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APC chieftain faults Zamfara guber election tribunal judgement

Dr Sani Shinkafi, a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC ), has faulted the judgement of the Zamfara State Election Petition Tribunal that upheld the victory of Governor Dauda Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against Dr Bello Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Shinkafi, who is also the Executive Director of Patriots for the Advancement of Peace and Social, described the judgement as a travesty of justice, a reckless assault on the rule of law and a step backwards on sustainable democracy in Nigeria.

Shinkafi wondered how the panel ignored gross violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, the INEC regulations, guidelines and manual for the 2023 general election, particularly the alleged disenfranchisement of over one hundred thousand voters at Birnin Magaji and Maradun Local Government Area despite overwhelming oral witnesses and documentary evidence exhibited at the tribunal.

He alleged that the election was not held in four Registration Areas of Birnin Magaji Local Government, with 80 Polling Units and a total of 46,000 registered voters.

“Also, the election was cancelled in several polling units with over 85,062 registered voters. The purported margin of lead declared by the Returning Officer, Prof Kasimu Shehu, was 65,750, far below the number of voters in the areas where polls did not hold or were cancelled.

“The collation of results in Maradun Local Government Area was successfully conducted, and the Registration Area Collation Officers effectively collated the result of the election.

“The collated results in Form EC8B were taken to the Local Government Collation Centre and dully collated by the Local Government Collation Officer. The result in Form EC8C by the Local Government Collation Officer was taken to the State Returning Officer.

“Curiously, he refused to accept the same in flagrant violation of the electoral guidelines. As if carrying out a hatchet job, the State Returning Officer purported to undertake fresh collation, claiming he would only rely on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) results.

“The votes scored by political parties in Maradun Local Government as collated by the Local Government Collation Officers were APC 95,506 votes; PDP 618 votes”, he said.

He expressed optimism that the Court of Appeal will set aside the ruling of the Zamfara governorship election panel.

“The people’s vote must count and their mandate respected by all stakeholders in the democratic process”, he added.

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