Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Kabiru Garba Marafa, has written to the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa, over the delay in the constitution of the appeal panel on Zamfara All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries’ tussle.
Marafa, in a letter by his counsel, dated March 13, 2019, and addressed to Justice Bulkachuwa, said the delay in the constitution of the panel may deny him justice.
The case number CA/32/2019/ Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa and 142 others, was part of the pre-election litigations that trailed the failure of the APC to conduct primaries/consensus in Zamfara State.
The letter read: “My lord, refer to our letter of concern (copy attached hereto) in which we had, respectfully, requested that the present panel hearing the above appeal recuses itself for the reasons already humbly adumbrated in the said attached letter dated March 4, 2019.
“The appeal came up on the March 13, 2019, before the Sokoto Division of the court of Appeal. My Lord, to our surprise, the court did not sit, but merely sent the court Registrar to inform all counsels and parties concerned that it has recused itself from hearing the appeal, without any word as to the constitution of another panel to hear the appeal or as to what date the matter will now come up for hearing before a new panel.
“This letter is, therefore, a S.O.S to your lordship to kindly and urgently constitute a new panel to hear our client’s appeal. The urgency of this letter and your timeous action are underlined by the very fact that this appeal is constitutionally time-lined, and same will expire on March 27, 2019 constitutional effluxion of time