Supreme Court Rules Against APC In Zamfara

The Supreme court sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, on Friday, May 24, dismissed an appeal challenging the nullification of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) primary elections in Zamfara state, northern Nigeria.

Naija News reports that the apex court also voided all votes cast for the party during the general elections.

The five-member panel of justices, in a unanimous judgment, held that the APC in Zamfara state failed to conduct primaries in accordance with the party rules.

This online news platform understands that the Supreme court in a lead judgment by Justice Paul Adamu Galinji, declared all votes cast for the APC as “wasted votes” and ordered that the runner-up candidate be sworn in if he fulfils the constitutional requirement of getting one-quarter of the total votes cast in at least two-thirds of the local government areas of the northern state.

The justices also awarded cost of N10m against APC in favour of the Kabiru Marafa faction of the APC and other respondents in the appeal.

Naija News reports that the panel sounded a note of warning to politicians against destroying the country’s democracy.

The governor-elect of the state, Mukhtar Shehu, filed the appeal challenging the judgment of a Sokoko appellate court which nullified the ruling party’s primaries in the state.