By Our Correspondent
Dissatisfied with the recent court verdict, The governorship candidate of People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) in Kano state, Sadiq Wali has vowed to head to Appeal Court after he was sacked by a Federal High Court in the state.
Hotpen reports that, the Federal High Court declared Mohammed Sani Abacha, son of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, as the duly elected gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in Kano on Thursday.
The judgment, delivered by the Presiding Judge, Justice A.M Liman, was made via zoom, where he ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to expunge Wali’s name and substitute it with Abacha’s.
The court then recognized the primary election, held at Lugard House by Shehu Wada Sagagi ‘s faction, which produced Abacha over the one conducted by Wali’s side at Sani Abacha Youth Centre.
Wali, son of former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aminu Wali, said he would reclaim his mandate at Appeal Court.
Speaking to journalists at his Kano residence, Wali called on PDP supporters to remain calm, saying that his lawyers are studying the “error-laden judgement” in preparation for appeal.
According to Wali, his lawyers had already discovered several errors on the judgement, which would give him a firm ground to reclaim what he described as “mandate of Kano people” at the Appeal Court.
Wali recalled that a PDP governorship aspirant, Ja’afar Sani Bello, had dragged him to court to challenge his candidature but won at the Appeal Court.
“This judgement is riddle with errors but because i am not a legal practitioner, i can not say much on this, but my lawyers will speak about it.”
He said another error made by the judge was that the notice of primary election was served to national body of INEC, not state headquarters.
Against this backdrop, Wali explained that section 82 of the Electoral Act 2022 says notice of primary election should be served to national headquarters of INEC, not state, in not less than 21 days.
“We served the notice before the deadline, but the judge declared the primary election illegal because the national body of PDP served headquarters of INEC not state headquarters. This is a big mistake.
“The PDP was on course to have served INEC national headquarters,” he explained.
