Justice Gabriel Kolawole of a Federal High Court Abuja has refused to dismiss Aminu Tambuwal as the duly elected governor of Sokoto state. Th e court, in affi rming the election, dismissed a suit seeking the cancellation of the 2015 governorship election in Sokoto state on the grounds that the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries that produced Tambuwal as the party’s fl ag bearer in the state governorship election was fraught with irregularities.
Th e court held that the suit fi led by two APC chieftains, Senator Umaru Dahiru and Mr. Abubakar Sanyinna, challenging the nomination of Tambuwal as APC candidates lacked merit. Kolawola said the plaintiff s were unable to prove the alleged irregularities in the APC primaries.
Th e plaintiff s were governorship aspirants on the APC platform in the 2015 general election He claimed that the primary election of APC conducted in December 4, 2014 in Sokoto was fraudulent because the original list of the delegates for the primary election was swapped in favor of Tambuwal by some external forces.
He prayed the Court to declare that the primary election held in 2014, which produced Tambuwal, was unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void and inconsistent with the Electoral Act, 2010 and the APC guidelines. According to him, the list of accredited delegates was swapped at the election venue and that votes were arbitrarily, unlawfully and fraudulently allocated to the aspirants after series of manipulations, intimidation and threat from INEC offi cials. However, Kolawole held that the plaintiff , Senator Dahiru failed to prove the allegation of irregularities resulting from non compliance to the Electoral Act, the constitution as well as the APC constitution and guidelines for the conduct of the primary elections.
Th e Judge said: “Of what use will it be for the court to grant the plaintiff s reliefs, setting aside the primary election that produced Tambuwal and ordering a fresh primary election, which will require a fresh conduct of the governorship election in Sokoto state,” He agreed with the respondents that granting the reliefs sought by the plaintiff s will amount to a violation of the constitution and the rules of the court. “Having looked at submissions of parties in the matter, I have come to a conclusion that the plaintiff s suit failed and all the reliefs sought are hereby dismissed”, he said.
