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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Zamfara APC Crisis: Governor-elect, Others Head For Supreme Court, Write INEC (435 Views)
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Zamfara APC Crisis: Governor-elect, Others Head For Supreme Court, Write INEC by Eugenemartins: 11:55am On Mar 30, 2019 |
The All Progressives Congress (APC ) in Zamfara
State, its governor-elect , and other winners of
the 2019 general elections on the platform of the
party, have resolved to approach the Supreme
Court for a final resolution of the crisis that
engulfed the party in the state .
The party has also written to the Chairman ,
Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC ), Prof . Mahmood Yakubu , to notify him
about the judgment of the Court of Appeal
delivered on March 25, 2019.
In a letter dated March 26, 2019, written on
behalf of the governor- elect and 38 others by
their counsel, Magaji Abubakar Mahmmud
(SAN) , the APC members said the Appeal Court
judgment only allowed the appellant’ s appeal
and set aside the judgment of the trial Court,
but did not “ make any positive consequential
order.”
A factional leader of the party in the state,
Senator Kabir Marafa, had at the Court of
Appeal challenged the judgment of a Zamfara
State High Court, which gave the APC the go -
ahead to field candidates during the 2019 polls .
However, after the judgment of the appellate
Court, there were reports that the Court
nullified the APC primaries , which produced the
candidates for the just- concluded elections in
the State .
But in his letter to the Chairman of the INEC ,
the counsel to the APC said, the Court of Appeal
did not make such an order in its judgment.
The lawyer said: “ Our attention has also been
drawn by our client to a letter written by
Counsel to the Appellants ( Marafa and 140 Ors)
Mr. Mike Ozekhome (SAN) dated March 25, 2019
wherein he stated that, “ there is absolutely no
legal basis for any of the APC candidates that
allegedly emerged victorious from the said
sham elections to be issued with any certificate
of return .
“Assuming without conceding that the judgment
of the Court of Appeal had a positive order, the
Court of Appeal is not the final court of law in
respect of the subject matter .”
While noting that his client reserved the right of
appeal on the said subject matter to the
Supreme Court, Mahmud noted that his clients
“have taken positive steps towards exercising
their constitutional right of appeal to the
Supreme Court.”
The counsel, however, faulted INEC ’s decision to
withhold the APC candidates’ certificates of
return on the ground of a letter written to the
Commission by counsel to the appellants .
He said : It is a bad practice for Counsel to resort
to letter writing , thus misleading a responsible
organization like the INEC by twisting facts . ”
He further stated: “ We wish to state that issues
of law of this nature are regulated by an order
of court or court of law and not by opinion of
counsel via a mere letter from chambers . May
we further emphasise that in the entire
judgment of the Court of Appeal , there was
neither a positive order made against our clients
nor in favour of the appellants .
“Thus , it will be wrong of the commission to
rely on the mere speculative letter of the
appellants’ counsel at this stage when elections
have already been concluded and winners have
emerged . The only institution that is
empowered to make a positive order in respect
of this subject matter is the court of law, and no
court of law has made or given an order to that
effect.”
Quoting section 235 ( 3) of the 1999 Constitution
as amended, the lawyer stressed that an
aggrieved party has right of appeal to the
Supreme Court and no court or any person can
take away such right by mere letter.
“We urge you and the entire Commission to
discountenance the letter written by Ozekhome
(SAN) ,” he said, arguing that the provisions of
section 285 ( 13) of the 1999 Constitution (as
amended) supported the judgment. |
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