•PDP from fielding Governorship candidate for 2023 election
The Federal High Court sitting in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, on Tuesday, nullified the governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that produced Dauda Lawal-Dare as the governorship candidate of party in the state.
Justice Aminu Bappa also ruled that PDP will not field any candidate for the 2023 governorship election in the state.
This is the second time that the court will nullify PDP governorship primary in Zamfara.
In September, the court nullified the previous primary that elected Lawal-Dare following a suit filed before by Ibrahim Shehu and two other aspirants challenging the credibility of the primary.
The court ordered a re-run but Lawal-Dare emerged winner at the re-run in September 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.
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“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.
In 2019, the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost Zamfara the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) after the supreme court voided all the party’s votes over issues with the party’s primary elections.