The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has admonished political parties to learn from the recent judgment of the Supreme Court, which nullified the election of candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the last elections in Zamfara State.

INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said political parties should begin to appreciate the importance of well conducted party primaries to the “proper internal functioning of political parties, the electoral process and our democratic system at large.”

Addressing the press on Saturday, on the electoral body’s decisions based on the Supreme Court judgment, Mahmood said: “Therefore, political parties must take very seriously the conduct of primaries according to all extant rules, including the monitoring of the processes by INEC to avoid a repeat of the Zamfara experience.”

He also reminded the parties that the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2019 Bayelsa and Kogi Governorship elections has been release by the Commission since April 9, 2019 and urged them to adhere strictly to it.

Below is the full text of the address:

1. First, let me welcome all of you to this Press Conference. The reason for addressing you today is to provide an update on the recent decision of the Supreme Court regarding the candidates fielded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State for the 2019 general elections.

2. It is important to provide a background to the legal process that culminated in the Supreme Court decision on 24th May 2019. You may all recall that the Commission issued the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2019 general elections on 9th January 2018, over one year in advance. Among other activities, the conduct of party primaries was scheduled to take place between 18th August and 7th October 2018. Unfortunately, the APC did not conduct its primaries in Zamfara State within this stipulated time and the Commission duly informed the party that it would not be in a position to present candidates for elections in the State. Subsequently, various interested parties, including the APC itself, approached the court over the decision of the Commission. Just before the election, the subsisting court judgment at the time ordered the Commission to include the APC on the ballot for the Governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly elections, which the Commission complied with.

3. However, since the elections were completed, a Court of Appeal judgment and now a Supreme Court judgment have determined that the APC did not conduct valid primaries for the elections in question. In its judgment delivered on 24th May 2019, the Supreme Court, having determined that the APC did not conduct valid primaries, said that the votes cast for the party in all the elections in question were “wasted” and ordered the Commission to recognize the runners-up as the winners. This judgment affects the positions of Governor and Deputy-Governor, three Senatorial, seven Federal and twenty-four State Assembly Constituencies.

4. Following the judgment of the Supreme Court, the Commission has met in two emergency sessions and taken briefings from our lawyers and staff on the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment. While the legislative elections (Senatorial, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly elections) are straight forward to deal with because they entail first-past-the-post or simple majority of votes, the Governorship election is determined not just by majority votes but also spread in accordance with Section 179 (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). This means that we had to first discount the votes cast for the APC at the elections and then carefully rework the spread by Local Government Areas based on the new valid votes.

5. In compliance with the Supreme Court judgment, the Commission has now determined the winners of the elections in Zamfara State as follows: Governorship

S/N

POSITION

NAME OF ELECTED CANDIDATE

GENDER

PARTY

1. GOVERNOR BELLO MOHAMMED MATAWALLE, MALE, PDP

2. DEPUTY GOVERNOR MAHDI ALIYU GUSAU, MALE, PDP

Senatorial

S/N

NAME OF SENATORIAL DISTRICT

NAME OF ELECTED CANDIDATE

GENDER

PARTY

1

ZAMFARA NORTH

ALHAJI YA’U SAHABI

MALE

PDP

2

ZAMFARA CENTRAL

MOHAMMED HASSAN

MALE

PDP

3

ZAMFARA WEST

LAWALI HASSAN ANKA

MALE

PDP

House of Representatives

S/N

NAME OF FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY

NAME OF ELECTED CANDIDATE

GENDER

PARTY

1 KAURAN NAMODA/BIRNIN MAGAJI

UMAR SANI DAN-GALADIMA

MALE

PDP 2

SHINKAFI/ZURMI

BELLO HASSAN SHINKAFI

MALE

PDP

3

GUSAU/TSAFE

KABIRU AMADU

MALE

PDP

4

BUNGUDU/MARU

SHEHU AHMED

MALE

PDP

5

ANKA/TALATA MAFARA

KABIRU YAHAYA

MALE

PDP

6

BAKURA/MARADUN

AHMED MUHAMMAD BAKURA

MALE

PDP

7

GUMMI/BUKKUYUM

SULAIMAN ABUBAKAR GUMI

MALE

PDP

State House of Assembly

S/N

NAME OF STATE CONSTITUENCY

NAME OF ELECTED CANDIDATE

GENDER

PARTY

1

KAURA NAMODA NORTH

ZAHARADEEN M. SADA

MALE

PDP

2

KAURA NAMODA SOUTH

ANAS SARKIN FADA

MALE

PDP

3

BIRNIN MAGAJI

NURA DAHIRU

MALE

PDP

4

ZURMI EAST

SALIHU USMAN ZURMI

MALE

PDP

5

ZURMI WEST

NASIRU MU’AZU

MALE

PDP

6

SHINKAFI

MUHAMMAD G. AHMAD

MALE

PDP

7

TSAFE EAST

MUSA BAWA MUSA

MALE

PDP

8

TSAFE WEST

ALIYU NA-MAIGORA

MALE

PDP

9

GUSAU EAST

IBRAHIM NAIDA

MALE

PDP

10

GUSAU WEST

SHAFI’U DAMA

MALE

PDP

11

BUNGUDU EAST

KABIRU MAGAJI

MALE

PDP

12

BUNGUDU WEST

NASIRU BELLO LAWAL

MALE

PDP

13

MARU NORTH

YUSUF ALHASSAN MUHAMMAD

MALE

PDP

14

MARU SOUTH

KABIRU HASHIMU

MALE

NRM

15

ANKA

YUSUF MUHAMMAD

MALE

PDP

16

TALATA MAFARA NORTH

SHAMSUDEEN HASSAN

MALE

PDP

17

TALATA MAFARA SOUTH

AMINU YUSUF JANGEBE

MALE

PDP

18

BAKURA

TUKUR JEKADA BIRNIN TUDU

MALE

PDP

19

MARADUN I

FARUK MUSA DOSARA

MALE

PDP

20

MARADUN II

NASIRU ATIKU

MALE

PDP

21 GUMMI I

ABDULNASIR IBRAHIM

MALE

PDP

22 GUMMI II

MANSUR MOHAMMED

MALE

PDP

23

BUKKUYUM NORTH

IBRAHIM MOHAMMED NA’IDDA

MALE

PDP

24

BUKKUYUM SOUTH

SANI DAHIRU

MALE

PDP


6. The Commission will issue Certificates of Return to the new winners as follows: i. Governor and Deputy Governor-elect, Senators-elect and Members of the House of Representatives-elect will receive their certificates on Monday 27th May 2019 at the Commission’s Electoral Institute at 2.00pm. ii. Members of the State House of Assembly-elect will receive their certificates from the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Zamfara State at the INEC State Office in Gusau on Friday 31st May 2019 at 10.00am.

7. I wish to seize this opportunity to draw the attention of all stakeholders, but particularly the political parties, to the implications of the Supreme Court judgment on the Zamfara matter. It is clear that properly conducted party primaries are cardinal to the proper internal functioning of political parties, the electoral process and our democratic system at large. Therefore, political parties must take very seriously the conduct of primaries according to all extant rules, including the monitoring of the processes by INEC to avoid a repeat of the Zamfara experience.

I want therefore to remind us that the Commission has since 9th April 2019 issued the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2019 Bayelsa and Kogi Governorship elections by which party primaries are scheduled to hold between the 2nd and 29th August 2019.

I appeal to political parties intending to field candidates in the elections to adhere strictly to this and other timelines in the Timetable and Schedule of activities.

8. I thank you very much and I will now take some questions.

https://nextedition.com.ng/2019/05/26/nullified-zamfara-elections-inec-advises-parties-to-learn-from-experience/

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