Nigerian Concord Newspaper
On December 10, 2021, Justice Mary Odili cleared airs on an issue that had been trending on the internet by dismissing a media propaganda that a former Minister for Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, SAN was barred from holding public offices.
Justice Odili was very factual while pronouncing her judgement, on Pages 21-23 precisely where she stated unequivocally that the issue of Aondoakaa holding public office, relating to a 2010 judgment does not arise.
Recall that the media propaganda began immediately Chief Aondoakaa joined the 2023 governorship race under the platform of All Progressive Congress.
Prior to the primaries, reports started flying here and there that the former Chief Law Officer of the Federation had been barred from holding any public office..
Those that were afraid of Andoakaa’s popularity in the 2023 race didn’t bother to read Justice Odili’s ruling on the matter as a result of their anxieties, and this made them to start writing false story that the former Minister was barred by a court in 2010.
They even forgot that even in Nigeria’s constitution, those that are convicted for criminal offences are qualified to contest elections after ten years whereas Aondoakaa wasn’t convicted at all.
The fact is that Chief Aondoakaa, SAN wasn’t barred from contesting elections by any court but those that planted the report were just being political, sentimental and malicious because the laws of our land are very clear and unambiguous.
The same fake report is trending now, and it is politics taken too far. Those behind the malicious report must apologize for misleading the public because how can the same man they said had been barred by the court from holding public offices manage to scale through the screening exercise of the All Progressive Congress in 2022?
He has also scaled through the screening exercise and primaries of the People’s Democratic Party successful and yet, these disgruntled elements are still saying that he has been barred from holding public offices.
How did an ineligible man participate in the primaries where Governor Hyacinth Alia was fraudulently declared winner in the same 2022. This is a man they said was barred from holding a public office..
Not only was Aondoakaa cleared by the Screening Committee in 2022, the former Chief Law Officer of the Federation participated in the primaries. He was in court for months to challenge the illegalities surrounding the nomination of Father Hyacinth Alia as the Governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress.
The question is how did Chief Aondoakaa manage to participate in the 2023 primaries and still went ahead with litigations up to the Appeal Court without being disqualified?
Is there a law that says a criminal who is sentenced for ten years cannot be a free man after serving the jail term?
Is there a law that makes an accused guilty when he or she hasn’t been convicted by a competent law? Note it that Aondoakaa was not convicted at all.
As far as I know, either Chief Aondoakaa goes to court to challenge the June 1, 2010 judgement or not, the embargo stopping him from holding public offices ended on the 1st day of June, 2020 because the ruling said “Ten Years”. Yes, ten years.
Whoever or any group that is still saying that Aondoakaa cannot hold political offices now may be acting a script written by his political opponents. The law of the land is not ambiguous.
Recall that in 2022, some social media influencers wrote to say that a former Minister for Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, SAN was barred from holding public offices but they immediately abandoned the propaganda they were paid to do when they realized that their claim was false.
In Nigeria where our Constitution is clear, how can someone who was barred from holding public offices go through those processes successfully without anyone raising the issue at the point of his screening by the APC Screening Committee?