A Federal High court in Yola has nullified the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary that produced Senator Aishatu Binani as the party’s governorship candidate for Adamawa State.
Binani is the only governorship candidate of any major political party in the North in the next year’s elections.
The court on Friday also declared that there will be no candidate for the APC in the state for the 2023 elections.
Binani, who represents Adamawa Central district in the upper legislative chamber defeated former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam and former governor of the state, Alhaji Jibrilla Bindow to win the primary on 26th May.
She polled 430 votes to beat Bindow who had 103 votes and Ribadu, who secured 288 votes.
Aggrieved, Ribadu instituted a suit at the Federal High Court.
Justice Abdulaziz Anka nullified the entire primary election on the ground that the process was not compliant with the 2022 Electoral Act, the Nigerian constitution, and the party guidelines.
The judge said Binani’s victory was in clear contravention of Section 85 of the Electoral Act because there was “manifest overvoting”.
“My findings are that there’s non-compliance to the Electoral Act, as well as party guidelines and the constitution because there was manifest overvoting, which has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
“The first defendant (APC) cannot field a candidate for the 2023 general elections; the primary election is invalid, and the court, therefore, sees the return of Aishatu Ahmed Binani as unlawful. The plea for fresh elections is hereby refused”, the judge ruled.
