The Attorney-General of the
Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami, (SAN) has asked the Independent National
Electoral Commission, (INEC) to allow the All Progressives Congress (APC)
Zamfara, field candidates for the general elections.
Malami, who doubles as the
Minister of Justice, made the call in a letter to INEC dated Feb. 13, and made
available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The minister said that INEC could
not foreclose the right of a political party to participate in elections
without recourse to the Electoral Act.
“My office received a petition
from the firm of M. A. Mahmud, (SAN) & CO, in respect of the need to
urgently consider Sections 38 and 39 of the Electoral Act and extend the time
for the APC Zamfara to field a gubernatorial candidate in the light of a Zamfara
High Court judgment in suit No.ZMS/GS/52/2018.
“The letter was requesting that
the subsisting judgment in the suit be upheld and respected by INEC, as the
Court of Appeal has upheld the appeal with No. CA/S/23/2019; thus effectively
annulling the grounds upon which the purported cancellation of the APC
Primaries in Zamfara by INEC was based.’’
Malami, in the letter invited
INEC to comply with the judgment of the Court of Appeal by admitting the
results of the APC Zamfara primaries.
He also invited INEC to comply
with the provisions of Section 38 of the Electoral Act, which empower the
commission to postpone the election for the governorship, National Assembly and
House of Assembly elections.
He said this was in view of the
fact since the Court of Appeal had upheld the primaries as valid, the APC in
Zamfara would need a little time to catch up with its contemporaries in the
election.
“Granting them this concession is
not necessarily a favour but a right that inures to all contestants under
similar circumstances.”
The AGF maintained that by the
doctrine and principle of judicial precedence, the appeal superseded the
Federal High Court’s position which foreclosed APC Zamfara from fielding
candidates in the Feb. and March general elections.
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