The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, has written the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to postpone the National Assembly, governorship and state houses of Assembly elections following the decision of the Appeal Court that all parties return to status quo in the Zamfara All Progressives Congress, APC, primaries crisis.
The letter addressed to the INEC Chairman, Yakubu Mahmood, was dated February 13, 2019.
In the letter, the AGF relied on sections 38 and 39 of Electoral (Amendment) Act 2010 to support his call. He said that the postponement will enable the Zamfara APC to field candidates for all the positions.
The AGF, according to the letter acted upon a petition written by the firm of M.A. Mamood SAN and Co.
According to the minister, who is a founding member of the APC, the Court of Appeal’s judgment delivered on Wednesday supported the earlier judgement of the Zamfara State High Court which had held that the party conducted valid primaries for the various elective positions in the state.
He posited that granting the concession of postponing the polls in Zamfara State based on the Court of Appeal’s judgment, was not a favour to APC but a right the party was entitled to.
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Part of the letter read, “In view of the fact, now that the Court of Appeal has upheld the primaries as valid, the APC in Zamfara State will need a little time to catch up with its contemporaries in the election.
“Granting them this concession is not necessarily a favour but a right that inures to all contestants under similar circumstances.
“Consequent on the above, INEC is invited to comply with the judgement of the Court of Appeal by admitting the results of the APC Zamfara State Primaries and to also comply with the provisions of Section38 of the Electoral Act which empowers INEC to postpone the election for the governorship, National Assembly and House of Assembly Elections.”
