Kano Court Denies Sacking Abia Gov-Elect Alex Otti

A Federal High Court sitting in Kano has debunked claims that its order nullifying nominations of the Labour Party (LP) candidates in the North West state also affected the candidature of Dr Alex Otti, the Governor-elect of Abia State.

However, the Court explained that it only nullified the election of the candidates for the Kano Chapter of Labour Party (LP) that contested the 2023 general election.

A plaintiff, Mr Ibrahim Haruna-Ibrahim, had filed an application seeking the court to revoke and set aside the certificate of return issued to all LP candidates declared winner in Kano and the 35 states of the Federation including the FCT Abuja.

The respondents in the suit are Labour Party and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and according to Justice Muhammad Nasir-Yunusa, the candidates who participated in the 2023 general election in Abia State were not parties before his Court.

“This court lacks jurisdiction to make an order for the issuance of a certificate of return. They are at liberty to seek redress in the appropriate Division of the court”, he said

Also, Justice Nasir-Yunusa said the electoral umpire was bound to insist on receiving the registered members of the first respondent and that of other political parties 30 days before the primary elections in compliance with section 77(3) of the electoral act 2022.

The section states that a party that has not complied with section 77(2)(3) of the electoral act 2022 cannot be declared the winner of an election.

Therefore, the court declared the Labour Party’s primary election in Kano as “null and void”, Justice Nasir-Yunusa said. – NAN