Aisha Binani Nullified as Adamawa Guber Candidate by Court, Adamawa APC to appeal
The All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election in Adamawa State that produced Senator Aishatu Binani as the party's candidate for governor has been declared null and void by the Federal High Court sitting in Yola.
On Friday, Justice Abdulaziz Anka ruled, stating that the court's decision was based on "strong evidence of non-compliance" with party standards and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The court also declared that there will be no candidate for the APC in the state for the 2023 elections.
Nuhu Ribadu, who finished in second place, challenged Binani, the APC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for invalidating the primary election held on May 27th, 2022.
He tried to have Senator Binani disqualified because of allegations of vote buying, voting irregularities, and an unlawful delegates list from Lamurde Local Government Area in the state.
Senator Binani was chosen as the party's candidate for governor, but he claims that there was overvoting in the primary since candidates were fielded from the Lamurde council. Furthermore, he claims that there is no record of a congress producing delegates for the gubernatorial exercise.
Although the court ruled that no APC candidate would be presented in the state in the 2023 elections, it left open the possibility of an appeal from either the petitioner or the defendants.
Attorneys for both Nuhu Ribadu and Senator Binani responded by saying they would review the ruling.
Binani was a member of the House of Representatives, where she represented the Yola North/Yola South and Girei federal constituency. This was done under the People Democratic Party (PDP) before she defected to the APC.
She is the second female governorship candidate to be elected by the APC in the NorthEast region since 2015. The first was the late Aisha Alhassan in Taraba state.
The Adamawa chapter of the political party has said it will appeal the court ruling. On Saturday, Raymond Chidama, APC secretary in the state, said that the party received the news with “mixed feelings”.
“We objected to the position of the court for refusing to order for the conduct of a fresh primary election,” Mr Chidama said. "All avenues of justice would be exploited by the party to ensure equity and fairness through the process of appeal."