Court Nullifies APC primary, Orders Fresh One

The Federal High Court in Gombe has nullified the All Progressives Congress primary election held on May 16 for the Balanga/Billiri Federal Constituency and ordered the party to conduct a fresh exercise in compliance with the Electoral Act.

The judgment was delivered by Justice Vera Ibrahim.

It barred Ali J.C who emerged as the candidate from the disputed primary, from participating in the fresh election.

The court’s decision followed a challenge to the validity of the APC primary and the party’s compliance with statutory requirements concerning its membership register.

Justice Ibrahim found that Ali’s name was not contained in the APC membership register submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission within the period required by law.

The court relied on Section 77 of the Electoral Act, which requires political parties to submit their membership registers to INEC at least 21 days before conducting their primaries.

According to the judgment, Ali reportedly joined the APC 16 days before the May 16 primary.

The judge said the central issue was not simply whether Ali was a member of the APC but whether the party complied with the statutory requirement governing the submission of its membership register to INEC.

Justice Ibrahim further held that neither the APC nor INEC produced sufficient evidence to establish that Ali’s name appeared on the relevant membership register submitted within the prescribed period.

The court relied on recent decisions of the Supreme Court in reaching its conclusion, distinguishing ordinary disputes over party membership from cases involving compliance with statutory requirements governing political party registers.

The judge consequently nullified the May 16 primary and directed the APC to conduct another primary election in accordance with the law.

Speaking after the judgment, counsel to the plaintiff, Ibrahim Aliyu, said the decision underscored the importance of political parties complying with electoral laws when conducting internal elections.

In another case in Gombe, the Federal High Court had earlier nullified a governorship primary conducted by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party and ordered the party to conduct a fresh exercise.

The PDP rerun, involving former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, and two other aspirants, was scheduled to take place on September 29.

The PDP case also generated controversy over the eligibility of Pantami to participate in the fresh primary after his entry into the party shortly before the earlier exercise.

One of the aspirants, Usman Aliyu Garry, argued that Pantami should not participate because he joined the PDP after the party had submitted its list of aspirants to INEC.

“Pantami joined the PDP on May 19, and the court also confirmed that. Therefore, his name was not on the list of the party’s aspirants submitted to INEC. He should not be allowed to participate in the fresh primary,” Garry said.

However, another aspirant, Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, called for calm among party members and urged the PDP leadership to ensure that the rerun was transparent and provided equal opportunity to all the contestants.

“It is a good development and we are going to run in the contest together with him, and so it’s a good development, and we are calling even all our supporters to be calm and to take this in good faith, to abide by whatever comes out of it,” Mailantarki said.

The Independent National Electoral Commission also confirmed that it would monitor the PDP’s fresh governorship primary in Gombe.

INEC’s Public Relations Officer in the state, Mohorret Bigun, said the commission had received communication from its national headquarters regarding the exercise.

“Yes, we received a letter to that effect from the National Headquarters, the primary elections will hold on Tuesday,” Bigun said.