Desmond Mgboh, Kano

A Federal High Court sitting in Kano has nullified the governorship primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State.

The court, presided by Justice Lewis Alaoge, therefore, ordered the party to conduct a fresh governorship primary election to determine its candidate for within 14 days from today.

A PDP governorship aspirant in the state, Alhaji Ibrahim Ali Amin, had approached the court to nullify the primary election on the grounds that the exercise violated the provisions of the constitution of the party.

The plaintiff had asked the court to set aside the nomination of the Kano State governorship candidate of the PDP, urging it to compel the second respondent Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  to remove, delete or refuse to recognise any governorship candidate that was forwarded to it by the first respondent(PDP) for the purpose of the 2019 general election.

Speaking to Daily Sun at the premises of the court after the judgement, the defence counsel, Bashir Yusuf, faulted the judgement of the court.

According to him,“ Abba, who is the governorship candidate of the PDP, is not a party to this suit. He was not joined by the plaintiff. The plaintiff only sued PDP and INEC. And by the law, if you are not a party to the suit, the order of the court should ordinarily not affect you “

“Secondly, there is a subsisting judgement of Kano High Court 3 , which had the same concurrent powers with this court,  which had declared Alhaji Abba Yusuf as the winner of the primary election of the PDP in the state. That order is still valid” he stated.

“With the effect of that judgement and the fact that Abba is not a party to the suit, he cannot be affected by the outcome of this suit. And, therefore, Abba remains the candidate of the party, until and except a court of higher jurisdiction thinks otherwise,” he said.

Meanwhile, covernorship candidate of the PDP, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf, has said that Monday’s judgement of a Federal High Court sitting in Kano did not nullify his candidacy for the position of the governor in Saturday’s election.

“The case is PDP, which we believe the party has taken the most appropriate action of appeal” he stated

A statement signed by his spokesman, Alhaji Sanusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, and made available to Daily Sun in Kano, held that, “As far as we are concern, our campaign activities will continue till Thursday night when the deadline of campaigns will elapse as contained in the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

“Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf remains the candidate of the People Democratic Party for the 2019 coming election on Saturday, March 9, 2019. The case has nothing to do with the flag-bearer of the party, it is an internal issue with one of the aspirants and the party has taken the next step,” said the statement.

 The statement added that, “We are surprised that the news of the judgement came from the mouthpiece of Kano State governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, via social media before the court ruling was delivered.”

“It is a fact that the ruling party (APC) is behind the scenes on this case, they are determined to prostrate the opposition ahead of Saturday’s polls for the fear of unknown,” the statement added.

The statement called on all the members of the PDP and the supporters of the governorship candidate to remain calm and move forward with electioneering campaigns to ensure victory for the party come Saturday, March 9, 2019.