Supreme Court declines overruling self on Zamfara as PDP commends decision

The Supreme declined the request by the All Progressives Congress (APC) asking it to reverse its May 24 ruling on the February 23 and March 10,2019 elections conducted in Zamfara State.

Citing that the appellant never held valid primaries prior to the general elections, the apex court had voided all of its votes and returned the first runner-up, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidates as winners of the polls.

But not satisfied with the decision, the party, in a fresh application marked: SC/377/2019 and filed by its lawyer, Robert Clarke (SAN), asked the court to review and set aside the consequential order in the judgment.

However, a five-man panel of the court, led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, struck out the application for being incompetent and lacking in merit.

The apex court, in addition, held that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit since the consequential order raised in the motion emanated from the originating summon filed at the trial court.

The court further held that the consequential order arose from the substantive suit, which was within the prescribed 60 days for pre-election matters.

“Therefore, the appeal is incompetent and the court lacks jurisdiction to review it,” the judge ruled.

Besides, the appellant equally prayed the court to order a fresh election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as against its consequential order which directed other parties with the highest votes to be sworn into office as elected.

Meanwhile, the PDP national leadership has hailed the verdict.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party noted that  “by so doing, the Supreme Court has once again saved our nation from a huge constitutional crisis that could have devastated our constitutional democracy and corporate existence as a nation.”

It described the request as “blasphemous, a blackmail and a measured landmine to ambush and destroy the integrity of the apex court.”

Also yesterday, the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Birnin-Kebbi dismissed the suit filed by the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) challenging the victory of the APC and its standard-bearer, Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, in the March 10 gubernatorial contest in the state.

The chairman, Justice Amina Adamu Aliyu, leading two other judges, ruled that the petition lacked evidence to prove the irregularities and malpractices alleged by the party and its candidate, Senator Isa Galaudu.

She consequently struck out the case for lacking in merit.