Hours After Lawan’s Victory Over Machina, Court Stops APC From Contesting Two Yobe Seats

Hours After Lawan’s Victory Over Machina, Court Stops APC From Contesting Two Yobe Seats

On Monday, a Federal High Court in Damaturu, Yobe State’s capital, ruled that the All Progressives Congress, APC, could not field candidates for the two state House of Assembly seats of Ngalda-Fika and Goya-Ngeji.

Justice Fadima Aminu stated that in October of last year, a judge of the court nullified the party’s primaries held on 26 May 2022 in both constituencies due to non-compliance with Section 84(13) of the Electoral Act 2022, and ordered the party to hold fresh primaries within 14 days as required by law.

“APC indeed failed to comply with the provisions of guideline in the conduct of primary elections as provided in the Electoral Act [and] thus cannot sponsor candidates for the two-state assembly seats,” Justice Aminu declared via zoom, joined by counsel for both parties.

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She went on to say that the court should invoke Section 84 (13) of the Electoral Act 2022, which states that “where a political party fails to comply with the provisions of this Act in the conduct of its primaries, its candidature for election shall not be included in the election for the particular position in it.”

She said further: “This court having been fortified by the above provision of the law and the recent Supreme Court decision of Hon. Nnamdi Ezeanyi and Hon. Jones Onyerere supra in conjunction with the earlier cited judicial and statutory authorities hereby toe the same line and pursuant to the provision of Electoral Act 2022 and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, this Honorable Court holds that since the time allowed by Electoral Act 2022 for the conduct of primaries and submission of candidates to political parties by INEC has elapsed, the APC shall not field candidate for the seat of Ngalda/Fika Constituency of Assembly House of Assembly for the 2023 General election.”

She concluded thus: “This matter is hereby dismissed and each party bears its own cost. This is my decision. This shall be the judgement of this court.”

Similarly, the same legal provisions were applied in the case of the Goya-Ngeji House of Assembly Constituency.

In response to the development, counsel for the plaintiffs in both cases praised the decision and thanked the judge for her decision.

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