20th April, 2011
Ahead of the 26 April governorship election, a Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja this morning upturned the victory of Alhaji Ibrahim Abacha, the son of the late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha and Senator Lato for the governorship tickets of Congress for Progressive Change, CPC in Kano and Katsina States respectively.
Last February, a Federal High Court in Abuja division presided over by Justice Adamu Bello and another one presided over by Justice Gabriel Kolawole declared Senator Lato and Ibrahim Abacha as the validly nominated candidates of the party for Katsina and Kano States respectively.
Major contestants against Ibrahim Abacha for the CPC governorship ticket in Kano included Col. Jaffar Isah (retd) and in Katsina State, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari is being challenged by Senator Lato. They appealed the judgements of the Federal High Court at the appellate court.
Delivering the judgement this morning, Justice Jimmy Bada held that the party’s primary election which produced Ibrahim Abacha as the governorship candidate of the CPC in Kano state was inconclusive being that the election did not hold in nine local governments of the state.
But he questioned the rationale behind the adoption of Jaffar Isah as the party’s candidate by the national executive of the party without conducting fresh primaries in the state.
The court however held that the trial judge at the Federal High Court erred in holding that Ibrahim Abacha won the inconclusive primary in the state and consequently set aside the judgement of the Federal High Court delivered on 14 March, 2011 which cleared Abacha as the validly nominated candidate of the CPC in Kano.
The court however did not order for a fresh primary election thereby creating confusion as to who will fly the party’s flag during Tuesday’s governorship election.
On that of Katsina, the Court of Appeal held that the 15 January, 2011 primary election conducted by the party in Katsina State through which Senator Lato emerged as the party’s flagbearer was not sanctioned by the party’s board of trustees and the national executive of the party and that the list of candidates which was transmitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, by the party’s state executive in Katsina state fell short of provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 which state that the national executive of the party must endorse the list of candidates.
The court went ahead to uphold the result of the party’s primary election conducted on 13 February, 2011 which was sanctioned and endorsed by the board of trustees, the national executive of the party through which former Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Bello Aminu Masari emerged as the party’s governorship candidate.
Consequently, the court set aside the decision of the Federal High Court delivered by Justice Adamu Bello which recognised the candidacy of Senator Lato.
—Felix Nnamdi, Abuja