Supreme Court reserves ruling on Zamfara APC application for review of judgment

The Supreme Court has reserved its ruling on an application to review its judgment nullifing the victories of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the general elections held in 2019 in Zamfara State.

A five-man panel of the apex court led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, on Tuesday, said the date of the ruling would be communicated to the parties.

A five-man panel of the Supreme Court led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad stated this on Tuesday, saying the date for the ruling would be communicated to the parties.

The decision for the the reserve of the judgement was made by Justice Tanko immediately after counsels for the parties made their submissions.

The application for the review was brought by the APC and the faction of its Zamfara State chapter loyal to former Governor Abdulaziz Yari.

The victories of the party in the 2019 general elections were nullified by the Supreme Court on the grounds that no valid primaries were conducted to choose candidates for the elections paving the way for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be declared winner of the elections, after the court declared that votes cast for APC were wasted.

Another faction of the party in Zamfara led by Senator Kabiru Marafa, however objected the application for review of the May 24, 2019 judgment.

Read also: Shehu Sani mocks Segun Oni over decision to dump APC

While addressing the court, APC’s lawyer, Chief Robert Clarke (SAN), prayed the Court to grant his clients’ application by setting aside the consequential order which directed that the candidates with the next highest votes be sworn in.

He also prayed theapex court to order his clients to conduct fresh primaries, arguing that the previous orders of the apex court were made without jurisdiction.

Mike Ozekhome, who represented the Marafa’s faction, opposed Clarke’s prayers, urging the court to dismiss the application and award huge and punitive costs against the applicants’ lawyer.

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