BEVERLY HILLS, May 24, (THEWILL) – The Supreme Court On Friday sealed the fate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) chances of governing Zamfara State for the next four years as it ruled that the APC did not conduct valid primaries in the build-up to the 2019 general elections in Zamfara.
In a unanimous judgement by a five-member panel, the Supreme Court decided that a party that had no valid candidate cannot be said to have emerged winner of the recently conducted general elections.
In an appeal brought by the APC, the apex court ruled against the appellant and ordered a fine of N10 million against the APC.
“Candidate other than the first appellant with the highest vote stand elected. A cost of N10 million is awarded against the appellant,” the court ruled.
Meanwhile, the candidate of the APC, Mukhtar Idris, had been declared the winner of the elections after he polled 534,541 votes despite controversies trailing his candidacy.
By this judgement, the PDP candidate who came second in the election becomes Governor-elect and would be issued certificate of return and subsequently sworn in.
The judgement also affects all APC Zamfara House of Assembly candidates who had initially been declared winners of their elections.
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