BY Bolanle Olabimtan
The Supreme court has affirmed the nomination of Dauda Lawal as the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Zamfara state.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Monday, a five-member panel of justice led by Adamu Jauro dismissed an appeal brought against Lawal’s nomination.
On May 26, Lawal was elected after he polled 431 votes to defeat Ibrahim Shehu, who came second with five votes, and Wadatau Madawaki, who placed third with three votes.
In June, Madawaki, Shehu, and Aliyu Muhammad, another candidate, filed a suit challenging the legality of the primary.
They requested that the exercise be annulled due to alleged anomalies, contradictions, fraud, and violation of the electoral act and the party’s constitution, among other issues.
On September 16, a federal high court in Gusau nullified the election and ordered a rerun.
Lawal won the rerun, polling 422 votes to beat his two opponents — Ibrahim Shehu and Hafiz Nahuche — who scored one vote each.
Dissatisfied, Shehu and other aspirants again approached the court, arguing that PDP violated electoral guidelines.
On November 8, the court nullified the rerun and barred the party from fielding any candidate for the 2023 governorship election.
Consequently, the PDP approached the appeal court to seek redress.
On January 6, a three-man panel of the appeal court ordered the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) to accept Dauda Lawal as the elected governorship candidate of the PDP in Zamfara.
The panel said it was inconceivable for the federal high court judge to refuse to accept the INEC report of the primaries despite being a public document and published on the commission’s website.
Jauro upheld the judgment of the court of appeal which had endorsed the second primary election that produced the candidate.
Aggrieved by the appellate court’s judgment, the respondents proceeded to the supreme court.
The supreme court in its judgment affirmed the decision of the court of appeal.
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