Courts hang fate of APC, PDP governorship candidates in four states

There is uncertainty over the fate of the governorship candidates in four states as litigations continue to trail the primaries of the two leading political parties. 

Daily Trust reports that six months after the All Progressives Congress and the leading opposition, Peoples Democratic Party conducted their governorship primaries, litigations are threatening the chances of the two parties to participate in the March 11, 2023 governorship primaries.

The Independent National Electoral Commission had fixed the governorship and state houses of assembly poll for March 11, 2023.

Chairman of the electoral body, Professor Mahmood Yakubu had on Monday, said the commission is confronted with over 600 cases arising from primaries of the various political parties for the 2023 general elections.

INEC had on October 4 published the final list of nominated candidates by political parties for governorship and state houses of assembly election.

However, the primaries that brought in the candidates of the APC in Adamawa and Taraba states have been nullified even as those of the PDP in Ogun and Zamfara states have suffered the same fate.

It would be recalled that the litigations that trailed the primaries of the APC in Zamfara State in 2019, cost the party all the elective positions including the governorship seat in the state. The party however reclaimed the state when the governor, Bello Matawalle led key players in the PDP back to the APC.

Again, court nullifies Zamfara PDP’s primary 

For the second time in seven weeks, a federal High Court in Gusau, on Monday, nullified the Zamfara State PDP governorship primary that produced Dauda Lawal Dare as the party’s flag bearer.

Justice Aminu Aliyu Bappa ruled that the party has no candidate for the 2023 governorship election in the state.

In September, the court nullified Dare’s election as PDP’s governorship flag bearer following a suit by a former federal lawmaker, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau. Gusau, who had contested the primary against Dare, had approached the court seeking the nullification of the election, alleging gross irregularities.

However, one week after the judgement, the party conducted a rerun and Alhaji Dauda Lawal Dare was re-elected as the party’s candidate for the Zamfara governorship election.

Not satisfied with the development, Gusau went to court for the second time, seeking the declaration of the September governorship rerun null and void, saying that the exercise had contravened the electoral guidelines.

Delivering the judgement, Justice Bappa said the party had contravened section 82 subsection 1 of the electoral act and that was what made the court invoke section 84 subsection 13 of the electoral act and ruled that the party cannot field any candidate for the forthcoming 2023 governorship election.  The court also restrained the first defendant from forwarding the name of the third defendant as its governorship candidate for the 2023 general election over non-compliance to section 84 and subsection 1 of the Electoral Act, 2022.

Binani, Bwacha, Adebutu fight to reclaim tickets

The trio of Aishatu Binani (APC, Adamawa), Emmanuel Bwacha (APC, Taraba) and Ladi Adebutu of the PDP in Ogun State are battling to regain their seats after they were sacked by courts.

The battle for the governorship tickets of the APC and PDP in the three states has shifted to the appellate court as Binani, Bwacha and Adebutu struggle to reclaim their seats.

Daily Trust reports that a Federal High Court in Yola had nullified the APC governorship primary that produced Binani. The primary was nullified on October 14 following a suit by a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, who alleged votes buying, over-voting and delegate inducement.

In Taraba, a Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo presided over by Justice Simon Amobeda, had on September 20, sacked Bwacha sequel to litigation by one of the governorship aspirants, Chief David Kente.

Similarly, a Federal High Court in Abeokuta on September 27 nullified the primary election of the PDP in Ogun State that produced Ladi Adebutu as the party’s governorship candidate for the 2023 general election. The court ordered that the party should hold an all-encompassing primary with the duly elected delegates.