The Court of Appeal sitting in Kano has set aside the judgment of a High Court that recognised Muhammad Abacha as the gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano state.
The appellate court consequentially ordered that Sadiq Wali, who was earlier recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), remains the valid gubernatorial candidate of the PDP for Kano state.
In a consensus judgment of the three-man-panel read by Justice Usman Musale, the court held that the law is clear that only the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party can conduct the gubernatorial primary elections of a party and since Abacha did not participate at the primary election conducted by NEC that produced Wali and thus had no locus standi to challenge the said primary.
Recall that Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of PDP and the party hierarchy refused to endorse either of party’s two parallel gubernatorial candidates, with the absence of the usual handing over of party flag to the party’s gubernatorial candidate on the agenda of the rally.
The party in Kano has been engulfed in leadership crisis which culminated in the emergence of two parallel gubernatorial candidates – Abacha and Wali.
