The Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division set aside the verdict of the
Zamfara High Court, allowing the APC to field candidates in the 2019
election.
A Zamfara State High Court recognised the APC primaries that produced governorship, state and National Assembly candidates and ordered INEC to accept the party’s candidates for the elections.
Dissatisfied with State High Court decision, the appellants, Senator Kabiru Marafa, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) and 129 others through their Counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, approached the Appeal Court and challenged the decision on the ground that the State High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit among others.
The respondents — Kabiru Liman-Danalhaji and 139 others were represented by Mr Mahmud Magaji, SAN, as lead counsel.
Delivering the lead judgement, which was adopted by two other justices – Tijjani Abubakar and Jamilu Tukur, Justice Tom Yakubu, held that the lower court failed in its duty to properly evaluate the evidence before it.
Yakubu said judges have the legal power to produce judgement and reach decisions with reason, noting that in the instance case it was not done.
“I am convinced that the lower court has failed to evaluate the evidence before reaching the decision. The Appeal Court has power in law to access pieces of evidence on appeal, which we have done. Based on available facts, the respondents did not contradict the INEC evidence on conducting the said primary election,” he said.
According to the presiding judge, “Documented evidence has upper consideration than oral ones,” adding that the plaintiffs, being card-carrying party members and aspirants in the said primary election have legal capacity to institute the suit.
He held that federal, states and FCT High Courts have jurisdiction to entertain such matter.
The judges agreed that the judgment should serve as “bitter lesson” for political parties as they ought to follow legitimate guidelines and rules.
“Domestic affairs of political party activities must act within the confines of the law in dealing with party members and elections,” they said.
A Zamfara State High Court recognised the APC primaries that produced governorship, state and National Assembly candidates and ordered INEC to accept the party’s candidates for the elections.
Dissatisfied with State High Court decision, the appellants, Senator Kabiru Marafa, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) and 129 others through their Counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, approached the Appeal Court and challenged the decision on the ground that the State High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit among others.
The respondents — Kabiru Liman-Danalhaji and 139 others were represented by Mr Mahmud Magaji, SAN, as lead counsel.
Delivering the lead judgement, which was adopted by two other justices – Tijjani Abubakar and Jamilu Tukur, Justice Tom Yakubu, held that the lower court failed in its duty to properly evaluate the evidence before it.
Yakubu said judges have the legal power to produce judgement and reach decisions with reason, noting that in the instance case it was not done.
“I am convinced that the lower court has failed to evaluate the evidence before reaching the decision. The Appeal Court has power in law to access pieces of evidence on appeal, which we have done. Based on available facts, the respondents did not contradict the INEC evidence on conducting the said primary election,” he said.
According to the presiding judge, “Documented evidence has upper consideration than oral ones,” adding that the plaintiffs, being card-carrying party members and aspirants in the said primary election have legal capacity to institute the suit.
He held that federal, states and FCT High Courts have jurisdiction to entertain such matter.
The judges agreed that the judgment should serve as “bitter lesson” for political parties as they ought to follow legitimate guidelines and rules.
“Domestic affairs of political party activities must act within the confines of the law in dealing with party members and elections,” they said.
No comments:
Post a Comment