Mohammed Abacha who won the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial primaries conducted by the Sagagi-led faction in Kano State has instituted legal action against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the PDP, and the announced PDP gubernatorial candidate in the state, Sadiq Wali.

Abacha sued the respondents for recognising and presenting Wali as candidate against his candidature that was earlier produced through INEC-monitored primaries.

The Star had reported that the intra-party wrangling within the PDP in Kano led to parallel governorship primary elections that produced Abacha and Wali as the candidates of the party for the 2023 gubernatorial election in the state.

However, while INEC’s state headquarters earlier announced that it only monitored the election where Abacha emerged, the list released by the electoral body last Friday showed that Wali was the PDP candidate.

Abacha has therefore instituted the legal action in a Federal High Court in Kano to “reclaim” his mandate in a suit where INEC, Wali, PDP, and the state chairman of the party, Shehu Wada Sagagi, were listed as the respondents.

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In the suit filed on Thursday, Abacha is asking to be declared as the Kano governorship candidate of the PDP, and for the court to validate the primary election that produced him, which was monitored by the first defendant, INEC.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who recently spoke on the substitution despite the commission’s observance of the primary that produced Abacha, said the state office monitored the election that produced Abacha “but before the submission of the names of candidates, another legal issue arose.”

He, however, assured that the electoral umpire was “not a political party; we have no candidate in the election. So, we will do whatever it takes to be fair to all political parties. After all, this is essentially an intra-party matter.”

The High Court is yet to determine the date for the beginning of the case.

The Star