Adamawa APC: Sen. Aisha Binani wins

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The Court of Appeal sitting in Yola on Thursday reversed the High Court judgment nullifying Emmanuel Bwacha and Aisha Binani elections as the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidates for Taraba and Adamawa states respectively.

According to the ruling, the names of the two APC candidates should be forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the certified candidates for both states

Recall that in an impressive primary election contest, a Senator Aisha Dahiru Ahmed Binani,  beat six aspirants and political heavyweights to secure the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket in Adamawa State.The election committee chairman, Malam Gambo, declared  Binani the winner, after scoring 430 votes, the highest in the election to defeat Nuhu Ribadu, a former presidential aspirant of the Action Congress and pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who polled 288 votes.The immediate past governor, Muhammadu Jibrilla Bindow, came third with 103 votes, Abdurrazaq Namda polled 94 votes, while Wafari Theman had 39 votes.Umar Mustapha Madawaki and Wafarniyi Theman respectively clinched a fifth and sixth positions in the contest.Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed was born on 11 August 1971. She is a serving senator of the All Progressives Congress APC representing Adamawa Central senatorial district in the 9th Assembly.Popular as Binani, Aishatu was formerly a member of the House of Representatives representing the Yola North/Yola South/Girei federal constituency on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party in the 7th Assembly (2011–2015), before she decamped to the APC.Aishatu had her university education in the UK, where she obtained a Higher National Diploma in Electrical Engineering at the University of Southampton.She is currently the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).But inspite of the jubilations over her success, a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, who contested at the primary with Binani, had filed a suit, seeking the nullification of the primary election conducted on May 27, which was won by the senator.

Ribadu, who hinged his suit on alleged votes buying, over-voting and delegate inducement, asked the court to disqualify Binani and declare him the candidate of the APC in the state.
He sought an order restraining APC from submitting Binani’s name to INEC as the governorship candidate of APC on the grounds that she had emerged from an invalid and unlawful exercise.
Justice Anka ruled that the primary election was void due to the issue of over voting and fielding of delegates from Lamurde Local Government Area where a congress was not allegedly conducted.
But in response to APC and Binani’s notice of preliminary objections, Ribadu’s counsel, Mathew Burkaa (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the notice of preliminary objections.
He further submitted that the commencement of the suit marked FHC/YL/CS/12/2022, was done by the rules of the court.
But in their separate replies to the motion on notice filed by Ribadu, APC and Binani through their counsel, Sule J. Abul and Sam Ologunorisa, filed a notice of preliminary objections and counter-affidavits.
While APC is challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter, Binani in her preliminary objection argued that Ribadu’s suit was not properly constituted.
She described the suit as incompetent, contentious, rancorous and contained allegations of fraud, commission of a crime, and that it cannot be heard or determined by way of the originating summons
Sen. Binani appeal the tjudgement at an Appeal Court sitting in Yola, Adamawa State capital, which after hearing the case declared Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani as the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Adamawa…The court presided over by Justice Tani Yusuf Hassan set aside the judgement of a Federal High Court which nullified the governorship primary and declared that APC has no candidate for the 2023 governorship election.

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