PDP<\/a> and cannot be transferred to the APC.<\/p>\nConsequently, Ekwo ordered the PDP to present another candidate or, in the alternative, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should conduct a fresh poll within 90 days.<\/p>\n
The issue has generated concerns on a possible constitutional crisis\u00a0in Ebonyi since a court has also sacked the speaker of the state house of assembly and 15 other lawmakers for defecting from the PDP.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the development in a legal opinion article released on Tuesday, Falana said critics of Ekwo\u2019s verdict failed to state that the majority of votes in the Ebonyi 2019 governorship poll were in favour of PDP that presented Umahi as flagbearer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who have placed uncritical reliance on Atiku\u2019s case have failed to appreciate that the validity of the votes scored by the PDP in the presidential election did not arise for determination,\u201d the article reads.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo that extent, the case cannot be a justification for the subversion of the democratic rights of voters by political defectors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhereas in the 2019 governorship election in Ebonyi State, the PDP garnered 393,343 votes across the 13 local governments areas of the state, its closest challenger, the APC, got 81,703 votes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the PDP had emerged the winner of the election, the certificate of return was issued in the name of its flagbearer by the INEC Chairman, Professor Yakubu Mahmood, who stated that \u2018I hereby certify that Nweze David Umahi of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been elected to the office of Governor of Ebonyi State\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though Governor Umahi has decamped from the PDP to APC, neither the INEC nor the high court of Ebonyi state has amended the certificate of return to read \u2018Nweze David Umahi of the All Progressives Congress.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is interesting to note that some lawyers have maintained that Governor Umahi has exercised his freedom of association by decamping from PDP to APC.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the governor\u2019s freedom of association is constitutionally protected, he cannot be permitted to infringe on the democratic rights of the 393,343 citizens who voted for him as the governorship candidate of the PDP.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr are we to believe that the votes scored by the PDP have been merged with those of the APC since the PDP candidate decamped to APC?<\/p>\n
\u201cCuriously, in making a mockery of the democratic rights of the people of Ebonyi State, the critics of the judgment of Justice Egwu have failed to advert their minds to the undeniable fact that the majority of the voters actually exercised their franchise in favour of the PDP. After all, the names of the candidate David Umahi and his deputy were not on the ballot papers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Falana also cited a reference to the case of Zamfara in which the votes of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were nullified in 2019 by the supreme court over issues arising from the party\u2019s failure to conduct a valid primary.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the leading judgment of the Supreme Court in All Progressives Congress v. Marafa, LOR (24\/05\/2019) SC, Justice Paul Adamu Galinji declared that all the votes cast for the APC were \u2018wasted votes\u2019 on the grounds that the party failed to conduct a proper primary,\u201d Falana said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe court added that all political parties with the second highest votes in the elections and the required spread, are elected to the various elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the instant case, the votes credited to the PDP in the 2019 governorship election in Ebonyi State cannot be said to have been wasted based on the decision of Governor Umahi to decamp to the ruling party.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the said votes are not wasted, it is inconceivable that they have been legally transferred from the PDP to the APC. Under no law in Nigeria can the exercise of the right of Governor Umahi to defect from the PDP to APC extinguish the 4-year mandate freely given to him on the platform of the PDP during the 2019 general election.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wish to submit, without any fear of contradiction, that elections are won by political parties and not by candidates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Amaechi v. INEC & Ors (2008) LCN\/3642 (SC), the Supreme Court held that \u2018The above provision (i.e. section 221) effectually removes the possibility of independent candidacy in our elections; and places emphasis and responsibility in elections on political parties. Without a political party a candidate cannot contest\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has stated that votes cast in any election in the country belong to the political parties, not candidates. The presiding judge at a federal high court sitting in Abuja, Inyang Ekwo on March 8 sacked\u00a0David Umahi, governor of Ebonyi, and Eric Igwe, his deputy, over their defection […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":162395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[437,21655,3342,32601],"class_list":["post-162392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-femi-falana","tag-inyang-ekwo","tag-political-parties","tag-umahis-sack"],"yoast_head":"\n
Falana speaks on Umahi's sack, says votes belong to political parties NOT candidates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has stated that votes cast in any election in the country belong to the political parties, not candidates.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Falana speaks on Umahi's sack, says votes belong to political parties NOT candidates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has stated that votes cast in any election in the country belong to the political parties, not candidates.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS PICKS \u2014 WITHIN NIGERIA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/withinnigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SodiqAdewaleChocomilo?mibextid=ZbWKwL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-16T04:17:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-16T04:17:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/03\/adewale_chocomilo\/2022\/03\/16\/images-3.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"729\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"421\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OChocomilo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@withinnigeria\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/db8593431a99b3751c40316ba4b4a452\"},\"headline\":\"Falana speaks on Umahi’s sack, says votes belong to political parties NOT candidates\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-16T04:17:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-16T04:17:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":814,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/adewale_chocomilo\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/images-3.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Femi Falana\",\"Inyang Ekwo\",\"Political parties\",\"Umahi's sack\"],\"articleSection\":[\"National\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/\",\"name\":\"Falana speaks on Umahi's sack, says votes belong to political parties NOT candidates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/adewale_chocomilo\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/images-3.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-16T04:17:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-16T04:17:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"A senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has stated that votes cast in any election in the country belong to the political parties, not candidates.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/adewale_chocomilo\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/images-3.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/adewale_chocomilo\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/images-3.jpeg\",\"width\":729,\"height\":421},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/16\\\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Falana speaks on Umahi’s sack, says votes belong to political parties NOT candidates\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS\",\"description\":\"Latest & Trending Nigeria News, Entertainment, Sports\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"WITHN NIGERIA MEDIA LIMITED\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/Logo-dark-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/Logo-dark-bg.png\",\"width\":750,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"WITHN NIGERIA MEDIA LIMITED\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/facebook.com\\\/withinnigeria\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/withinnigeria\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/withinnigeria\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/withinnigeria\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCo0qw0SqhKNTsQQM48FpdTA\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/db8593431a99b3751c40316ba4b4a452\",\"name\":\"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/87917d701bb342a8e7c12833c7301dab5a0c88c83b2959248027da7ade686bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/87917d701bb342a8e7c12833c7301dab5a0c88c83b2959248027da7ade686bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/87917d701bb342a8e7c12833c7301dab5a0c88c83b2959248027da7ade686bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo\"},\"description\":\"Lawal Sodiq Adewale aka CHOCOMILO is an award winning journalist. Mail me at Chocomilo@withinnigeria.com. See full profile on Within Nigeria's TEAM PAGE\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/SodiqAdewaleChocomilo?mibextid=ZbWKwL\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/OChocomilo\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.withinnigeria.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/adewale_chocomilo\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Falana speaks on Umahi's sack, says votes belong to political parties NOT candidates","description":"A senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has stated that votes cast in any election in the country belong to the political parties, not candidates.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Falana speaks on Umahi's sack, says votes belong to political parties NOT candidates","og_description":"A senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has stated that votes cast in any election in the country belong to the political parties, not candidates.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/","og_site_name":"NEWS PICKS \u2014 WITHIN NIGERIA","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/withinnigeria","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SodiqAdewaleChocomilo?mibextid=ZbWKwL","article_published_time":"2022-03-16T04:17:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-16T04:17:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":729,"height":421,"url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/03\/adewale_chocomilo\/2022\/03\/16\/images-3.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@OChocomilo","twitter_site":"@withinnigeria","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/"},"author":{"name":"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/db8593431a99b3751c40316ba4b4a452"},"headline":"Falana speaks on Umahi’s sack, says votes belong to political parties NOT candidates","datePublished":"2022-03-16T04:17:16+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-16T04:17:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/"},"wordCount":814,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/03\/adewale_chocomilo\/2022\/03\/16\/images-3.jpeg","keywords":["Femi Falana","Inyang Ekwo","Political parties","Umahi's sack"],"articleSection":["National"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/","url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/","name":"Falana speaks on Umahi's sack, says votes belong to political parties NOT candidates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/03\/adewale_chocomilo\/2022\/03\/16\/images-3.jpeg","datePublished":"2022-03-16T04:17:16+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-16T04:17:34+00:00","description":"A senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has stated that votes cast in any election in the country belong to the political parties, not candidates.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/03\/adewale_chocomilo\/2022\/03\/16\/images-3.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/03\/adewale_chocomilo\/2022\/03\/16\/images-3.jpeg","width":729,"height":421},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/2022\/03\/16\/falana-speaks-on-umahis-sack-says-votes-belong-to-political-parties-not-candidates\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Falana speaks on Umahi’s sack, says votes belong to political parties NOT candidates"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/","name":"NEWS","description":"Latest & Trending Nigeria News, Entertainment, Sports","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#organization","name":"WITHN NIGERIA MEDIA LIMITED","url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/01\/Logo-dark-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/01\/Logo-dark-bg.png","width":750,"height":500,"caption":"WITHN NIGERIA MEDIA LIMITED"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/facebook.com\/withinnigeria","https:\/\/x.com\/withinnigeria","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/withinnigeria\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/withinnigeria\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCo0qw0SqhKNTsQQM48FpdTA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/db8593431a99b3751c40316ba4b4a452","name":"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87917d701bb342a8e7c12833c7301dab5a0c88c83b2959248027da7ade686bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87917d701bb342a8e7c12833c7301dab5a0c88c83b2959248027da7ade686bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87917d701bb342a8e7c12833c7301dab5a0c88c83b2959248027da7ade686bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo"},"description":"Lawal Sodiq Adewale aka CHOCOMILO is an award winning journalist. Mail me at Chocomilo@withinnigeria.com. See full profile on Within Nigeria's TEAM PAGE","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SodiqAdewaleChocomilo?mibextid=ZbWKwL","https:\/\/x.com\/OChocomilo"],"url":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/author\/adewale_chocomilo\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withinnigeria.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}