S’Court decides eligibility of Zamfara APC candidates May 24

Andrew Orolua, Abuja

The Supreme Court on Thursday fixed May 24 to deliver judgment in two election appeals seeking to resolve who were the genuine candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State at the general election held in February and March this year.

The apex court fixed the date after taking arguments from lawyers involved in the two separate appeals filed by APC and Sanusi Liman Dan Alhaji on the primary election conducted by the party last year for the nomination of candidates into various positions in the last general election.

Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, announced the date following passionate appeal urging the court to consider delivering the judgment before May 29, so as not to create constitutional crisis in Zamfara State.

In the main appeal filed by Sanusi Liman Dan Alhaji, his counsel, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), pleaded with the five-man panel of the Supreme Court to allow the appeal and restore the judgment of the Zamfara High Court which allowed APC to field candidates in the 2019 general election.

Fagbemi specifically canvassed that the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division, which prohibited APC from nominating candidate for the general election on the grounds that the party did not conduct lawful primary should be set aside because the judgment was a miscarriage of justice.

However, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), who represented Senator Kabiru Marafa and 142 other respondents, urged the court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the Appeal Court judgment which held that the APC in Zamfara State did not conduct primary election that can qualify it to nominate candidate for the last general election.

The position of Ozekhome was adopted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) through its counsel, Tanimu Inuwa (SAN), who told the court to dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit.

Inuwa argued that the Court of Appeal in Sokoto was right in stopping APC from fielding candidates for the 2019 general election in Zamfara State because the party failed to conduct any primary election known to law and therefore urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal.

In another related development, Justice Muhammad also fixed May 24 for the Supreme Court to deliver judgment in the appeal that emanated in the conduct of the last gubernatorial election in Ekiti State.

Appellant in the appeal, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had urged the Supreme Court to reverse the decision of the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which was affirmed by Court of Appeal that the election of Governor, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State was not mar by irregularities and malpractices.

The PDP in the appeal is insisting that contrary to the decision of the tribunal and the Court of Appeal, all documents front-loaded at the tribunal were demonstrated as allowed by law and not dumped on the tribunal as erroneously held by the two lower courts.