Another court upholds Zamfara APC primaries, asks INEC to accept candidates

The Zamfara state high court sitting in Gusau, the state capital, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise candidates of a faction the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

The court gave the ruling after a federal high court in Abuja affirmed the decision of INEC not to accept the party’s candidates for the elections.

INEC had said the APC failed to meet the deadline of conducting primaries but the  party contradicted the commission, saying the elections held.

At the state high court on Friday, Bello Shinkafi, a judge, said the evidence tendered before the court showed that the elections took place.

Shinkafi held that the APC in Zamfara was qualified to field candidates to contest elections for the governorship, national assembly and the state house of assembly elections.

He directed INEC and APC national headquarters to recognise the primary election held by the party in the state.

On October 11, 2018, the state chapter of APC filed a case before the court praying it to compel the APC national headquarters and INEC to accept the primary election it conducted on October 7, 2018.

The national headquarters of the APC had earlier declared that there was no primary election of the party in the state.