Katsina guber: Court throws out Masari’s case

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

ABUJA – Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court in Abuja, yesterday, threw out an application filed before him by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, asking him to stay the execution of his February 25 judgment that quashed his gubernatorial ambition in Katsina State.

The High Court had in the said judgment, nullified Masari’s candidature under the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, declaring the process of his emergence and nomination illegal.

Consequently, it had ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to refrain from further dealing with him as a candidate of the CPC in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Katsina State, adding that the electoral body should immediately wipe out his name from its list of  candidates and replace it with that of Senator Yakubu Lado.

Senator Lado and 44 other displaced candidates of the party had approached the high court, alleging that their names were illegally substituted by the CPC after they had won their primary elections.

They had pleaded the court to restrain INEC from accepting the list containing Masari’s name, pending the determination of their suit.

Sequel to their consolidated motion on notice, the court in its judgment, nullified the action of the party by voiding the candidacy of all its candidates that it said did not participate in the party’s primary elections, among whom was the former speaker.