The Court of Appeal sitting in Yola Division has reaffirmed the candidacy of Speaker of Adamawa State House of Assembly, Aminu Iya Abbas.
He was Friday confirmed as senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the Adamawa Central District.
Ruling on the appeal filed by Iya-Abbas, following the annulment of the primaries conducted by the PDP for the district by a Yola Federal High court, justice Mohammed Abubakar set aside the judgement of the trial court sacking Abbas as the party’s candidate.
The judge held that the participation of the fourth defendant, Alhaji Auwal Tukur, chairman, governing council Adamawa State University, as a political appointee, without compliance to the new electoral Act 2022, requiring political appointees to resign their appointment, was held in breach, hence the court “nullification of the entire primaries.
As a consequence, the party will not be able to field candidates for the general election come 2023 because of substantial non-compliance with the electoral act 2022.
During the PDP senatorial primary election conducted on May 23, 2022, Abbas had defeated Auwal Bamanga Tukur, D. D. Azura, Mohammed Modibbo, Ibrahim Mustapha, Ibrahim Abubakar and Abdullahi Prambe to emerge flag bearer of the PDP.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the primary, Mohammed Modibbo filed a suit challenging the conduct of the primaries, asking the court to determine, whether Auwal Tukur, as a political appointee, having not resigned his appointment was eligible to participate in the primaries among other issues.
However, the appeal court has now set aside the judgment of the trial court paving the way for Abbas to contest the Senate race.
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