A Federal High court sitting in Jalingo, Taraba State capital have nullified the election of the APC Governorship Primaries in the state. However, the Primaries of the PDP in the state has been upheld by the court.
WHAT WE KNOW
A Federal High Court, sitting in Jalingo, Tuesday, nullified the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Taraba State, that produced Emmanuel Bwacha as the candidate of the party.
An aggrieved member of the party and aspirant, David Kente, had sued the party over the recognition of Bwacha as candidate of APC.
The presiding Judge, Justice Simon Amobeda, in his ruling, directed that a fresh governorship primary election be conducted within 14 days.
Justice Simon Amobeda ordered Bwacha to stop parading himself as the governorship candidate of the APC.
The Judge also told the APC to adhere strictly to the provisions of the new electoral act in the conduct of a fresh primary.
Festus Idepefor, Counsel to the defendant, Emmanuel Bwacha, while reacting to the ruling, said he would reach out to his client on the next line of action.
However, the PDP candidate, escaped the court’s harmer, as the Federal High Court in Jalingo, dismissed a suit seeking the disqualification of the governorship candidate, Kefas Agbu.
An aggrieved aspirant who lost during the PDP governorship primary election, Jerome Nyameh, had dragged the party, its candidate and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to court challenging the outcome of the May 25 primaries.
He had prayed the court to disqualify Agbu, claiming he was ineligible to participate over late purchase of the party’s form among others.
The presiding Judge, Justice Simon Amobeda, in his ruling, said the plaintiff failed to prove his case before the court.
The matter was struck out including that of another aspirant, Hilkiah Mafindi, who joined the suit for lack of merit.
Reacting to the ruling, lead counsel to the plaintiff, Pius D. Pius, said there was still room for an appeal.
The lead counsel to the PDP, Musa Tende, who also spoke, urged all aggrieved aspirants to join forces with the candidate of the party to ensure victory at the poll.
NOTABLE QUOTES
Pius D. Pius, counsel to the plaintiff challenging the PDP primaries in Taraba, said:
“It is a journey that starts here. There are two more rivers to cross so we are going on appeal.”
CATCH UP
Though the party primaries have been concluded by last June, aggrieved candidates can get a relief from the courts. Hence the battle ground moved to the court for the bench to affirm the election and legality or otherwise of primaries held.
The allows that a candidate can still be removed from the final list that has alrady been published by the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, but this will be on the order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
COMMENTARY
Beyond victory at the court, the candidate(s), real victory will be seen in how they are able to unite the party and those who lost at the primaries and the court to stand behind the party in the general election.
For Nigeria politicians and parties, the primaries are usually not over until the last court with original and appellate jurisdiction have heard and ruled on the outcome of the election.
The reason for the above is more than one. First, Nigerian politicians are bad losers who will hardly accept the outcome without looking for means of circumventing the people’s will.
Secondly, the Nigerian politicians and their political parties, find it extremely difficult to play according to the rules they have freely chosen for themselves.
Hence, more often than not, when challenged in court, they will fall short of their own rules, thereby leading to the nullification of their elections and indeed other actions.
In the last dispensation that ushered in the current government in Zamfara State, the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), was unable to field a candidate for the governorship election following a related controversy as what is now happening in Taraba State.
