INEC DECLARES PDP WINNER OF ZAMFARA ELECTIONS- THISDAY

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, complied with the judgement of the Supreme Court and declared all the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Zamfara State as winners of the 2019 general election held in the state. This followed an emergency meeting occasioned by the apex court’s judgement.

This is as the leadership of the PDP yesterday congratulated Zamfara State Governor-elect Bello Mohammed Matawalle, the federal and state legislators-elect, and the people of the state. PDP described the victory of its candidates as the triumph of the will of the people over manipulative forces.

In a separate message, the vice presidential candidate of PDP in the 2019 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, urged Matawelle and the others to see their victory as a challenge to work and uplift their state.

Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State said his administration and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state accepted the verdict of the Supreme Court. Yari said the party had done its best to retain power in the state, but as “Allah wanted it, the Supreme Court judgement went the way it happened.” The governor spoke in a statement by his Special Adviser on Public Enlightenment, Media and Communication, Mallam Ibrahim Dosara.

The Supreme Court had in a unanimous judgement by its five-member panel on Friday described as “wasted” all the votes cast for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 elections in Zamfara State. The court said APC failed to conduct primaries in accordance with the party’s rules.

Justice Paul Adamu Galinji, who read the lead judgement, held that all votes cast for the APC were “wasted votes” and declared that all political parties with the second highest votes in the elections and the required spread were automatically elected to the various offices.

The Governor Abdul-Aziz Yari faction of the APC, which emerged after the October 3, 2018 primary of the party, had in the appeal by their lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), asked the apex court to set aside the judgement of the Court of Appeal in Sokoto, in an appeal by the Kabir Marafa faction of the party challenging the outcome of the primary.

All the candidates fielded by the Yari faction of the party for the governorship, National and State House of Assembly elections, including the APC governorship candidate, Alhaji Mukhtar Shehu, had gone ahead to win the 2019 elections as declared by INEC.

But Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, while addressing a press conference yesterday at the end of an emergency meeting, said the reason for the impromptu briefing was to update the media on the recent decision of the Supreme Court regarding the candidates fielded by the APC in Zamfara State for the 2019 general election. Yakuku recalled that the legal process that culminated in the Supreme Court decision of May 24 started when the commission issued the timetable and schedule of activities for the 2019 elections on January 9, 2018, over a year ahead of the elections. The schedule included the conduct of party primaries, which was slated to take place between August 18 and October 7, 2018, but which the APC failed to comply with.

He insisted that APC did not conduct its primaries in Zamfara State within the stipulated time and the commission had duly informed the party that it would not be in a position to present candidates for elections in the state. The chairman explained that other interested parties, including the APC itself, approached the court over the decision of the commission. He said just before the election, the subsisting court judgement at the time had ordered the commission to include the APC on the ballot for the governorship, national assembly and state assembly elections, which the commission complied with.

Yakubu noted that since the elections were completed, a Court of Appeal judgement and now a Supreme Court judgement had decided that the APC did not conduct valid primaries for the elections in question.

According to the INEC chairman, “Following the judgement of the Supreme Court, the commission has met in two emergency sessions and taken briefings from our lawyers and staff on the implementation of the Supreme Court judgement.

“While the legislative elections (Senatorial, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly elections) are straight forward to deal with, because they entail first-past-the-post or simple majority of votes, the governorship election is determined not just by majority votes but also spread, in accordance with Section 179 (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

“This means that we had to first discount the votes cast for the APC at the elections and then carefully rework the spread by local government areas based on the new valid votes.”

He said in compliance with the Supreme Court judgement, the commission had now determined the winners of the elections in the state.

For the governorship poll, the commission declared Bello Mohammed Matawalle, of the PDP and his running mate, Mahdi Aliyu Gusau, as elected, having polled 189, 452 votes.

In the senatorial election, the main opposition party won all the three seats, and the candidates declared winners include Ya’u Sahabi, Zamfara North; Mohammed Hassan, Zamfara Central; and Lawali Hassan Anka, Zamfara West.

Those declared winners for the House of Representatives are Umar Dan-Galadima (Kaura-Namoda/Birnin Magaji federal constituency); Bello Hassan Shinkafi (Shinkafi/Zurmi federal constituency); Kabiru Amadu (Gusau/Tsafe federal constituency); Shehu Ahmed (Bungudu/Maru federal constituency); Kabiru Yahaya (Anka/Talata Mafara federal constituency); Ahmed Bakura (Bakura/Maradun federal constituency); and and Sulaiman Gum (Gummi/Bukkuyum federal constituency).

For the House of Assembly, the winners as declared by INEC are Zaharadeen M. Sada (Kaura Namoda North); Anas Sarkin Fada (Kaura Namoda South); Nura Dahiru (Birnin Magaji state constituency); Salihu Usman Zurmi (Zurmi East); Nasiru Mu’azu (Zurmi West); Muhammad G. Ahmad (Shinkafi state constituency); Musa Bawa Musa (Tsafe East State constituency); Aliyu Na-maigora (Tsafe West state constituency); and Ibrahim Naida (Gusau East).

Others include Shafi’u Dama (Gusau West); Kabiru Magaji (Bungudu East); Nasiru Bello Lawal (Bungudu West); Yusuf Alhassan Muhammad (Maru North); Kabiru Hashimu (Maru South); Shamsudeen Hassan (Talata Mafara North); Aminu Yusuf Jangebe (Talata Mafara South); Tukur Jekada (Birnin Tudu-Bakura); Faruk Musa Dosara (Maradun); Nasiru Atiku (Maradun II); Abdulnasir Ibrahim (Gummi I); Mansur Mohammed (Gummi II); Ibrahim Mohammed Na’idda (Bukkuyum North); and Sani Dahiru (Bukkuyum South).

The National Rescue Movement Party won one seat, Anka state constituency, through its candidate, Yusuf Muhammad.

Yakubu disclosed that INEC would issue Certificates of Return to the new winners on Monday.

He stated, “Governor and Deputy Governor-elect, Senators-elect and Members of the House of Representatives-elect will receive their certificates on Monday 27th May 2019 at the Commission’s Electoral Institute at 2.00pm.”

Yakubu added that members of the House of Assembly-elect would receive their certificates from the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Zamfara State at the INEC State Office in Gusau on Friday, May 31, 2019 at 10am.

He added, “I wish to seize this opportunity to draw the attention of all stakeholders, but particularly the political parties, to the implications of the Supreme Court judgement on the Zamfara matter.

“It is clear that properly conducted party primaries are cardinal to the proper internal functioning of political parties, the electoral process and our democratic system at large. Therefore, political parties must take very seriously the conduct of primaries according to all extant rules, including the monitoring of the processes by INEC, to avoid a repeat of the Zamfara experience.”

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP congratulated its victorious candidates. It assured the people of Zamfara State of a purposeful, people-based, and result-oriented leadership that would unite and revitalise the state for the greater good, in line with the wishes and aspirations of the people.

The party noted that the victory was a clear pointer to the fact that no matter how long manipulations and anti-democratic tendencies appear to thrive, justice and the will of the people always prevail at the end of the day. It said Zamfara is blessed with abundant human and natural resources, adding that the in-coming administration will direct all energies towards harnessing such resources for the wellbeing of the people.

PDP urged the people to resist all forces of division and unite behind their new leaders to move the state forward.

The party also expressed optimism that justice would prevail in its effort to retrieve what it called all its stolen mandates, particularly the presidential mandate that Nigerians freely gave their candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in court.

On his part, Obi, who is also a former governor of Anambra State, said in his congratulatory message to Matawelle that God must have a reason for choosing him to hold the governorship mandate. In a statement, Obi stressed that the fallout of the Zamfara State elections should teach politicians a lesson that God has the final say on who gets what position.

He reminded the PDP leaders that the security situation in the state at this time had thrown up a huge challenge to them to go and resolve, adding that being a beneficiary of the rule of law, they should do everything while in office to uphold the sanctity of the judiciary as a critical component in a democracy.

A statement on Saturday by Dosara said Yari accepted the apex court’s verdict when he addressed a gathering of APC supporters at Government House, Gusau. The statement quoted the governor as saying that members and supporters of the party in the state had done everything possible to ensure APC did not lose Zamfara State, but God’s wish prevailed.

The governor urged all APC members and other citizens of the state to remain calm, peaceful and law-abiding. He directed security agencies in the state to be more vigilant to ensure adequate protection of lives and property in the state.