The Supreme Court, Friday, sacked elected candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Zamfara State, but reinstated Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidates during the 2019 elections.
Some of the affected APC bigwigs include the Governor-elect, Mukhtar Shehu Idris; Senators Abdulazeez Yari (Zamfara West); Aliyu Ikra Bilbis (Zamfara Central); Kaura Tijjani Yahaya (Zamfara North); seven elected members of the House of Representatives and 24 House of Assembly members.
The five-member panel of justices in a unanimous judgment held that the party in the state failed to conduct primaries in accordance with the party rules.
In the lead judgment by Justice Paul Adamu Galinji, the apex court held that all votes cast for the APC as “wasted votes” and declared that all political parties with the second highest votes in the elections and the required spread, are elected to the various elections.
The APC had won the governorship as well as all the national and state assembly seats in Zamfara State, but the joy of those elected was short-lived when the Court of Appeal declared that their party did not conduct valid primaries, a development that induced anxiety in the state as to what would happen as the May 29, 2019, inauguration day inches closer.
The disqualified APC candidates belong to the incumbent governor’s camp. The opposition PDP scored the second highest valid votes in the general elections.
For instance, in the governorship, Idris got 534,541, his closest opponent, while Dr. Bello Muhammad Mutawalle of the PDP polled 189,452.
The candidate of the National Rescue Movement (NRM), Sen. Dansadau scored 15,177, while Dr. Abdullahi Shinkafi of APGA garnered 3,865.
