The Federal High Court siting in Lokoja has nullified the gubernatorial primary election conducted by the People’s Democratic Party as Justice John Olorunfemi described the process as hasty, acrimonious and undemocratic.
Justice Olorunfemi pointed out that the primary polls held on the 3rd and 4th of September last year did not conform with the electoral act and could not have produced a valid candidate for an election.
Justice Olorunfemi made this known while reading out his judgment over a case by One of the aspirant at the primary election, Abubakar Ibrahim who claimed that he was the actual winner and was robbed of victory by the eventual flag bearer of the party, Engineer Musa wada.
The claimant, Abubakar Ibrahim alleged that he was robbed of 247 votes after the invasion of the process by unknown gunmen at the Confluence stadium, Lokoja which he said would have made him the winner of the disputed primaries.
He also alleged that about 600 votes were unlawfully added to the votes of the eventual winner of the disputed election.
Justice Olorunfemi in his judgment affirmed that both parties’ cases lacked merit as the basis for declaring a winning in the first place was not properly instituted.
He further added that neither the claimant nor the defendant could be affirmed as the actual winner of the primary election as the turn of event raised doubts about the credibility of the selection of the flag bearer.
He pointed out that although the distruption of the PDP’s gubernatorial primary was not envisaged by the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission, he affirmed that no primary election was conducted by the party.
All effort to get the response of counsels from both parties proved abortive as they were unwilling to speak to the press.
