BY Maryam Abdullahi
Pauline Tallen, the minister of women affairs, has criticised the nullification of the election that produced Aishatu Binani as the Adamawa All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate.
Tallen spoke on Saturday during a News Agency of Nigeria ministerial forum in Abuja.
The minister said the matter which prompted the nullification is a party issue while calling for the reversal of the judgment.
“The nullification of our only female candidate for the governorship in Adamawa is unacceptable,” Tallen said.
“It is unacceptable to all Nigerian women and all men and women of goodwill. We will not accept it. It is not just the issue of the candidate or Nigerian women; it is a party issue because the judgment says that the party has no candidate; that is not democracy.
“Why are they afraid of allowing her to run? A primary was conducted and it was a very transparent primary because top government officials that witnessed the primary confirmed that it was transparent and clean.
“And for anybody to now take her to court sounds funny and undemocratic and Nigerian women are not happy with that judgment.”
The minister called on President Muhammadu Buhari and Aisha Buhari, the first lady, to intervene in the matter.
Tallen said Nigerian women will continue to advocate “until Binani’s mandate is restored”.
“We will do everything as Nigerian women to support the party to fight until our mandate is returned,” she added.
THE NULLIFICATION JUDGMENT
A federal high court in Yola nullified the Adamawa governorship primary in a judgement delivered on October 14.
The court declared that there will be no candidate for the APC in the state for the 2023 elections.
Binani, the senator representing Adamawa central, had defeated Nuhu Ribadu, former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Jibrilla Bindow, former governor of the state, to win 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, Abdulaziz Anka, the presiding judge, nullified the entire primary election.
He held that the process was not compliant with the 2022 Electoral Act, the Nigerian constitution, and the party guidelines.
The judge said Binani’s victory was in clear contravention of Section 85 of the Electoral Act because there was “manifest overvoting”.
STEPPING ASIDE
On November 4, the senator resigned from her position as the coordinator of the APC campaign in Adamawa state.
Raymond Chidama, Adamawa APC secretary, announced the development after the party’s stakeholders’ meeting.
Speaking on the senator’s resignation, Chidama said: “Just this morning, we saw her letter of stepping down from that responsibility.”
Chindama said Babale Martins, a former deputy governor of Adamawa, would now coordinate the campaign council in the state.
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