The supreme court has dismissed
an appeal challenging the nullification of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
primary elections in Zamfara.
At its sitting on Friday, the
court voided all votes cast for the party during the general elections at the
state level, from guber poll to state assembly.
The apex court ordered that the
runner-up candidate be sworn in.
“Candidate other than the first
appellant with the highest vote stand elected. A cost of N10 million is awarded
against the appellant,” the court ruled.
The appeal was filed by Mukhtar
Shehu (pictured), the state governor-elect, challenging the judgment of a
Sokoko appellate court which nullified the ruling party’s primaries in the
state.
The court of appeal had set aside
the judgment delivered by the Zamfara high court allowing the APC to field
candidates in the 2019 elections.
It had ruled that the high court
“failed to evaluate the evidence before reaching the decision.”
Following the appellate court’s
ruling, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) withheld
certificates of return of the governor-elect and that of the lawmakers-elect.
The party and its candidates then
filed an appeal seeking that the appellate court’s ruling is set aside and that
their certificates of return be awarded.
A five-man panel of the court by
Tanko Muhammad, acting chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice, declared that the APC
did not conduct valid primaries in the build-up of the elections.
The panel, therefore, ruled the
party’s candidates cannot be said to have emerged the winner.
WHO BECOMES THE GOVERNOR-ELECT?
Bello Matawalle of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) had scored 189,452 to emerge second in the governorship
election.
The total registered voters in
the state stood at 1,717,128 while the accredited voters were 823,294 with
792,938 as total valid votes.
The Independent National
Electoral Commission, going by the provision of the constitution and the
electoral law, will declare the eventual winner of the Zamfara poll.
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