Zamfara: INEC Meets Saturday Amidst Pressure From APC To Stop PDP

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC is to hold a second meeting on Saturday to further deliberate on the Supreme Court pronouncement on the elections in Zamfara State.

The Supreme Court had in a landmark judgment declared that the All Progressives Congress, APC which won all the elections in the state was not a legal participant in the elections and declared that the party which came second in all the elections should take the place of the APC provided it made the requirements.  

The second meeting on Saturday is in desperate move to avoid a constitutional crisis raised by the judgment. gwg.ng understands that senior officials of the APC are calling for a fresh election. The call is upon their claim that the PDP governorship candidate did not meet the provisions of the constitution in polling a quarter of the votes in two-third of the local governments of the state.

“This judgment posses a constitutional crisis as it is clear that the PDP candidate did not meet the constitutional requirement on spread,” a senior APC official told gwg.ng following the judgment on Friday.

However, the call for a fresh election it is feared, is a harbinger of a constitutional crisis as it leaves the commission with little time to organize an election within five days to handover.

INEC meanwhile has yet to speak and following a meeting to review the decision slated another meeting for Saturday.

INEC national commissioner for publicity, Festus Okoye speaking after the Friday meeting said:

“Following the Supreme Court’s judgment delivered today 24th May 2019 on the Governorship, National and State Assembly elections held in Zamfara State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) held an emergency meeting to consider the court’s decision.

“The Supreme Court ruled that the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not hold valid party primaries as required by law. It held that all the votes scored by the APC in the said elections are wasted votes and declared that the candidates of political parties with the second highest valid votes and the requisite spread should be declared as having been elected.

“The Commission will meet again tomorrow Saturday 25th May 2019 to further deliberate on the issues arising from the said judgment, while the final decision on the matter will be communicated to the public on Monday 27th May 2019.”

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