Supreme Court affirms Jigawa deputy governor as APC governorship candidate

The Supreme Court in Abuja Nigeria, has affirmed the incumbent Deputy Governor, of Jigawa State Umar Namadi as the lawful Governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress APC in the forthcoming Elections.

The Apex Court on Friday, in a unanimous judgment prepared by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun and delivered by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, upheld the primary election conducted on May 26 which produced Namadi as the winner.

The appeal filed by a former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives Farouk Adamu Aliyu, was dismissed in its entirety.

The five Justices of the Court who heard the case agreed with lawyers to the respondents, Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi and Yakubu Ruba both Senior Advocates that the case was frivolous, baseless and lacked merit and substance.

Namadi through his counsel, Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN had won the legal battle at the Federal High Court in Dutse as well as at the Court of Appeal in Kano.

But Aliyu was by his appeal marked: SC/1453/2022 challenging the November 4, 2022 judgment by the Court of Appeal (Kano division) which dismissed his earlier appeal and upheld Namadi’s election as the governorship candidate of the APC in Jigawa State.

A three-member panel presided over by Justice Ita Mbaba, in the November 4 judgment, unanimously dismissed Aliyu’s appeal against the September 13, 2022 judgement by Justice Hassan Dikko of the Federal High Court, Dutse, for lacking in merit.

Justice Dikko had, in the judgment, held among others, that Aliyu lacked the locus standi to sue adding that, he failed to prove his case with credible evidence.

The Supreme Court also in the judgment Friday dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.

N.O