Court bars PDP from fielding candidate in Zamfara governorship election

A federal high court in Gusau, the Zamfara state has nullified the governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that produced Dauda Lawal-Dare as the candidate of the party.

In the judgment delivered on Tuesday, Aminu Bappa, presiding judge also barred the PDP from fielding any candidate for the 2023 governorship election in the state.

This is the second time the court will invalidate the PDP gubernatorial primary in Zamfara

On September 16, a federal high court in Gusau nullified the election of  Lawal-Dare as the governorship candidate of the PDP.

Lawal-Dare had, on May 26, emerged as the party’s governorship candidate.

He had polled 431 votes to defeat Ibrahim Shehu-Gusau, who came second with five votes, and Wadatau Madawaki, who placed third with three votes.

But in June, Madawaki, Shehu-Gusau, and Aliyu Muhammad, another candidate, filed a suit challenging the legality of the primary election.

They requested that the exercise be annulled due to alleged anomalies, contradictions, fraud, and violation of the electoral act and the party’s constitution, among other things.

In his ruling, Bappa, the presiding judge, granted the prayers of the plaintiffs, nullified the primary — and ordered a rerun.

In the rerun, Lawal-Dare still emerged as the party’s candidate having polled 422 votes to beat his two opponents — Ibrahim Shehu and Hafiz Nahuche — who scored one vote each.

Speaking to journalists after the court session, the counsel to the plaintiffs said the PDP still violated electoral guidelines in the rerun.

“What took us to court the other time and now are not the same,” he said.

“What brought us to court today is the election the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) conducted on September 23 violated the Electoral Act 2022 which state that a political party should inform the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) 21 days before the election. And also there is a provision in the electoral guidelines of the PDP which states that if an election would hold, the contestants and the people that would vote would be notified seven days before the election.

“In the primary election that was conducted, these guidelines were not followed. The new Electoral Act 2022 says once a political party does not follow the guidelines and provisions of the act, then it will not be allowed to field a candidate in the election when it comes.

“Therefore, the court has ruled that the PDP cannot field a governorship candidate in Zamafara state for the 2023 election.

“We are happy with this development because it would serve as a warning to other political parties to respect the law when conducting primary elections in different categories.”

At the 2019 elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost Zamfara after the supreme court voided all the party’s votes over issues with the party’s primary elections.