The supplementary election
scheduled for Saturday will not hold in Adamawa state.
This is as a result of a suit
filed against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by Mustafa
Shaba, governorship candidate of the Movement For Restoration and Defense for
Democracy (MRDD).
Shaba had sued the commission
over the omission of his party’s logo on the electoral materials used in the
March 9 election.
The court had initially asked
INEC not to go ahead with the supplementary election but the commission said
the order was not binding on it.
Citing section 87 sub-section 10
of the electoral act, Kassiam Gaidam, resident electoral commissioner (REC) of
Adamawa state, had said: “Going by the electoral act, even court orders cannot
stop any election at this point. Although we are not aware of any court
restraining INEC, however let me tell you that court order will not stop any
election.”
But Gaidam made a U-turn on
Wednesday, saying the commission had been served with the court order.
He added that the court would
determine the fate of the supplementary governorship election.
“I want to confirm to you that
today, indeed a court order was served on the commission’s headquarters, and
the commission in its usual very good tradition of compliance with court orders
has sent appropriate notices, filed counter motions and counter originating
sermon,” he said.
“We would be waiting to hear the
outcome or the decision the court will take tomorrow.”
On Thursday, Abdulazeez Waziri, a
member of the panel presiding over the case, adjourned the matter till Tuesday.
He had first ordered journalists
out of the courtroom before delivering his judgment.
Commenting on this, Tahir Shehu,
chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, said the court
could only delay the rerun election and not the victory of his party.
The PDP was leading in the March
9 election which was declared inconclusive.
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