How APC Lost Zamfara State

Just when the All Progressives Congress, APC in Zamfara State was preparing to be inaugurated after the general elections of February and March this year, a Supreme Court judgment on Friday, May 24 last week dashed that hope and plan.

The apex court in its judgement voided all votes cast for the APC in the 2019 gubernatorial election in the state.

The court in a unanimous judgement by a five-member panel, decided that a party that had no valid candidate cannot be said to have emerged winner of the elections.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has since the judgement already been issued certificates of return by INEC.

How The Crisis Began

INEC Deadline

The INEC had last year October said it would not allow the ruling APC to field candidates in Zamfara because the party failed to conduct primaries before the deadline stipulated.

This was because the party failed to meet the October 7 deadline for conducting primaries to elect candidates for the elections.

And true to its word, the electoral umpire barred the APC from fielding candidates.

Adams Oshiomhole’s Intervention

In his response to INEC, the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, on October 10 said the party will present its candidates for all elective positions in Zamfara State in the 2019 general elections despite contrary directive by the electoral commission.

Mr Oshiomhole claimed that the party adopted consensus candidates in Zamfara, which he said was a valid way of selecting candidates.

He said “The contents of your said letter seem to conclude that no primaries were conducted by the APC in Zamfara State. We wish to state emphatically that nothing can be farther from the actual situation in Zamfara State,” he wrote.

He stated that due to the high level of friction, disagreements and threats of violence by various political camps before the primaries, all the aspirants met at City King Hotel, Gusau, to find a truce and produced a consensus candidate.

Allegations Against APC NWC

The Deputy National Chairman (North), of the APC, Lawal Shuaibu on October 6th faulted the decision of the National Working Committee of the party to dissolve the entire party executive in Zamfara State.

The NWC is led by the party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, with Mr Shuaibu among the members.

The APC in two separate statements signed by its spokesperson, Yekini Nabena, announced the dissolution of the Zamfara State executive and all executive committees across the state. 

However, Mr Shuaibu, who is from Zamfara State, issued a counter statement saying “the news going round that the APC Executive have been dissolved is not true.”

Mr Shuaibu said the NWC cannot dissolve the party executives in the state because of the existence of  a subsisting court order.

He said the order had asked the disagreeing parties in a petition challenging the legality of the process through which the state executives emerged to maintain the status quo and “should not take any step that would render nugatory the subject of the litigation which is the position of the party before 5th of June 2018.”

The deputy chairman said the NWC and the party in the state were both served the court order.

He said the National Headquarters of the party “can therefore not take any action except to ensure members of the executives do comply.”

Mr Lawal also accused the committee sent by Mr Oshiomhole to conduct the primary in the state of bias.

He said that when the election committee headed by Abubakar Faki went to Zamfara State to conduct the primary, they took the sensitive materials along with them and deposited with the commissioner of police in the state.

“They called for a stakeholders meeting in which all aspirants were present as well as heads of security agencies in the state.

“An agreement was arrived at by all aspirants to the effect that teachers be recruited to conduct the primaries in each ward.

“Afterwards, the process had begun in earnest and suddenly when there were skirmishes in some wards arising from activities of some thugs, some aspirants started to send spurious allegations to the committee chairman seated at the state capital, who, without waiting to verify the truth in such allegations, decided to announce cancelation of the process when already more than 10 local governments were collating results,“ he said.

He said Mr Faki immediately left the state with his team.

“To every right-thinking person, he didn’t show responsibility when he abandoned the exercise without retrieving the materials as at the time of cancellation.

“But the big problem some members discovered, including some of the aspirants, is that the same chairman of the primaries committee is a blood relation to one of the aspirants for which reason he could have been disqualified as he is an interested party. This is shocking and unacceptable,” he said.

Mr Shuaibu also said a meeting of the NWC which held Thursday decided that another committee should be constituted and sent back to Zamfara.

He said that remains the position of the NWC, and not sending the same committee back.

The NWC, he said, cannot dabble into local arrangements for conduct of any election but should ensure that guidelines are strictly adhered to by the committee.

“The NWC is not expected to change the rules in the middle of an election process, rather, the committee always uses the guidelines as their yardstick for judging the fairness of any election, especially in direct system of primaries.

“Our Membership Register is the book through which you identify members of the party in every ward and it is clearly stated in the guidelines.

“It serves as our Voters Register and anything short of it makes the process susceptible to hijack by non-party members. That is what we know and that is what the NWC stands for,” he said.

Governor Yari’s Outburst

On October 6, 2018 Governor Yari  said he had lost confidence in the committee sent to the state to conduct the primary election and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call Mr Oshiomhole to order.

Protest Against Oshiohmole

On October 25, 2018 the local government APC chairmen and hundreds of loyalists of the party in all 14 local government areas of the state, staged a protest, demanding the sack of Mr Oshiomhole.

The demonstration, which took off from NNPC depot through the Sokoto road and then ended at the state secretariat of the party, had some commissioners, women groups and other top party executive members.

The party members who were carrying placards with many anti-Oshiomhole inscriptions said the protest was to register their anger “over the way the national chairman of the party handled its affairs.”

Conflicting Court Judgement

Two courts on January 25, 2019 issued conflicting rulings on whether INEC can accept candidates presented by the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Zamfara elections in 2019.

A High Court sitting in Gusau, Zamfara State, ruled that the governing APC actually conducted primaries in the state and should be allowed to present candidates for the electoral contest. An Abuja court, however, ruled otherwise.

The Zamfara court specifically directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to accept candidates from the party for Zamfara States in the forthcoming elections.

Some members of the APC in the state had approached the court challenging the decision of INEC that barred it from the election.

The party said it conducted primaries which produced current governor Abdulaziz Yari as a senatorial candidate and his commissioner of finance, Shehu Idris, as the governorship candidate, among others.

Justice Muhammad Shinkafi, who delivered the ruling said APC conducted primaries elections on October 3 and 7, 2018.

The court also barred the national secretariat of the APC from replacing the names of those who won the primary elections of the party.

In the case with suit number ZMS/GS/52/2018, Sanusi Liman, Dan Alhaji and 37 others vs APC and 143, the plaintiffs had asked the court to compel the APC and INEC to accept the results of the party’s primaries election in the state conducted on October 7, 2018, among others.

But a Federal High Court in Abuja ruled otherwise, saying INEC acted within its powers by refusing to accept the list of candidates from the Zamfara State chapter of the APC.

Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, in a judgment, said it was not the fault of INEC that the APC failed to conduct a valid primary within the period scheduled by the electoral body.

Mrs Ojukwu said INEC’s action was intended to curb impunity among political parties and politicians and ensure that rule of law is adhered to.

The judgment was on a suit filed in the name of APC by some individuals, who said they emerged from a consensus arrangement adopted by the party in Zamfara State.

Marafa’s Stance

The lawmaker representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District at the Senate on the platform of the APC, Mr. Kabiru Marafa had on October 11, 2018 told journalists that the electoral commission was right to declare the party ineligible as he said there was no election in the state.

“I read the letter from INEC where they quoted sections of the law that influenced their position. I also read the response made by the APC National Chairman (Adams Oshiomhole). I want to believe the chairman has been misled by the APC’s electoral committee that went to Zamfara. But as a stakeholder who was present and witnessed the whole process that happened, there was no election in Zamfara on Saturday, October 7, 2018.

“Also, there was no consensus from anybody or by anybody. So, the election committee reported in the contrary. I think that was absolutely wrong. I always stand by the side of the truth. I want to say the truth even if it is against me.

“If you force any consensus or you claim there was one, there is going to be a revolt that there was no consensus, and anybody and some have the right to go to court. But if under the law, the APC has the right to field candidates, they can go ahead to do it without recourse to either election or consensus. Let us get one thing clear and correct. That there was no election, no consensus,” he said.

He also again in January also said he does not give a damn if his party loses the elections in the state as he also accused the party of controlling the actions of its members since the inception of the 8th Senate.

Buhari’s Failure To Intervene In the Zamfara APC Crisis

While the Zamfara APC crisis lingered on, President, Muhammadu Buhari refused to be drawn into the Zamfara APC problem. The president’s posture made it impossible for anyone to call a truce in the state.