2023 Elections: Why Court Nullified Zamfara PDP Guber Primary, Serious Implications

For the second time, the Federal High Court in Zamfara on Tuesday, November 8, nullified the governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that produced Dauda Lawal-Dare as the candidate.

The ruling which sacked Lawal was delivered by the presiding judge, Justice Aminu Bappa.

This decision is the climax of some developments characterised by allegations against Lawal by some stakeholders in the state.

Lawal's multiple names, double dates of birth

A socio-political group known as the Zamfara Youth Progressive Union raised some suspicions concerning the authenticity of the document submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by Lawal.

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The union claimed that the details contained in those documents are not only contradictory in nature but very confusing hence there is no certainty in both Lawal's original name and the year he was born, among many other complex adoptions that need to be cleared.

First, the organisation alleged that the NYSC, primary school leaving, secondary school certificates, and the university degree of Lawal bear four different names.

Secondly, Lawal was said to have presented two dates of birth (1964 and 1965) to the electoral commission.

Alleged nepotism

Recall that the supporters of Hon. Ibrahim Shehu Bakauye Gusau, one of the governorship aspirants of the Zamfara PDP, had made an allegation against Abdulaziz Sani Lawal Dare, a brother to Dauda Lawal Dare, the candidate whose election was nullified by a court order.

In a petition against the INEC forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari and the IGP Alkali Baba Usman, the leader of Gusau's supporters, Nasir Ahmed, claimed that Abdulaziz, a legal officer at INEC headquarters in Abuja, has been working with someone in the commission to favour his brother.

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Ahmed alleged that Abdulaziz is conniving and compromising the credibility, justice, and fairness enshrined in the electoral law and the Nigerian constitution while discharging his official responsibility at INEC's legal department in Abuja.

He noted that the said INEC officer has been working with some politicians in sabotaging the laid down rules and guidelines of the electoral body, to the detriment of their rivals, for some personal gains.

Implications of court's verdict

By implication, the opposition party in Zamfara will not field any candidate for the 2023 governorship election.

This, of course, means that the PDP has one state less to claim during the 2023 general elections unless the ruling is appealed and voided by a higher court.

Trouble for PDP as court sacks party's governorship candidate in northern state

The court had nullified the primary election that produced Lawal.

Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu, a former federal lawmaker who also contested the election, had approached the court seeking the nullification of the PDP primary election won by Dare, citing gross irregularities.

Delivering the judgment on Friday, September 16, Justice Aminu Baffa Aliyu said all the prayers of the plaintiff had been granted by the court.

Source: Legit.ng