From Abel Leonard, Lafia
Barr Labaran Magaji, an aspirant in the disputed All Progressive Congress (APC) Nasarawa West senatorial district primary elections, has called for calm from supporters after a Court of Appeal in Abuja delivered judgement in favour of the winner of the election, Arc Shehu Tukur.
He made the appeal in Abuja on Monday shortly after the Court of Appeal Judges, Justice Mohammed Danjuma, Justice Biobele Georgewill and Justice Ibrahim Jauro delivered judgement on an Appeal challenging the nullification of the Nasarawa West Senatorial District primary election of the APC by the Federal High Court Lafia.
Recall that Daily Sun had reported that the initial primary election held on June 4, 2022, and contested by Magaji and Tukur after controversies over the delegates list being used was won by Tukur, prompting Magaji to go to court to seek the nullification of the result.
A federal High Court in Lafia, capital of Nasarawa state then granted the request of Magaji by nullifying the election over manipulation of the delegates list used for the election.
Daily Sun also reported that Justice Nehezina Afolabi who passed the judgement on Wednesday, November 2, 2022, directed APC to conduct a fresh primary election within 14 days from the day the judgement was delivered.
However, Tukur dissatisfied with the judgement of the trial court appealed the judgement at the Court of Appeal in Abuja and on Monday, December 19, 2022, judgement was delivered in his favour with the Court of Appeal setting aside the judgement of the trial court and affirming the primary election on June 4, 2022, as authentic.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the judgement was read by Justice Georgewill via Zoom, a video proprietary video telephony software program, Magaji appealed for calm and patience from teeming supporters while he and his team evaluate the details of the judgement to be able to make informed decisions on future steps concerning the case.
“I hereby call on my supporters to as a matter of urgency calm down. I am more particularly affected by the consequences of this judgement. Therefore I am urging everyone to please calm down.
“Let’s remain in the party and find a way of resolving this issue. So we are urging them not to take laws into their hands. This is just mere internal wrangling which we have taken the right steps through the judicial process and by the Grace of God, we will succeed,” he said.
He assured that a thorough review of the judgement was in earnest with a view to taking necessary actions for posterity’s sake.
“We must see to it that Justice is done in this case. Whatever way we are going go about it, the review of the judgement will determine.
“For now it will be too early for me to take a stand. My team and I will get a copy of the judgement, read through it vis a vis the facts before the court and at that point we will take an informed decision and that decision will certainly be communicated,” he said.
In an interview, Barr. Mubarak Adekilekun, Counsel to Tukur, explained further that in the Appeal filed by Tukur, the Court of Appeal passed judgement in his favour and set aside the entire judgement in Lafia and held that the trial court had no jurisdiction to try and determine the matter.
“This is because the claim of Barrister Magaji at the trial court was based mainly on the issue of delegates which the court said is purely an internal affair of the party. The court cannot dictate to a political party on delegates to vote for or not to vote for.
“Another point is that the entire judgement of the trial court was a nullity and the decision of the court to order a fresh election was not proper. So our belief is that the Court of Appeal has done a very fantastic and holistic review of the entire case which led to this judgement,”