Zamfara: INEC bows to Supreme Court

A FRESH outburst of anger spread across the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recognised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) candidates as winners of the Zamfara State elections based on the  Supreme Court judgment nullifying the victory of the party.

A lot of party faithful and sympathisers took to the social media platform to lampoon the national leadership of the party over what they described as its gross act of impunity that paved the way for the series of setback the party had suffered after the general election.

Some of them expressed fear that the chain of losses being suffered by the APC could affect the chances of the anointed candidates for the election of the principal officers of the Ninth National Assembly, others were cautious on the issue, claiming that the party still has majority in the next National Assembly to be inaugurated on June 11, 2019.

Candidates for the office of the principal officers of the both the Senate and the House of Representatives require a simple majority votes to win.

There are 109 senators and 390 members in the House.

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Addressing newsmen in Abuja,  the national chairman of the Commission,  Professor Mahmoud Yakubu declared the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Bella Mohammed Matawalle, his running mate,  Mahdi Aliyu Gusau as the governor and deputy governor-elect in the North West state.

He further declared the candidates of the main opposition party as the winners of the three senatorial and seven federal constituency seats in the state.

He said:”Following the judgment of the Supreme Court, the Commission has met in two emergency sessions and taken briefings from our lawyers and staff on the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment.

“While the legislative elections (Senatorial, House of Representatives and state House of Assembly elections) are straight forward to deal with because they entail first-past-the-post or simple majority of votes, the governorship election is determined not just by majority votes but also spread in accordance with Section 179 (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

“This means that we had to first discount the votes cast for the APC at the elections and then carefully rework the spread by local government areas based on the new valid votes.

“In compliance with the Supreme Court judgment, the Commission has now determined the winners of the elections in Zamfara State,” he said.

Findings by Sunday Tribune also revealed that with the exception of Honourable Kabiru Hashimu of the National Rescue Movement, the PDP candidates were declared winner in 23 out of 24 legislative seats in the state.

Professor Yakubu  further disclosed that the governor elect, his deputy and the new federal lawmakers from Zamfara would be issued Certificates of Return tomorrow (Monday) in Abuja, while the state assembly lawmakers would collect theirs, on Friday, in Gusau, the state capital.

He said: “The Commission will issue Certificates of Return to the new winners as follows: Governor and Deputy Governor-elect, Senators-elect and members of the House of Representatives-elect will receive their certificates on Monday 27, May 2019 at the Commission’s Electoral Institute at 2.00pm.

“Members of the state House of Assembly-elect will receive their certificates from the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Zamfara State at the INEC State Office in Gusau on Friday 31st May 2019 at 10.00am.”

In a veiled reference to the power play within the APC, which culminated in litigation over the conduct of the party primaries and its authentic standard bearers,  Professor Yakubu cautioned political parties to show fidelity to their own rules to inspire internal democracy.

He said: “I wish to seize this opportunity to draw the attention of all stakeholders, but particularly the political parties, to the implications of the Supreme Court judgment on the Zamfara matter. It is clear that properly conducted party primaries are cardinal to the proper internal functioning of political parties, the electoral process and our democratic system at large.

“Therefore, political parties must take very seriously the conduct of primaries according to all extant rules, including the monitoring of the processes by INEC to avoid a repeat of the Zamfara experience.”

It will be recalled that the apex court, on Friday, in a unanimous judgment of the five-man panel, led by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad, declared the first runners -up in the 2019 general election in the state, the PDP  as the winners of all the posts earlier declared to have been won by the APC and its candidates .

In the lead judgment read by Justice Paul Galinje, the apex court upheld the decision of the Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal to the effect that the APC did not conduct any valid primary election and as such, had no candidate for any of the elections in the state .

Justice Galinje dismissed  the votes scored  by the APC candidates in the elections as wasted, and further submitted  that the party and the candidates with the second highest votes and the spread in the various elections were the valid winners.

In statement issued in Abuja by Kola Ologbondiyan, its national publicity secretary, the main opposition party also congratulated the people of the state, assuring them of a purposeful, people-based and result-oriented leadership that would unite and revitalise the state for the greater good, in line with the wishes and aspiration of the people.

The party noted that the victory was a clear pointer to the fact that no matter how long manipulations and anti-democratic tendencies appear to thrive, justice and the will of the people always prevail at the end of the day.

It observed that Zamfara is blessed with abundant human and natural resources adding that the in-coming administration would direct all energies towards harnessing such resources for the wellbeing of all the people.

The PDP, therefore, urged the people of Zamfara to resist all forces of division and unite behind their new leaders to move the state forward.

The party also expressed optimism that justice would prevail “in its effort to retrieve all its stolen mandate, particularly the Presidential mandate that Nigerians freely gave to Atiku Abubakar, at the courts.”