Federal High Court in Yola has nullified the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary that produced Aishatu Binani as the party’s governorship candidate for Adamawa state, North-East Nigeria.
Gatekeepers News reports that the court in a judgement delivered on Friday declared that there will be no candidate for the APC in the state for the 2023 elections.
Binani, the Senator representing Adamawa central, defeated former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Nuhu Ribadu and former governor of the state, Jibrilla Bindow to emerge the winner of the primary held on May 26.
She was the only female in the contest for the governorship ticket of the party.
Binani polled 430 votes to beat Bindow who had 103 votes and Ribadu, who secured 288 votes.
Aggrieved, Ribadu instituted a suit marked FHC/YL/CS/12/2022.
In the judgment, the presiding judge, Abdulaziz Anka nullified the entire primary election.
Justice Anka held that the process was not compliant with the 2022 Electoral Act, the Nigerian constitution, and the party guidelines.
The judge further said Binani’s victory was in clear contravention of Section 85 of the Electoral Act because there was “manifest overvoting”.
Justice Anka said, “My findings are that there’s non-compliance to the Electoral Act, as well as party guidelines and the constitution because there was manifest over-voting, which has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
“The first defendant (APC) cannot field a candidate for the 2023 general elections; the primary election is invalid, and the court, therefore, sees the return of Aishatu Ahmed Binani as unlawful. The plea for fresh elections is hereby refused.”
