Ozekhome Condemns INEC’s Decision To Field APC Candidates In Zamfara

Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) has decried decision of INEC to field candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State ahead of the 2019 general elections.

INEC had stated that candidates of the APC will participate in the National Assembly, governorship and state House of Assembly elections in the state.

The commission explained that the decision was reached after a judgment by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Thursday.

Reacting in a statement on Friday, Ozekhome described the move by INEC as ‘illegal and unconstitutional’.

The statement read: “The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on 21st February 2019, dismissed the appeal filed by APC challenging the judgment of Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, which had affirmed INEC’s stand that the APC did not conduct any primary election in Zamfara state and that INEC was right to have rejected APC’s candidates from Zamfara state. The dismissal followed an application by APC to withdraw the appeal. The application was granted and the appeal dismissed accordingly.

“Next was the cross-appeal filed by Yari & Co on jurisdiction and cause of action. The judgment given by the Court of Appeal today clearly stated that the appeal partially succeeded and went ahead to set aside the judgment of the lower court on jurisdiction only, but refused to grant the cause of action component of the appeal.

“By this, the Court of Appeal refused to grant INEC any order to revive candidates of the APC from Zamfara state.

“The cross Appeal therefore partially failed because, from the onset, APC had a complaint against INEC only. Governor Yari A.A had applied to join the case voluntarily. And Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, in her judgment held that APC did not seek any reliefs against the second to 6th defendants” (i.e, Governor Yari and co).

“Therefore, considering the fact that Governor Yari and co did not file any counterclaim or cross Appeal against the APC’s suit, she had gone ahead to hold that Yari and co “have nothing to add to this case”.

“From the foregoing, it is clear that the cross Appeal by Yari and his group before the Court of Appeal, having partially failed, becomes at best, a mere academic exercise bereft of any utilitarian value to the entire case.

“The false assertion that the Court of Appeal had cleared the way for the APC to participate in Saturday’s election is, therefore, a lie from the pit of hell.

“It is nothing short of the desperate manoeuvers by frustrated politician holding on any available straw to smuggle themselves willy nilly into Saturday’s election. This cannot work.

“INEC is hereby reminded that there exists in addition to the above legal obstacles, a subsisting appeal which arose from the Zamfara state High Court judgment which is still extant and pending before the Sokoto division of the Court of Appeal, in Appeal no: CA/S/32/2019.

“In any event, the judgment of the Federal High Court, going by the judgment of the Court of Appeal still partially succeeded, since the Court of Appeal refused to make any clear mandatory orders directing INEC to receive any candidates from Yari group for the purpose of Saturday’s elections.

“INEC is therefore obligated and legally bound to stand by its earlier well-founded position that APC, having never conducted any primaries in Zamfara state, have no candidates in the forthcoming elections in Zamfara state, except the presidential election.

“Any other act by INEC in fielding any candidates from the Governor Yari’s group or the “G-8″ group will be illegal, unconstitutional, null, void and of no effect whatsoever.”