The All Progressives Congress (APC) primary that selected Senator Aishatu Binani as the party’s nominee for governor of Adamawa State has been declared invalid by a Federal High Court sitting in Yola.
The court proclaims that the finding is based on sufficient evidence of non-compliance with the party guidelines and that of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution in a judgment written by Justice Abdulaziz Anka that lasted more than three hours on Friday.
The contest’s runner-up, Nuhu Ribadu, had brought Binani, the APC, and INEC to the high court to ask for the annulment of the primary election held on May 27, 2022.
He requested that Senator Binani be disqualified for allegedly buying votes, voting, and compiling an illegal delegation list from the state’s Lamurde Local Government Area.
He said that overvoting occurred in the primary as a result of candidates from the Lamurde Council running, and that Congress failed to produce delegates for the election for governor, in which Senator Binani won the party’s nomination.
The court ruled that the APC will not be fielding a candidate in the state for the elections in 2023, but it also stated that both the petitioner and the defendants are allowed to appeal the decision.
Senator Binani and Nuhu Ribadu’s legal counsel both reacted by promising to research the decision.