From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Supreme Court has finally settled the controversy over the February 25 House of Representatives election in Mashi/Dutsi Federal Constituency of Katsina state in favour of Salisu Yusuf Majigiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In his judgment, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola struck out a suit filed by Nazif Bello Yusuf, also of the PDP, who challenged the declaration of Majigiri by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC).
Majigiri, who was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), according to the result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), scored 27,387 votes to defeat his closest rival, Mansir Ali of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 20,596 votes.
But one of the PDP aspirants, Hon. Nazifi Bello Yusuf, challenged the declaration of Majigiri by INEC as the winner of the poll at the Federal High Court sitting in Katsina
The complainant asked the court to annul Majigiri’s victory on the ground that he did not participate in the party’s primary, proclaiming himself as the substantive candidate of the party in the May 22 primary election and the court ruled in his favour.
Not satisfied by the ruling of the Court, Majigiri appealed the judgment at the Court of Appeal in Kaduna but the judgment was also against him. He later approached the Supreme Court challenging the judgment of the appellate court.
At the Supreme Court, the apex court struck out Yusuf’s suit against him on the grounds that it was filed outside the prescribed period of time as provided for in section 285 (9) of the 1999 constitution.
The five-man panel, presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, further ordered INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return given to Yusuf in consequence of the judgment of the Federal High Court.
He said: “The judgment of the trial court as affirmed by the lower court was set aside for lack of jurisdiction on the part of the trial Federal High Court to entertain the matter having been filed outside the prescribed period of time as provided by Section 285(9) of the constitution.”
The apex court also directed the nation’s electoral umpire to issue a Certificate of Return to the appellant, Majigiri, as the valid winner of the election of Dutsi/Mashi Federal Constituency for House of Representatives.
He said: “The judgment of the trial court as affirmed by the lower court was set aside for lack of jurisdiction on the part of the trial Federal High Court to entertain the matter having been filed outside the prescribed period of time as provided by Section 285(9) of the constitution.”
The apex court also directed the nation’s electoral umpire to issue a Certificate of Return to the appellant, Majigiri, as the valid winner of the election of Dutsi/Mashi Federal Constituency for House of Representatives.
A cost of N10,000,000 was awarded by the Supreme Court against the counsel to Yusuf and the PDP for making futile attempts to deny the conduct of the second primary before the court.