The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the bid by Governor Amunu Waziri Tambuwal to stop a legal action challenging the propriety of his nomination for the 2015 governorship election by the All Progressive Congress (APC).
It is the court’s position that the nomination of Mr. Tambuwal by his party should be challenged by another governorship aspirant, Umaru Dahiru, on the ground that he has sufficient justifiable cause.
A five man panel of the Supreme Court Justices held in a unanimous judgement that to agree with Tambuwal that the primary election that produced him cannot be challenged by another governorship would be a travesty of democracy.
Justice Musa Dattijo Mohammed gave the lead judgment which was read by Justice Chima Nweza.
The court set aside the decision of the court of appeal that the court action instituted by Senator Dahiru against Tambuwal had been overtaken by events on the strength of the election of the governor
According to the Supreme Court, the Appeal Court erred in law by holding that the event had overtaken the case of the appellant simply because the governorship had been conducted after the primary election.
It therefore ordered that a Federal High Court in Abuja should retry the case on its merit and make decision as demanded by law.
Senator Dahiru had challenged the conduct of the Primary Election that produced Tambuwal as Candidate of APC on the ground that it was fraught with fraud because the original list of the delegate for primary election was swap in favour of Tambuwal.
By this development, the Federal High Court in Abuja will now determine the matter on its merit as ordered by the Supreme Court.
