Kano guber tussle: Abacha drags PDP, INEC to court

A Kano State gubernatorial contender in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mohammed Abacha, has dragged the party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the substitution of his name with Sadiq Wali.

Abacha prayed the Federal High Court in Kano to compel INEC to stop his substitution as the governorship candidate of the PDP in the state.

The Star had earlier reported that internal wrangling in the Kano State chapter of the PDP has led to parallel primaries that produced Abacha and Wali as candidates of the party ahead of the 2023 governorship election.

The originating summons filed by his lawyers, J.Y. Musa (SAN) and Reuben Atabo (SAN), has INEC, Sadiq Aminu Wali, PDP, and Alhaji Shehu Wada Sagagi as defendants.

Abacha argued that he was the right winner of the PDP primaries which was held on May 25 and was monitored by INEC in which he polled 736 votes against the 710 scored by Ja’afar Sani Bello before his name was substituted with that of Wali.

He asked the court to stop the PDP and its state chairman, Sagagi, from presenting Wali as the Kano gubernatorial candidate for the 2023 general elections.

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He argued that INEC was precluded from “recognising and publishing the name of the 2nd defendant (Wali) as the gubernatorial candidate of the 3rd defendant (PDP) having issued to the plaintiff (Abacha) the certified true copies of the list of winners of the primary election of the 3rd defendant (PDP) in Kano which is monitored and which contains the name of the plaintiff as the governorship candidate of the 3rd defendant in Kano State.”

Similarly, in his counter affidavit, Abacha, countered submission of Jafar Sani Bello that Abacha was not a member of the party because he was duly issued with a waiver and screened as a member of the political party.

Bello was the runner-up in the primary election that produced Abacha.

The case has been fixed for September 12 for hearing.

The Star