In the history of elections petition tribunals, there was never a time a case was subjected to media trial than the ongoing case against the Distinguished Senator Lawal Adamu Usman. He is the senator, representing Kaduna central, Kaduna state. Since the tribunal started its sitting, it has been one negative story or misrepresentation of court or proceedings to another aimed at tarnishing the image of the senator.
The first media trial was how some newspapers threw their professional ethics to the dog just to paint the senator black.They maliciously reported that the institutions the senator attended testified against him. The story was not only malicious and an outright falsehood but also a deliberate attempt to mislead the general public.
After the heads of the institutions appeared and testified for Lawal Adamu Usman, the concerned media went silent and licked their wounds. Members of the general public who attended and monitored the tribunal’s sittings thought that the concerned media houses must have learnt a lesson. Alas, this was not the case.
The concerned media houses which spread tissues of lies are being used by mischief makers and desperate politicians to bring down the Distinguished Senator against all odds. One is surprised that the Leadership, which is one of the reputable and leading newspapers in the country, can fall into the hands of these political hanky-panky.
The newspaper reported that Senator Lawal Adamu Usman had used the certificate of one Halima Ndanusa to gain admission into the university. This report was not only malicious, distracting and defamatory but also smacks of a joke taken too far.
Little wonder, the senator, through his lawyers, wrote to the Leadership Newspapers company to retract the false story and apologise for character assassination or face legal actions. The claims against the Leadership Newspapers will include the payment of N1 billion damages.
Also, before the formal presentation of the witnesses at the tribunal on Sunday, July 16, counsel to Senator Lawal Adamu Usman, Mr. MA Magaji (SAN), drew the attention of the court to an alleged media trial embarked on by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the last election, Muhammad Abdullahi Dattijo, to ridicule the tribunal’s proceedings. Magaji urged the tribunal to caution the petitioner.
Magaji further observed that the proceedings of the tribunal were maliciously bastardised and misrepresented, calculated to achieve what he called a media trial. But a caution is enough since there is a record of the proceedings
However, the last sitting of the tribunal took an interesting dimension when the senator”s former teacher from Demonstration School Gwagwalada, in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, appeared and testified for Senator Lawal Adamu. The teacher told the tribunal that the senator was an introvert who hardly speaks in class. With more people testify for the senator, one is sure that Lawal Adamu Usman will coast to victory in the tribunal.
But what is disturbing to every right thinking mind is the resort to media trial to distort the tribunal’s proceedings. Senator Lawal Adamu Usman is not new to court cases. Since his emergence as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, having polled 99 votes in the primary to defeat his closest rival, Usman Ibrahim, Senator Lawal Adamu Usman has been facing many legal battles all of which he has won with relative ease.
The legal battles had lingered up to the Supreme Court. But his party had waded into the cases and recognised Lawal Adamu Usman as its legitimate candidate for the 2023 Kaduna central senatorial election. In a colourful and celebrated event which took place at the Kaduna International Trade Fair complex, Lawal Adamu Usman was handed over the flag of his party, the PDP. That is s why Muhammad Abdullahi Dattijo’s dispute at the tribunal over the eligibility of the senator elicited interjections.
Senator Lawal Adamu Usman was validly nominated by his party in line with laws guiding the conduct of primaries. Despite the short period he had for campaign due to the legal tussle, Lawal Adamu Usman went ahead to win the election by a wide margin. The good people of Kaduna central overwhelmingly voted him on February 25, 2023.
His first motion for the quick return of the construction of Kaduna – Abuja highway and his call for the deployment of adequate security personnel to police the road have received accolades from his colleagues and the generality of Nigerians. This is a good impression that Lawal Adamu Usman will not be a bench-warmer but instead an active and vibrant senator. He is fully ready to move many motions for the development of his constituency, Kaduna state and the country at large.
The campaign of calumny through the use of media trial adopted by his opponents for ulterior motives, outside the court of law, will not distract his avowed commitment for quality representation. On August 7, 2023, the election tribunal will deliver judgement in favour of Senator Lawal Adamu Usman, who has nothing to fear as all the charges levelled against him are nothing but mundane, false and misleading.
Ibrahim Mustapha writes from Pambegua, Kaduna state via 08169056963.
