The Supreme Court has ordered the federal high court in Abuja to retry the case instituted by Umaru Dahiru, challenging the emergence of Governor Aminu Tambuwal, as the flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2015 primary election held in Sokoto State.
Dahiru, a former Senator in the 7th National Assembly, had gone to court after the primary election, arguing that the exercise was characterized by gross irregularities.
But Governor Tambuwal challenged the suit, saying that the primary election had been overtaken by events; an application that was upheld by both the lower courts and the court of appeal.
However, in a unanimous decision of a five-man panel of Supreme Court Justices, the Apex Court held that to agree with Tambuwal that the primary election that produced him cannot be challenged by another governorship aspirant is to allow democracy to be murdered by the governor.
The Apex Court ruled that the governor’s nomination should be challenged by another governorship aspirant who participated in the exercise provided that he has sufficient justifiable cause.
In the lead judgement written by Justice Musa Mohammed and read by Justice Chima Nweza, the apex court set aside the decision of the court of appeal which held that the court action instituted by Dahiru against Tambuwal had been overtaken due to the fact that Tambuwal has already won the governorship election.
The Supreme Court stated that the Appeal Court erred in law by holding that the event had overtaken the case of the appellant simply because the governorship election had been conducted after the primary election.
It therefore ordered that a Federal High Court in Abuja should retry the case on its merit and make decision as demanded by law.
