‎Supreme Court receives records of appeal on Zamfara APC suit

The Supreme Court has received the records of appeal in the appeal challenging the judgement of the Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division on the conduct of primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara state.

The appeal before the apex court was filed by the governor-elect of the state, Alhaji Mukhtar Shehu Idris and 37 others, following the decision of the appellate court that there were irregularities in the conduct of the APC primaries in the state.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had relied on the decision to withhold issuance of certificates of return to the governor-elect and other members-elect of the State House of Assembly.

It was gathered that while the apex court had received records of appeal, a date has however not been fixed for the hearing of the appeal.

Earlier, in a letter addressed to the Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, which was attached to a notice of appeal before the Supreme Court, Idris said having been declared winner of the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state, it is imperative that the electoral umpire present to him his Certificate of Return.

Idris, through his lawyer, Mahmud Magaji (SAN) said, “It is worthy of note that the purported judgement of the Court of Appeal, has no any positive or direct order. But, assuming there is even a court order arising from the said judgement, we still have 21 days within which to appeal, thus, putting into abeyance the said judgement until after the laps of the said 21 days.

“But, in the case at hand, the parties (APC Zamfara) still have 21 days existing side by side with their constitutional right of appeal.

”Finally, we urge INEC to abide fully with the provision of section 143 of the Electoral Act by releasing the certificate of return to Zamfara state governor-elect as well as all the state assembly members-elect.”