Court bars Yobe APC from fielding candidates for two House of Assembly seats

The Federal High Court sitting in Damaturu, Yobe State, on Monday, ordered that All Progressive Congress (APC) could not nominate candidates for the two Assembly seats in the state.

The two seats are Dapil Ngalda/Fika and Dapil Goya/Ngeji.

Fadima Aminu, a judge in the court, in October annulled the party’s primaries held in the two constituencies on May 26, 2022 on the grounds of non-compliance with section 84(13) of the Electoral Act 2022 and ordered new primaries to be held by the party within 14 days as required by the law.

In two separate suits, Musa Alhaji Yusuf V INEC and 2 others with case no FHC/DM/CS/18/2022 and Abdulmumini Hussaini V INEC and 2 others with suite no FHC/DM/CS/19/2022 both approached again. The court stated that some of the directives contained in the October 2022 judgment were violated by the parties and therefore sought relief from the court to declare that the exercise was null and void.

In his opinion which was conducted via zoom and joined by counsel for both parties, Mr. Aminu stated that the APC has failed to comply with the guidelines in conducting the primary election as provided in the Electoral Act, therefore it cannot sponsor the two candidates. seat of the state assembly.

“The implication of this wrongdoing for this Honorable Court to invoke the provisions of section 84(13) of the Electoral Act 2022 which reads ‘: “if a political party fails to comply with the provisions of this Act in the conduct of its primaries, the candidacy for the election will not be included in the election for certain positions in,” he said.

“This court has been strengthened by the above legal provisions and the recent decision of the Supreme Court Hon. Nnamdi Ezeanyi and Hon. Jones Onyerere supra in conjunction with the aforementioned judicial and statutory authority in the same manner and subject to the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act and the constitution of the Federal Republic Nigeria 1999, this honorable court stated that from the time allowed by the Electoral Act. 2022 to conduct primaries and submission of candidates for political parties by INEC has passed, the APC will not field a candidate for the NGALDA/Fika Constituency DPRD seat for the 2023 General election. This matter is dismissed and each party bears its own costs. This is my decision. This will be the verdict of this court,” the judge said.

The same legal provisions apply to the case of the DPR Goya/Ngeji constituency.

Counsel for the plaintiffs in both cases, Shamsuddeen Magaji, praised the decision and thanked the judge for his decision.