Atiku Galadima – Maiduguri
The Court of Appeal sitting in Gombe has overturned the judgment of a Maiduguri High Court that ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to set aside the publication of Mohammed Kumalia’s name as the PDP Senatorial candidate for Borno central in this year’s general elections.
Briefing the newsmen in Maiduguri on Monday, the restored PDP Senatorial Candidate for Borno Central, Mohammed Kumalia said, the suit which was instituted by the ruling party APC and its Senatorial Candidate KakaShehu Lawan, was disqualified on the sole ground of lack of locus standi.
According to him, the appellate court consequentially ordered that his name which was earlier recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), remain the valid PDP Senatorial candidate for Borno central.
He noted that the judgment of a Maiduguri High Court has been set aside affirming his candidature as the legitimate PDP Senatorial Candidate for Borno Central.
“While I won my appeal on the APC and its senatorial candidate Kaka Shehu Lawan at the Gombe Court of Appeal today, at the same time the appeal against me by Mustapha Tatabe was lost by him, as I am talking to you both ways I remain the candidate.
“I still remain a legitimate PDP Senatorial Candidate for Borno Central.
“Whatever happened in my party, the process through which I emerged as the candidate of the party is an internal affair of my political party, is not a business of APC and so the court held.
“INEC removed my name from the list based on the judgment of Maiduguri that said they should set the publication of my name, which is a valid judgment of a court of law, which INEC respected.
“And now a higher court has quashed that judgment, has set aside that judgment, and so my name is automatically restored because basis upon which my name was removed is no more,” he said.
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