ABUJA—-The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, fixed March 2 to review its judgement that sacked all candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC, that won various positions in Zamfara State in the 2019 general elections. A five-man panel of Justices of the apex court headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad, adjourned hearing of the application for a review of the judgement, after it noted that some of the parties were not served.
The fresh application was brought by a faction of the APC led by a former governor of the state, Aldulaziz Yari. Counsel to the Applicants, Chief Robert Clarke, SAN, said his clients are challenging the verdict of the apex court on the basis of its consequential orders that handed victory to candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state, which he said rendered the entire judgement a nullity.
The Applicants argued that reliefs the Supreme Court granted in favour of the PDP and its candidates, was extraneous to issues that aggrieved members of the APC brought before it for adjudication. In their fresh application marked SC/377/19, they argued “That the Consequential Orders made by this Honourable Court in 5 appeal has made non-parties to the Appeal to unjustifiably benefit from the outcome of the Appeal contrary to age-long decided authorities by this same court. Hence, aking this non-parties to reap from where they never sowed
“That the teeming electorates in Zamfara State have been unfairly and unjustifiably denied or deprived of their natural or ordinary outcome of the votes cast by them.” However, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, who appeared for the Senator Kabiru Marafa-led faction of the APC in Zamfara state, told the apex court that he filed a preliminary objection to challenge the competence of the fresh application. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was cited as the 179th Respondent in the matter.
