The Supreme Court has dismissed the suit filed by the governor of Sokoto State, Mr. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to stop a court action challenging the propriety of his nomination by the All Progressives Congress for the 2015 governorship election.
The court held that Tambuwal’s nomination by his party should be challenged by another governorship aspirant, Mr. Umaru Dahiru, on the grounds that he (Dahiru) has sufficient justifiable cause.
In a unanimous decision of a five-man panel of the Supreme Court Justices, the Apex Court held that to agree with Tambuwal that the primary election that produced him cannot be challenged by another governorship aspirant is to allow democracy to be murdered by the governor.
In the lead judgement by Justice Musa Mohammed, read by Justice Chima Nweza, the court set aside the decision of the Court Of Appeal which ruled that Dahiru’s court action instituted against Tambuwal had been overtaken by events on the strength of the election of the governor.
The Supreme Court said the Court of appeal erred in law by holding that the event had overtaken the case because the governorship election had been conducted after the primary election.
The court therefore ordered a Federal High Court in Abuja to retry the case on its merit and make decision as demanded by law.
Dahiru had challenged the conduct of the primary election that produced Tambuwal as candidate of APC.
He alleged that the exercise was fraught with fraud because the original list of the delegate for the primary election was swapped in favour of Tambuwal.
By the Supreme Court’s verdict, the Federal High Court in Abuja will have to determine the matter on its merit.
