2011 Election Updates - Appeal Court okays Masari, Isa as CPC gov candidates

[TGD]

 THE Court of Appeal, Abuja Division yesterday declared former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari and Brig.-Gen. Lawal Jafaru Isa as Katsina and Kano states candidates of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), in that order, for the forthcoming governorship polls.

The appellate court made the declaration while delivering its verdict in the separate appeals filed by Masari and Isa against the decisions of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, which voided their nomination for the gubernatorial race in their states.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Olujimi Bada upheld Masari's appeal against the decision of the Federal High Court of February 25, 2011, declaring Senator Yakubu Garba Lado as the authentic CPC governorship candidate for Katsina State.     The three-man panel composed of by Justices Muhammed Garba Lawal, Bada and Regina Obiageli held that the lower court "erred in law when it failed to consider the affidavit and documentary evidence of the CPC and the fact that the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party has the final say as to who the candidate of the party in any election is."

The Court held that, "the party's constitution and guidelines bind on the 1st to 43rd respondents and the party's primary election held on January 15, 2011 never had the sanction of the CPC's National Executive Committee (NEC) or the Board of Trustees".

Bada also held that the Katsina State chairman of the CPC who forwarded the name of Lado and 46 other candidates of the party to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had no such powers and had usurped the functions of the Board of Trustees, adding also that the primaries held on January 13, 2011, won by Masari, was the recognised party primary.

Ruling on the Isa appeal, the court noted that the counter affidavit filed by him against the candidacy of Mohammed Abacha was uncontroverted, and therefore the court has no reason whatsoever not to believe that the primary was inconclusive and that Abacha was jailed abroad for money laundering.

In reaching the decision to set aside the lower court's judgment, the Appeal Court examined the affidavit deposed to by Prof. N. U. Suleiman, chairman of the Electoral Committee, which alleged that Abacha sent one Sani Usman with N1 million to him as bribe with a promise to send him more money when he announces his name, and the argument of Suleiman that there was violence, which stalled electoral officers from reaching nine local government areas of the state and that the results of 14 local government areas were forged.

The court stated that the trial Judge was wrong by holding that the 1st respondent (Abacha) won the primary election, when the election on January 12, 2011 was inconclusive and therefore set aside the lower court's judgment.

It would be recalled that Judge Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court had on February 25, 2011 declared Lado as the authentic CPC governorship candidate in Katsina State for the governorship elections, saying that Masari was unable to show that he was validly elected in the separate primary election in which he was said to have emerged a winner.

Similarly, Justice Gabriel Kolawole of a Federal High Court in Abuja had told Brig.-Gen. Isa not to parade himself as the CPC governorship candidate in Kano State and held that Muhammed Abacha is the recognized Kano State CPC governorship candidate.

Source: Appeal Court okays Masari, Isa as CPC gov candidates