By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA – Governor Aminu Waziri Tanbuwal of Sokoto State, on Friday, lost his bid to stop a suit seeking to void the election that brought him to power.

The Supreme Court dismissed an application he filed to stop a suit challenging the process that led to his emergence as gubernatorial flag-bearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2015, after he defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The apex court ordered that the suit which was lodged against Tambuwal by an APC governorship aspirant in the state, Senator Umaru Dahiru, should be heard on its merit by the Federal High Court.

The apex court vacated an initial judgment by the Court of Appeal which held that Dahiru’s suit had turned to an academic execise.

Tambuwal

In a unanimous verdict, a five-man panel of Justices of the apex court led by Justice Rhodes Bode-Vivour, held that Dahiru has the locus-standi to challenge Tambuwal’s nomination by the APC, considering that he also participated in the process.

The apex court held that Umaru has sufficient justiceable cause in the matter, saying to agree with Tambuwal that the primary election that produced him could not be challenged by another governorship aspirant was to allow democracy to be murdered by the governor.

The lead verdict was prepared by Justice Musa Dattijo Mohammed but read by Justice Centus Nweze.

The apex court faulted position of the appellate court that the legal action had been overtaken by events on the strength of the April 11, 2015 governorship election that Tambuwal eventually won.

According to the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal erred in law by holding that event had overtaken the case of the appellant simply because the governorship election was conducted after the primary election of APC that produced Tambuwal.

It consequently ordered that a Federal High Court in Abuja should retry the case on its merit and make decision as demanded by law.

Senator Dahiru had challenged the conduct of the primary election that produced Tambuwal as candidate of APC on the ground that it was fraught with fraud.

Dahiru claimed that the primary election APC conducted in 2014 in Sokoto was fraudulent because the original list of the delegates for the election was swapped in favour of Tambuwal by some external forces.

The appeal was equally endorsed by another governorship aspirant of the party, Aliyu Abubakar Sanyinna.

In their brief of arguments filed by Prof. Awa Kalu, SAN, the duo, urged the apex court to reverse the decision of the Court of Appeal and okay fresh hearing on their substantive suit.

They insisted that the Appeal Court erred in law by holding that their joint suit had no life to sustain it simply because the election have been conducted.

They argued that the April 11, 2015 general election could not take life out of their case or render it an academic exercise, stressing that the action was filed on January 27, 2015, long before the general election was conducted.

The appellants chronicled the genesis of their suit, claiming that several frivolous motions and applications filed by the respondents at the federal high court in Abuja delayed judgment delivery until after the general election.

Their counsel argued that since all the delay tactics were at the instance of the respondents, the respondents should not be allowed to be beneficiaries of the unjust delays which made expeditious hearing of the matter practically impossible.

They asked the apex court to invoke Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act to resolve the issue to a finality as the said section of the law empowers it to act as a court of first instance in view of circumstances surrounding the case.

Respondents in the appeal were the APC, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Tambuwal.

Tambuwal had through his lawyer, Mr. Sunday Ameh, SAN, sought dismissal of the suit, a prayer the apex court refused.

The appellants had at the high court, sought for a declaration that the primary poll of December 4, 2014 which produced him was unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void and inconsistent with the Electoral Act, 2010 and the APC guidelines.

They claimed that the list of accredited delegates was swapped at the election venue and that votes were arbitrarily, unlawfully and fraudulently allocated to the aspirants after series of manipulation, intimidation and threat from the then state government officials backing the third respondent.

They asked for the court order restraining INEC from acting, publishing or recognizing Tambuwal as APC gubernatorial candidate.

They also prayed for an order nullifying or withdrawing the nomination of Tambuwal and that a fresh primary election be ordered.

Though the high court in a judgment by Justice Evoh Chukwu, ruled in favour of the plaintiffs, however, the appellate court nullified the verdict, saying the respondents’ case was academic.