The Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal Monday set aside the judgement of the Zamfara state High Court which allowed the All Progressives Congress (APC) to field candidates in the recently concluded 2019 elections.
The appeal was filed by the chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Kabiru Marafa, and 129 others through his counsel, Mike Ozekhome.
The respondents in the suit, Kabiru Liman-Danalhaji and 139 others, were represented by Mahmud Magaji as lead counsel.
Delivering the lead judgement, which was adopted by two other justices, Tijjani Abubakar and Jamilu Tukur, Justice Tom Yakubu held that the lower court failed in its duty to properly evaluate the evidence before it.
Justice Yakubu said judges had the legal power to produce judgement and reach decisions with reasons, but that in the instant case, it was not done.
“I am convinced that the lower court has failed to evaluate the evidence before reaching the decision. The Appeal Court has power in law to access pieces of evidence on appeal, which we have done.
“Based on available facts, the respondents did not contradict the INEC evidence on conducting the said primary election,” he said.
According to him, “documented evidence has upper consideration than oral ones” and that “the plaintiffs, being card-carrying party members and aspirants in the said primary election, have the legal capacity to institute the suit.”
He also said federal, states and FCT high courts had jurisdiction to entertain such matter.
The judges agreed that the judgement should serve as “bitter lesson” for political parties as they ought to follow legitimate guidelines and rules.
“Domestic affairs of political party activities must act within the confines of the law in dealing with party members and elections,” the judges agreed.
A Zamfara High Court had recognised the primary election that produced the governorship, state and National Assembly candidates held by APC in the state and declared that INEC should accept the party candidates for the elections.
Unsatisfied with the decision, the appellants approached the Appeal Court challenging the decision on the ground that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit among others.
A similar case was instituted before the same Appeal Court by Aminu Jaji, a governorship aspirant and member representing Kaura Namoda/Birnin Magaji federal constituency and was dismissed after Jaji withdrew the suit.
Based on the initial court ruling, INEC allowed the APC to field governorship and parliamentary candidates and the party went on to win the governorship and parliamentary elections.
However, with the Monday Appeal Court ruling, the battle is now shifted to the Supreme Court which is the final arbiter in the case.
Should the Supreme Court uphold the ruling of the Appeal Court, the ruling APC may lose its governorship and national assembly positions.
The APC primaries crisis had been lingering since October 2018 between the APC faction loyal to Governor Abdulaziz Yari and that of G8 group, which took the party to various courts seeking redress.
After the election, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared the APC governorship candidate in Zamfara, Alhaji Mukhtar Shehu, winner of the governorship poll in the state.
INEC declared Shehu winner of the election which held on March 9 after polling 534,541 votes to defeat his close challenger of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Yari kicks
Meanwhile, Governor Abdulaziz Yari has appealed to all law-abiding members of the party and the citizenry to remain calm pending the release of the final judgement being awaited by the public.
This was contained in a statement issued by his special adviser on media, publicity and enlightenment, Hon. Ibrahim Dosara, in Gusau, the state capital.
Governor Yari said the reaction followed the decision of the Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal which set aside the ruling by the Justice Bello Shinkafi-led High Court on the APC governorship and state assembly primaries conducted on October 3 and 7, 2018, across the state.
He further clarified that what the Court of Appeal Sokoto Division did was to set aside the judgement of the state High Court on the ground of examination of proofs of evidence, which had nothing to do with the APC elections in the state.
“The court has not in any way tempered with our elections, as only the tribunal has the right to listen to issues arising from election matters,” he said.
Marafa reacts
Reacting to the judgement, the lawmaker representing Zamfara Central in the Senate, Kabiru Marafa of the APC, has hailed the Appeal Court Sokoto division which set aside the ruling of the Zamfara state High Court on the party’s primaries’ tussle in the state.
According to him, the judgement has shown that “truth will always prevail over falsehood.”
He said: “I have always believed that the Zamfara state High Court ruling was nothing, but a black market judgement that can never stand legal scrutiny.
“The Appeal Court judgement has rekindled the fact the judiciary is the last hope of the common man. We are all living witnesses to the fact that the APC in Zamfara was unable to conduct primaries and couldn’t reach consensus due to the attitude of Governor Abdulaziz Yari, but the Zamfara state High Court judge ruled against the truth.
“The Appeal Court has today done justice by throwing the judgement of the Zamfara High Court to the trash bin, where it rightly belongs.”
Marafa commended his supporters for their support, cooperation and patience, urged them to discountenance the press release from the Zamfara Government House, claiming that today’s judgement has no effect on their elections.
“The statement by the Zamfara Government House on the Appeal Court judgement is the last kick of dying pigs, not even horses. You can’t build something on nothing, APC didn’t conduct primaries; they don’t, therefore, have candidates in the just-concluded elections.”
