The federal high court sitting in Kaduna presided over by Justice MG Umar in a suit filed by Ibrahim Usman challenging the declaration of Lawal Adamu Usman aka Mr. LAA as the senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Kaduna Central in the party primary election held on the 23rd of May 2022 set aside Mr LAA’s victory and ordered for a rerun within14 days of the date of his judgement. In the said primaries Mr LAA triumphed having scored the majority vote in a keen contest; he polled 99 votes against his closest rival Ibrahim Usman who polled 84 votes. A total of 248 votes were cast out of 250 voters accredited. The returning officer Dingyadi made a public announcement of the outcome which was witnessed by all the security agencies present including INEC. The national working committee erroneously wrote a letter directing the repeat of the electoral process based on a petition surreptitiously submitted to undermine the process and spurn the candidature of Mr LAA.
Perhaps, the state party along with some cohorts could be complicit in the well-designed plot to humiliate the former Vice President by ensuring that his hands are washed off the affairs of the PDP in Kaduna State. This is evident in the formation of the single-structured campaign council in the state. His efforts to promote Sani Sidi the gubernatorial aspirant who lost to the incumbent candidate as the Director General of the campaign council was thwarted. His attempt to also promote the highest ranking political office holder in the state Sen. Danjuma Lar was frustrated and the state chairman Hassan Hyet was foisted on the council. Earlier on, a decision was reached for the former VP to chair the elders committee which is a creation of the PDP constitution. The overall effort is to portray him as ineffective and politically irrelevant in the eyes of the Presidential Candidate, Alh Atiku Abubakar. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was to deny Mr LAA his well -deserved victory because he was of the VP stock.
On the strength of the earlier letter directing a rerun of the senatorial primary election and its subsequent cancellation, the suit was argued before Justice MG Umar. His lordship in applying his discretionary powers failed to evaluate the merits and demerits of the case. He closed his eyes to the substantive argument of the issue which is over voting.
Ibrahim Mustapha, Pambegua, Kaduna State
