… Yari heads to Supreme Court
BY: Oliseama Okwuchukwu
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has reacted to the Appeal Court judgment, which nullified the participation of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2019 elections in Zamfara State.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Sokoto led by Justice Tom Yakubu, had on Monday set aside the judgment of a Zamfara High Court on the APC primaries that produced the party’s candidates for the governorship, National and State Assembly elections.
Reacting, INEC in a tweet on Tuesday said it has suspended the presentation of Certificates of Return for the Zamfara Governorship and State House of Assembly which was scheduled for Wednesday.
The tweet reads, ”INEC has been served with the judgment of the Court of Appeal Sokoto concerning the sponsoring of candidates by the APC in Zamfara and is studying same.
“Consequently, the presentation of Certificates of Return for the Zamfara Governorship and State House of Assembly scheduled for Wednesday 27th March 2019 has been suspended.”
… Yari heads to Supreme Court
Zamfara State Governor, Abdul’Aziz Yari, has reacted to the court judgment which nullified the primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the governorship election in the state.
Addressing State House correspondents on Tuesday in Abuja, the governor said he would approach the Supreme Court on the matter.
He explained that the purpose of going to the apex court was to seek the interpretation of the ruling for better understanding.
“I think it is better for us to go to the Supreme Court so that the court can be able to explain what the judgment is about,” Governor Yari said.
He added, “In the entire judgment, there is no order or directive of what to be done or what not to be done.”
The governor also noted that the judgement did not make any pronouncement regarding the National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections in the state.
He addressed reporters a day after the Court of Appeal in Sokoto State nullified the APC primary for the governorship election in Zamfara.
This followed an appeal filed by the lawmaker representing Zamfara Central district and Senate Committee Chairman on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Kabiru Marafa, and 129 others.
In its ruling on Monday, the appellate court set aside the decision of the Zamfara State High Court which allowed the APC to field a candidate for the governorship election in the state.
It held that the trial court failed to carry out a proper evaluation of the evidence before it before arriving at a decision.
According to the appellate court, the decision of the State High Court was fraught with error.
It added that it has the power in law to assess pieces of evidence on appeal, which the court had done in this case.