Francis Sardauna in Katsina
The Federal High Court sitting in Gusau has again nullified the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary election that produced Dr Dauda Lawal-Dare as PDP governorship candidate in Zamfara State.
The presiding judge, Justice Aminu Bappa who delivered the judgement, said the PDP can not field a governorship candidate for the 2023 general election as the party violated section 82 of the 2010 Electoral Act.
This was the second time that the court will nullify the PDP governorship primary in Zamfara.
In September this year, the court nullified the election of Lawal-Dare following a suit filed before the court by Ibrahim Shehu and two other aspirants challenging the credibility of the primary.
The court ordered for a re-run election where Lawal-Dare also re-emerged as a winner but his opponent, Ibrahim Shehu went to court again to challenge the election.
Justice Bappa therefore ruled that the re- election of Dare was also characterised by a series of irregularities and as such it was nullified while the PDP was disqualified from contesting the governorship election in 2023.
Reacting to the Tuesday’s judgement, Counsel to the Plaintiffs, Barrister Ibrahim Ali said the judgement was apt as it would serve as a deterrent to other political parties and it protects the nation’s democracy.
He added that they filed the case challenging the legality of the PDP governorship primary election, saying, 2022 electoral Act required that all political parties must notify the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about their primary election 21 days before the election and all aspirants be notified 7 days before the election but none was fulfilled.
But the Counsel to the defendant, Barrister Ajiya A Shehu said they will appeal the judgement as the PDP and its candidate were not satisfied with the judgement.
Barrister Shehu added that their team of lawyers were studying the judgement and will take the next line of action in no distant time.
