Lawyers yesterday continued to differ on the implications of the new Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello being sworn in without a deputy.

Meanwhile, 24 hours after Bello was sworn in, a group of concerned indigenes have approached the ECOWAS Court of Justice seeking to nullify the election in which Bello was declared a winner.

In another development, campaign coordinators for Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello in the Eastern Senatorial District of the state, yesterday offered an insight into why they nominated an Abuja-based publisher, Mr. Gowon Usman Egbunu as their preferred deputy governorship candidate.

A Lagos-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Kemi Pinheiro (SAN) has said that the absence of a deputy during Wednesday’s inauguration of Bello as the governor of Kogi State did not affect the validity of Bello’s inauguration at all.

Pinheiro, who was reacting to the situation in a telephone interview said the fact that Bello did not contest the election in the first place revealed the lacuna in the constitution.

According to him, the absence of a deputy has not affected the validity of the inauguration at all.”

But constitutional lawyer, James Ezike thought otherwise, describing the action as an aberration and demonstration of an end to an era.

To the lawyer, there is nothing about the present government that is constitutional. According to him, it is strange for a man who overthrew a democratically elected government Alhaji Shehu Shagari to now be talking about treasonable felony.

In a suit, the plaintiffs , Sule Audu, Ikeleji Agada, Labaran Ismail Dadido, Isaka Isa Abdul Audu Ademu Abdullahi and Sulaiman Abdul, through their attorney, Festus A. Ogwuche, stated that the election of Bello was not in conformity or consistent with Nigeria’s international obligations.

Credit: Guardian