The governorship candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in Zamfara State, Alhaji Sani Shinkafi, has asked the state’s Governorship and State House of Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja to nullify the governorship election conducted in the state on March 9 and order for a fresh election without the participation of All Progressives Congress, APC and its candidate, Mukhta Idris.

Shinkafi in the petition by his counsel, Ifeanyi Mbaeri, is contending that “Pursuant to section 87(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, a political party seeking to sponsor or nominate candidates for elections under this section shall hold primaries for aspirants to all elective positions.

“In other words, by the combined provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), sponsorship of candidates for elective positions is only through the holding of primaries.

Citing Section 140(2) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, Shinkafi noted: “Where an election tribunal or court nullifies an election on the ground that the person who obtained the highest votes at the election was not qualified to contest the election or marred by substantial irregularities or non-compliance with the provisions of this act, the election tribunal or court shall not declare the person with the second highest number of votes or any other person as elected, but shall order a fresh election.”

He contended that Idris cited in the suit as the 1st respondent was, as at the time of the Zamfara State governorship election, not qualified to contest the election on the grounds that he was not a sponsored candidate of a political party and was, therefore, not qualified for election to the office of the governor of a state.

The petitioners further averted that by the combined provisions of 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), sponsorship of governorship candidate is only through the holding of primary elections otherwise known as Special Congress in the state capital with delegates voting for aspirants of their choice.

The petitioner maintained that the 2nd respondent, APC, did not hold any primary election in Zamfara State or Special Congress wherein the 1st respondent was nominated/sponsored as the governorship candidate of the 2nd respondent for the Zamfara State governorship election that took place on March 9, 2019.

•Sourced from a Vanguard report

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