Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
A group under the auspecies of Patriots for the Advancement of Peace and Social Justice (PAPSJ) has warned that the catastrophic consequences of Supreme Court reserving it’s judgement on Zamfara state elections will be unimaginable.
The Supreme Court will hear the application for a review of its judgment which invalidated the election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship, national and state Assembly candidates in Zamfara State.
But reacting to the proposed review, the Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) declared that the apex court reversing its decision on Zamfara APC case will be a self inflicted injury caused by the party’s inability to conduct a valid primaries.
The group further argued that the Zamfara APC case fell short of the provisions within which the apex court could reverse itself.
It insisted that the Supreme Court in the cases APC Bayelsa and Zamfara APC made accurate findings as the blame lies with the party leadership that failed in its duties of providing qualified candidates and conducting valid primaries for the elections.
In a statement the executive director of the group, Sanni Abdualhi Shinkafi, stated that “the electoral jurisprudence is settled for decades that for there to be a valid ticket, both the candidate and his deputy governorship candidates sponsored by a political party must be qualified in all ramifications.
“Once there is an affliction on one, the candidature of the party collapses in its entirety rendering the joint ticket to be no ticket at all.
“Two subsections of Section 187 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered), carry neither ambiguity nor vagueness in this regard. Little wonder, therefore, that the votes accrued by the ruling party were discountenanced on the ground that there was no valid nomination as at the time of the election.
“However, in both the cases of the APC in Zamfara and Bayelsa states the question here should be who is actually to be blamed? This could be said to be a self-inflicted injury as the party in both cases failed to either conduct a valid primary or field qualified candidates for the polls,” he added
Shinkafi also stated that “the Supreme Court in both cases made accurate findings as the blame lies with the party leadership as it failed in its duties of providing qualified candidates for the elections.
He stated that “where a political party fails in the screening of the candidates and presents an unqualified candidate, the sanction is not only disqualification but also penalty of N500,000, which the Supreme Court probably forgot to impose on the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Bayelsa case.
“The APC application for the review of the Zamfara State governorship election is frivolous as it is a case of a self-inflicted injury; the Oshomole led leadership of the party should take the blame for the party’s misfortune and they should accept it in good faith and stop trying to apportion blames where it does not belong. From the forgoing the Zamfara State does not fall into cases where the Supreme Court could be called upon to  revisit its decision.
Shinkafi recalled the statement of Zainab Bulkchuwa, “adding her voice to calls against the Supreme Court reversing its judgment the immediate past president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa, described recent moves by some senior lawyers to get the Supreme Court to review its judgements as unconstitutional. Justice Bulkachuwa, who described the development as unfortunate, insisted that “it is a threat to the judiciary as a whole.”
“We urge Supreme to remain steadfast, stoic and undaunted as the apex and policy court of the nation. The orchestrated attempt by politicians to review the apex court’s decision in Zamfara is a knee-jerk reaction propelled by desperation and tomfoolery.
Shinkafi pointed out that “should the Supreme Court review and change the Zamfara decision by straying outside the established and narrow principles for so doing, the catastrophic consequences will be unimaginable.
“Our judiciary is already groaning under an enormous workload, amid poor facilities and meagre remuneration. What will then happen if Your Lordships throw the floodgates open, proclaiming that there is no more end to litigation?
“If the Zamfara APC review matter succeeds it is not only that all unsuccessful litigants of yesteryears will stampede back to the Supreme Court for a review; the Court of Appeal will also collapse under the expected deluge of applications for review arising from National Assembly and state House of Assembly election petition appeals,” the group warned.