a second time after defeating Atiku.
Buhari won by polling 15,191,847 of the total votes cast while Atiku gained
11,262,978 votes, an astonishing victory margin of 3,928,869 votes. Atiku
rejected the outcome of the election and challenged Buhari at the Presidential
Election Tribunal. Atiku’s hope was hinged on a so called ‘INEC server’, which
electoral results were transmitted, declaring him winner. He was embarrassed at
the Tribunal as his star witness said he had never seen the server, but was
told of its existence. The tribunal struck out all of Atiku’s appeal and
declared Buhari duly elected. The five-man panel of the tribunal, chaired by
Justice Mohammed Garba unanimously agreed that Buhari was duly elected.
Not satisfied, Atiku approached
the Supreme Court for redress. On October 30, the Supreme Court dismissed
appeal challenging Buhari’s victory at the Feb.23 general election. Delivery
judgment, Justice Tanko Mohammad, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) led other
six justices to unanimously dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit.
“We have examined all the briefs
and exhibits for over two weeks and we have agreed that there is no merit in
this appeal. The appeal is hereby dismissed and reasons for our decision would
be given on a date to be announced,” Mohammad held.
The Supreme Court’s judgment
sealed Atiku’s fate, capping a horrendous 2019 for him. He is by far the
biggest loser of 2019.
2. Bukola Saraki
Former Senate President, Bukola
Saraki certainly had a bad year. He was soaring before the February 23 general
election. He had in the previous year led a ‘rebel’ group out of the APC to the
PDP. He was dubbed the king of Kwara politics and had remained invincible. From
the pinnacle of success, he was brought low in 2019 as he lost election to
retain his seat in the Senate from Kwara Central on the platform of PDP. Saraki
lost to Dr. Oloriegbe of the APC. Oloriegbe polled a total of 123,808 votes to
defeat the Senate President who scored 68,994 votes in the four local
governments of Kwara Central Senatorial District.
Before the election, Lai Mohammed
and others had ridden on the ‘Otoge’ mantra to root Saraki out of relevance in
Kwara politics. For the first time in decades, the influence of Saraki’s
dynasty was eroded in Kwara State. PDP lost everything to the APC. It was a
clean sweep that swept Saraki out of Kwara politics. He is still reeling from
his loss and has not fully recovered from the reality of the debacle.
3. Dino Melaye
For Dino Melaye, erstwhile
Senator, representing Kogi West Senatorial District at the National Assembly,
2019 is a year that will linger in his memory. It is a year where almost all
things failed to work for him, in fact, he met several Waterloos and debacles
and crowns a calamitous year, as he was dumped out of the Senate.
He had begun 2019 on a promising
note, winning the Senatorial election that made him eligible for a second term
in the upper chamber of the National Assembly. But since then, things began to
degenerate for him. Despite his social media prowess and his garrulousness, he
could not salvage anything for himself in 2019.
The lawmaker, having won a return
to the Senate later lost the position. The Election Tribunal in Lokoja, Kogi
State, nullified Melaye’s election on August 23, 2019. The tribunal ordered a
fresh election to be conducted in the senatorial district. Melaye’s closest
rival, Smart Adeyemi of the APC, had challenged his victory at the tribunal.
With his debacle at the PDP Kogi
governorship primary election, Melaye’s only hope was to ensure that his seat
at the senate did not slip. He had to win the Appeal to remain relevant. But
the sad news came on October 11, 2019, when the Appeal Court affirmed the
decision of the Kogi Election Petition Tribunal nullifying his election.
The court ordered the conduct of
a fresh election in the zone. Melaye was dragged to the tribunal by Adeyemi. In
the now annulled election, Melaye polled 85,395 votes, while Adeyemi scored
66,902 votes. But Adeyemi challenged Melaye’s victory on three grounds of
irregularities, over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act. In a
split judgment, the tribunal annulled the election and ordered another election
in the senatorial district.
In the re-run election held on
November 16, 2019, Adeyemi was leading with a convincing over 20,000 votes when
the election was declared inconclusive and a supplementary election fixed for
November 30. At the end of the election, Melaye’s fate was sealed.
The Returning Officer of the
election, Professor Olajide Lawal, said Adeyemi, who represented the district
from 2007-2015, polled 88,373 votes to beat Senator Dino Melaye of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 62,133 votes. His supposed political wife had
thrashed him convincingly, even though he rubbished the election over alleged
electoral malpractice and vowed to challenged the outcome in court.
4. Shehu Sani
Senator Shehu Sani was another
big loser in 2019. The former senator, who represented Kaduna Central
Senatorial District under the APC, suddenly defected to Peoples Redemption
Party, PRP, after series of running battle with the Kaduna State Governor,
Nasir El-Rufai. Sani sought re-election to the senate under PRP, but he was
soundly defeated.
Malam Uba Sani of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) won the election with 355,242 votes in the Feb. 23
general elections, while his closest rival, Lawal Adamu of the PDP scored
195,497 votes. Sani scored 70,613 votes to come third. He approached the
election tribunal and lost.
5. Akinwunmi Ambode
Former Governor of Lagos State,
Akinwunmi Ambode will never forget 2019. Having lost out in a bid to get a
second term ticket, he was taunted to be named minister by President Buhari. His
followers were jubilating and preparing for the next level in Abuja.
All of a
sudden, Buhari omitted his name. He fell prey to high level politics. The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was used to hound him.
6. Orji Kalu
Senator Orji Kalu began 2019 on a
promising note, he won the senatorial election for Abia North Senatorial
District and was even sworn in a senator. His world caved in when the Federal
High Court sitting Lagos on 5 December, 2019 found him guilty of N7.56bn fraud.
The former Abia State Governor
was found guilty alongside two others, which are his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited
and Udeh Udeogu, who was Director of Finance and Accounts at the Abia State
Government House during Kalu’s tenure as governor.
He was sentenced to 12 years
imprisonment. He appealed the judgment, but still in prison pending the appeal.
His last move to get a post bail to allow him get out of prison to attend to
his ailing health was rejected. It was a bad year for Kalu. The EFCC had also
gone to mark his properties in a bid to take them over.
Note: There are still many others
which were not captured and you may know.
Culled: PM News
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