Mohammed Sani Abacha who emerged as a factional governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State has sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for recognising Sadiq Wali as the party’s candidate in the state.
Daily Trust reports that the internal crisis within the PDP in Kano had led to parallel governorship primary elections where Abacha, a son of a late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, and Wali, a son a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali, both emerged as the candidates of the party for the gubernatorial election.
But while INEC’s state headquarters earlier announced that it only monitored the election that produced Abacha, the list released by the national headquarters of the party last Friday indicated that Wali’s name was the one submitted by the state headquarters of the party.
Abacha has therefore approached a Federal High Court in Kano to “reclaim” his mandate in a suit where INEC, Wali, PDP and the state chairman of the party, Shehu Wada Sagagi, are listed as the respondents.
In the suit filed on Thursday, Abacha is asking to be declared as the Kano governorship candidate of the PDP, and for the court to validate the primary election that produced him, which was monitored by the first defendant, INEC.
Daily Trust reports that the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who was in Kano on Wednesday, told journalists that its state office truly monitored the election that produced Abacha, “but before the submission of the names of candidates, another legal issue arose.”
He, however, assured that the electoral umpire was “not a political party; we have no candidate in the election. So, we will do whatever it takes to be fair to all political parties. After all, this is essentially an intra-party matter.”
Meanwhile, a date for the commencement of the case is yet to be fixed.
Nawa ooo
It is well
Ok ooo