Court indefinitely reserves judgment in APC Yobe North primary fight
A Federal High Court in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State, on Monday reserved indefinite judgment in the fight for the candidacy of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party from the Yobe Senatorial District. North in next year's National Assembly elections.
Bashir Machina, who won the party's primary election for the district, had addressed the court, asking it to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to uphold his election as the valid winner of the primary of 05/28/2022.
But the APC leadership sent the name of Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the candidate for the district to INEC.
Mr. Lawan, who has represented the district since 2007, did not participate in the primary. He had participated unsuccessfully in the party's presidential primary.
After granting all preliminary requests and objections in the adoption of the addresses of both parties, Judge Fadima Aminu went directly to the hearing of the merits case, which was introduced by Mr. Machina .
Machina's lead lawyer, Ibrahim Bawa, argued that his client had been appointed in accordance with due process and therefore urged the court to convince INEC and APC to obey the provisions of the electoral law by declaring his client winner of the 05/28/2022 senatorial primary elections for the district.
“As far as we are concerned, there was no second primary election in Yobe. Can you tell me where anyone in Yobe saw where a second primary election was held and where the primary was held,” Bawa explained.
"Our prayer is that after winning, the electoral law states that the person must be declared the winner, which has been done and the party has no choice but to do so. We therefore ask the court to compel INEC to comply with the law.
“On the 11th the party compiled the report and declared that our candidate was the winner of the election and all of a sudden documents started coming out saying he was not. elements are put together and left for the court to decipher and decide on the right thing to do,” Bawa explained.
In his counter-argument, Ahmed Raj, Mr. Lawan's lawyer, said that the President of the Senate, on the basis of Article 115 of the Election Law, was not disqualified from participating in a another election even after losing the presidential primaries.< /p>
According to him, the provisions of Article 115 only prohibit a candidate from running for another election "at the same time", in which case he noted that they did not apply to Mr. Lawan because he never ran for president.
He also asked the judge to strike out the case because it was filed "out of time."
"This matter has been heard on its merits, the objections have been taken and essentially our objection is that the matter is time-barred because it has not been completed within the 14 days stipulated by the constitution.
“We also debunked the argument that they alleged that Senate President Ahmed Lawan was a candidate for a primary before he came to this one to be a candidate and we say never. as a candidate for the presidency, he was only an aspirant. What article 115 of the electoral law prohibits is that you hold two candidacies (sic), which never happens in this case. In overall, therefore, the case is without merit and it is for the court to decide.
"We didn't come to court, they came to court. So we're saying they didn't prove their case, so it's now up to INEC, based on what's available before them , to go ahead and announce our client because the genuine primary which was the one that took place on June 9, 2022 must be affirmed because that of May 28, 2022 has not been proven. This is our argument said Mr. Raji.
After listening carefully to the arguments of the lawyers, Judge Fadima Murtala Aminu decided that the judgment on the case will be rendered at a later date which will be communicated to all parties.
“After hearing all the arguments put forward by both parties, I hereby decide that the judgment will be delivered at a later date to be communicated to all parties in due course,” Judge Fadima said.
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A Federal High Court in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State, on Monday reserved indefinite judgment in the fight for the candidacy of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party from the Yobe Senatorial District. North in next year's National Assembly elections.
Bashir Machina, who won the party's primary election for the district, had addressed the court, asking it to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to uphold his election as the valid winner of the primary of 05/28/2022.
But the APC leadership sent the name of Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the candidate for the district to INEC.
Mr. Lawan, who has represented the district since 2007, did not participate in the primary. He had participated unsuccessfully in the party's presidential primary.
After granting all preliminary requests and objections in the adoption of the addresses of both parties, Judge Fadima Aminu went directly to the hearing of the merits case, which was introduced by Mr. Machina .
Machina's lead lawyer, Ibrahim Bawa, argued that his client had been appointed in accordance with due process and therefore urged the court to convince INEC and APC to obey the provisions of the electoral law by declaring his client winner of the 05/28/2022 senatorial primary elections for the district.
“As far as we are concerned, there was no second primary election in Yobe. Can you tell me where anyone in Yobe saw where a second primary election was held and where the primary was held,” Bawa explained.
"Our prayer is that after winning, the electoral law states that the person must be declared the winner, which has been done and the party has no choice but to do so. We therefore ask the court to compel INEC to comply with the law.
“On the 11th the party compiled the report and declared that our candidate was the winner of the election and all of a sudden documents started coming out saying he was not. elements are put together and left for the court to decipher and decide on the right thing to do,” Bawa explained.
In his counter-argument, Ahmed Raj, Mr. Lawan's lawyer, said that the President of the Senate, on the basis of Article 115 of the Election Law, was not disqualified from participating in a another election even after losing the presidential primaries.< /p>
According to him, the provisions of Article 115 only prohibit a candidate from running for another election "at the same time", in which case he noted that they did not apply to Mr. Lawan because he never ran for president.
He also asked the judge to strike out the case because it was filed "out of time."
"This matter has been heard on its merits, the objections have been taken and essentially our objection is that the matter is time-barred because it has not been completed within the 14 days stipulated by the constitution.
“We also debunked the argument that they alleged that Senate President Ahmed Lawan was a candidate for a primary before he came to this one to be a candidate and we say never. as a candidate for the presidency, he was only an aspirant. What article 115 of the electoral law prohibits is that you hold two candidacies (sic), which never happens in this case. In overall, therefore, the case is without merit and it is for the court to decide.
"We didn't come to court, they came to court. So we're saying they didn't prove their case, so it's now up to INEC, based on what's available before them , to go ahead and announce our client because the genuine primary which was the one that took place on June 9, 2022 must be affirmed because that of May 28, 2022 has not been proven. This is our argument said Mr. Raji.
After listening carefully to the arguments of the lawyers, Judge Fadima Murtala Aminu decided that the judgment on the case will be rendered at a later date which will be communicated to all parties.
“After hearing all the arguments put forward by both parties, I hereby decide that the judgment will be delivered at a later date to be communicated to all parties in due course,” Judge Fadima said.
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