Illegal primary: PDP cannot field senatorial candidate for Adamawa central, court rules

A federal high court in Adamawa has ruled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cannot field any candidate for Adamawa central senatorial district in the 2023 general election.

In May, Aminu Iya-Abbas, speaker of the Adamawa state house of assembly, polled 125 votes to defeat Awwal Tukur, son of the former PDP national chairman, Bamangar Tukur, who polled 54 votes.

The other aspirants who participated in the primary included D.D. Azura, Mohammed Modibbo, Ibrahim Mustapha, Ibrahim Abubakar, Daniel Bwala, and Abdullahi Prambe.

Dissatisfied with the primary’s result, Modibbo filed a lawsuit challenging the conduct of the election.

Specifically, he contended that Tukur, a political appointee who hadn’t quit his position as chairman of the governing council of Adamawa State University, ought not to have participated in the process.

Delivering judgment on Monday, Abdulaaziz Anka, the presiding judge, voided the PDP senatorial primary for Adamawa central.

The judge held that Turkur’s participation violated the Electoral Act 2022, hence “the entire process is hereby nullified”.

“The only issue proved before the court is as regards the fourth defendant’s engagement in the primary election conducted, him being a political appointee, i.e. chairman, governing council, Adamawa State University, Mubi,” the judge said.

“Accordingly, the entire process is hereby nullified by this honourable court, the consequence of which the party will not be able to field a candidate for the general election come 2023 because of substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022.

“This is the consequential judgment of the court, against the entire political party and its members.”