Declares first runners-up in governorship, legislative polls winners
A five-man panel Supreme Court judges has voided the victory of the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State in the 2019 elections.
Those affected are candidates for the governorship, national and state assemblies’ elections held on February 23 and March 11, 2019.
The judges, in a unanimous judgment today, held that the APC in Zamfara State did not conduct valid primaries from which its candidates emerged.
“Candidate other than the first appellant with the highest vote stand elected. A cost of N10 million is awarded against the appellant,” the court ruled.
After holding that the APC had no valid candidates for the elections, the panel, led by the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Muhammad, declared that the first runner-ups, who scored the second highest votes and the required spread are winners.
Candidates of the APC had won all the seats contested, including the outgoing governor, Mr. Abdulaziz Yari, who won a senatorial seat while the candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) emerged first runners-up in most cases.
In the lead judgment by Justice Paul Galumje, the court upheld the earlier judgment by the Court of Appeal in Sokoto and dismissed the three appeals filed by the APC candidates.
Justice Galumje said, since the APC had no valid candidates, having not conducted valid primaries, the votes recorded by its candidates are wasted votes.
It would be recalled that the PDP candidate, Mr. Bello Matawalle had scored 189,452 to emerge second in the governorship election.
