Appeal court upholds Umar’s Bauchi South election
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the nomination of Hon Shehu Buba Umar as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of Bauchi South Senatorial District in the 2023 general elections.
The appellate court also set aside the judgment of a Federal High Court presided over by Justice Emeka Nwite which on November 21, 2022, nullified Umar’s nomination in the May 29, 2022, primary.
A three-member panel of justices Friday held that the applicant of the suit, Ibrahim Zailani, brought the same without exhausting the internal mechanism for dispute settlement in the party as contained in Article 27(c) and (a) of the APC Constitution and thus rendered the action “premature”.
The unanimous decision on the two appeals, which was read by Justice Rilwan Maiwada Abdullahi, held that the failure of the applicant to play a video of exhibit of the alleged irregularity of the primary in the open court amounted to dumping of the exhibit.
Responding to the judgment, Umar said, “With this development, the path has been cleared for us to continue with the struggle for a credible, worthwhile and positively impactful representation of Bauchi South Senatorial District in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come 25th of February, 2023.”
(Daily Trust)
