The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved ruling in an application by the All Progressives Congress (APC) seeking a review of the judgment that disqualified the governorship and other candidates of the party in Zamfara in 2019 general elections.
A five-member panel of justices presided by the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad announced that a new date would be communicated to the parties after listening to their arguments.
The ex-governor Abdulazeez Yari faction of the APC, through their counsel, Robert Clarke, SAN, brought the application seeking a review of the consequential order of the apex court, which voided the total votes polled by APC in the election over the conduct of primaries in Oct. 3, 2018.
But Counsel to Sen. Kabiru Marafa-led faction of the APC, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, asked the court to dismiss the application with punitive costs.
He said that based on constitutional provisions, the decision of the Supreme Court was final and could not be reviewed at any time.
According to Ozekhome, the application constitutes gross abuse of the process of this apex court of the land.
“More so, because of the most recent decisions of the court in the cases between Diri Douye and Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo of Bayelsa and that of Emeka Ihedioha versus Hope Uzodima of Imo, the court should not accede to their requests.
“They want the court to wake up a case that died 10 months ago, which violates section 235 of the constitution of Nigeria,’’ Ozekhome said.
On May 24, 2019, the Supreme Court validated the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division, which ruled that no valid primaries were conducted by the APC in Zamfara State.
The court in a unanimous judgment by a five-member panel decided that a party that had no valid candidate cannot be said to have emerged winner of the recently conducted general elections. (NAN)
