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The Supreme Court judgment over the elections in Zamfara State, north east Nigeria is trending and one of the most read news online.
More remarkably, the judgment is one of most downloaded documents online in Nigeria, according to internet tools accessed by IT Edge News.
You can also download the document here: http://www.barristerng.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/APC-vs-SENATOR-KABIRU-MARAFA-SUPREME-COURT-JUDGMENT0001.pdf
In a groundbreaking judgment, the Supreme Court recently ordered the replacement of all the elected candidates in Zamfara State under the All Progressives Congress (APC) to be replaced by candidates of the next party in line in the February and March elections that took place in the state. Affected were APC members elected under the gubernatorial, house of national and state house of representatives elections.
The Supreme Court affirmed a previous decision against the party’s primaries conducted in 2018 by a lower court.
The justices in a five-member panel, presided over by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad, ruled that there were no primaries conducted in Zamfara State by the APC and that the party could therefore not have emerged winner in any of the state elections.
The APC “could not have won the elections since it had no valid candidates in the said polls,” the court ruled in the judgment read by Justice Paul Galinj.
Adding: “The lower court was right to hold that there were no valid elections conducted in Zamfara State. A party that had no candidate cannot be said to have won an election.”
The court held that all votes for the APC in Zamfara were therefore null and void; wasted votes.
“Candidates, other than the first appellant with the highest votes stand elected. A cost of N10 million is awarded against the appellant,” the court ruled.
The landmark decision of the Supreme Court echoes the case of Amaechi v INEC (2009) 10 WRN 1.
