From: Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Supreme Court has upheld the nomination of Governor Abubakar Bello Sani, as the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for the 2015 governorship election in Niger State.
A chieftain of the party and an aspirant for the governorship position, Mustapha Babangida, had approached the Supreme Court to upturn the out come of the primary election in his favour.
This was after he lost at both the Niger State High Court and the Court of Appeal.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Kumai Akaahs, the Supreme Court held that the evidence before the court showed that the appellant bought the party’s governorship nomination form when the time had already lapsed.
Besides, Justice Akaahs said the appellant lacked the locus standi to institute the case since he did not participate in all the process of the primary.
“For the appellant to be bestowed with the locus to institute the suit, he must have gone through all the processes of the primary.
“From the documentary evidence before this court, the appellant did not participate in the screening leading to the actual voting process by party delegates.
“In the circumstance, the appellant is not known to law as far as the 2015 APC governorship primary was concerned, and therefore, this court lacks the jurisdiction to examine the merit of the case.
“The appeal is hereby dismissed for lacking in merit and the status of the governor as candidate of the party in that election remained valid,’’ he held.
Akaahs further held that the appellant committed a blunder by not joining the governor as a party in the suit.
He said such an oversight was costly, as according to him, the governor had emerged as the party’s candidate before the suit was filed on March 25, 2015.
“The appellant fails to understand that the governor should have been listed as a party as the court’s decision could have impacted on the governor directly,’’ Akaahs said.
Babangida had sought to be sworn-in as the governor having been barred from contesting the primary.