Eniola Olayemi
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, has, Thursday, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to comply with the provisions of the constitution and recognise the candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Zamfara State.
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Mr. Malami also urged INEC to postpone the governorship, National Assembly and House of Assembly Elections in the state.
In a three-page letter dated February 13, 2019, and personally signed by him, the AGF said the “Court of Appeal has upheld the primaries as valid” and therefore asked INEC to grant the APC in the state the concession which he said “is not necessarily a favour but a right that inures to all contestants under similar circumstances.”
Recall that a three-member panel of judges, led by Justice Jummai Sankey, had unanimously dismissed the appeal of the APC in the state following its withdrawal by the appellant and governorship candidate of the party in the state, Mr Aminu Jaji.
But Malami, while reacting said, “In view of the fact, now that the Court of Appeal has upheld the primaries as valid, the APC in Zamfara State will need a little time to catch up with its contemporaries in the election.”
“Granting them this concession is not necessarily a favour but a right that inures to all contestants under similar circumstances.”
“Consequent on the above, INEC is invited to comply with the judgement of the Court of Appeal by admitting the results of the APC Zamfara State primaries and to also comply with the provisions of Section 38 of the Electoral Act which empowers INEC to postpone the election for the governorship, National Assembly and House of Assembly Elections.”
Meanwhile, INEC has said that it has not received the minister’s letter urging it to recognise APC in the state.
INEC alleged that the claimed letter could be fake document circulating on the social media.
According to INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Oluwole Osaze-Uzezi, the letter could be fake.
He said, “I said we have not received the letter, but when we get to the bridge, we will cross it. But for now, we have not received any such letter in INEC. It is on social media. How am I sure that it is not one of those social media gimmicks? I can’t comment on something I have not seen; I have made enquiries from the INEC chairman and he said there is nothing like such letter and he has not received any such letter.”
