Court affirms Gov. Tambuwal’ s election

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday affirmed the election of Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State as the duly nominated candidate of the All Progressive Congress in the Sokoto governorship election 2015.

The was contained in a judgment delivered yesterday by Justice Gabriel Kolawole on the suit remitted from Supreme Court for fresh trial. The suit was filed by Senator Umaru Dahiru challenging the nomination of Tambuwal as APC candidate.

Justice Kolawole said the suit lacked merit as
the plaintiff was unable to prove the alleged irregularities he complaint about during the APC primaries.

Senator Umaru Dahiru and Abubakar Sanynna have challenged the conduct of the primary election that produced Tambuwal as candidate of APC on grounds that it was fraught with fraud.

The appellants were governorship aspirants on the APC platform in the 2015 general election

The appellants claimed that the primary election of APC conducted in December 4, 2014 in Sokoto was fraudulent because the original list of the delegates for the primary election was swapped in favour of Tambuwal by some external forces.

They (appellants) have therefore prayed the Court to declare that the primary election held in 2014 which produced Tambuwal was unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void and inconsistent with the Electoral Act, 2010 and the APC guidelines.

They had also claimed that the list of accredited delegates was swapped at the election venue and that votes were arbitrarily, unlawfully and fraudulently allocated to the aspirants after series of manipulations, intimidation and threat from INEC officials.

In the judgment Justice Gabriel Kolawole held that the plaintiff, Senator Dahiru failed to prove the allegation of irregularities resulting from non compliance to the Electoral Act, the constitution as well as the APC constitution and guidelines for the conduct of the primary elections.

The Judge said, “Of what use will it be for the court to grant the plaintiffs reliefs, setting aside the primary election that produced Tambuwal and ordering a fresh primary election, which will require a fresh conduct of the governorship election in Sokoto state”.

He agreed with the respondents that granting the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs will amount to a violation of the constitution and the rules of the court.

“Having looked at submissions of parties in the matter, I have come to a conclusion that the plaintiffs suit failed and all the reliefs sought are hereby dismissed”, he said.

Senator Dahiru who had dragged the APC, Tambuwal and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the court praying for an order to nullify and set aside the Sokoto state APC primary election that produced Tambuwal on the grounds that its was not in compliance with Electoral Act 2010, the APC guidelines and the party’s Constitution indicated yesterday that he will appeal the judgment.