The Supreme Court has dismissed the application for the review of the judgement which disqualified the governorship and other (APC) candidates of the All Progressives Congress in Zamfara State in the 2019 general elections.
A five-member panel of justices presided by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad ruled on Friday that the application was a gross abuse of the Rules of Order 8 Rule 16 of the Supreme Court Rules.
The lead judgement, which was agreed to by four of the five members read by Justice John Inyang Okoro, also ordered a cost of N2m against the Abdulazez Yari faction to the Kabiru Marafa faction (1 to 140th Respondents).
However, Justice Chima Nweze delivered a dissenting judgment in which he agreed with the application for review on the grounds that the apex court cannot award victory to the PDP which was not a party to the dispute.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad in Febuary reconstituted the five-member panel to hear the application by members of the APC in Zamfara challenging the Supreme Court’s judgement.
The Zamfara application, dated November 27, 2019, was brought by the APC faction loyal to former governor Abdulaziz Yari through their counsel, seeking a review of the consequential order of the apex court which on March 24, 2019 nullified the election of candidates of the party over failure to conduct a proper primary.
