The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN yesterday, denied media reports that he wrote the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone all the forthcoming general elections apart from the presidential poll in Zamfara State.
Malami, in a statement written by his Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, Salihu Isah, said that the media reports were false and misleading, as he had only asked the INEC to extend the time within which the All Progressives Congress might field candidates in the forthcoming elections in the state
The statement reads: “The attention of the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been drawn to a recent publication by certain social media and conventional news outlets stating that this Office had purportedly requested the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the elections in Zamfara State.
“The Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation wishes to emphatically reiterate that this report is false and misleading. “In our letter dated February 13, 2019 addressed to the INEC Chairman, the Honourable Attorney of the Federation in reacting to a petition from M.A Mahmud informing this Office of the subsisting Court of Appeal decision in CA/S/22/2019 which effectively upheld the APC primaries in Zamfara State, wrote to INEC informing them of this development and requested the Commission to comply by extending the time within which the political party can field candidate in the gubernatorial”.
But a Constitutional Lawyer and rights activist, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, yesterday, berated Malami, SAN, over the letter.
Ozekhome noted that under Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, the AGF, being the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, should not be seen as a champion of the interest of any political party, adding that it was wrong for Malami to use his office, to ask INEC to postpone an election that will involve over 70 other political parties, on the basis of “suppressed and misconceived facts” that were contained in a petition by a faction of the APC in Zamfara. Ozekhome, who stated this in Abuja while addressing a world press conference, said he has already written a counter letter to the INEC, and adduced reasons why it should ignore Malami’s request and proceed with all the scheduled elections in the state.
He added that the counter letter was also copied to the AGF. Malami had in a letter dated February 13 asked INEC to allow the All Progressives Congress (APC) Zamfara, field candidates for the general elections. He also urged INEC to postpone the National Assembly, governorship and state assembly elections in the state to enable APC to catch up with other parties. Malami, had in the letter invited INEC to comply with the judgment of the Court of Appeal by admitting the results of the APC Zamfara primaries.
He also invited INEC to comply with the provisions of Section 38 of the Electoral Act, which empowered the commission to postpone the election for the governorship, National Assembly and House of Assembly elections.
He said this was in view of the fact since the Court of Appeal had upheld the primaries as valid, the APC in Zamfara would need a little time to catch up with its contemporaries in the election.
“Granting them this concession is not necessarily a favour but a right that inures to all contestants under similar circumstances.” However, Ozekhome who was counsel to Senator Kabiru Marafa and 181 aggrieved members of the APC that were cited as respondents in the appeal, alleged that the AGF’s letter was anchored on lies. He further stated that contrary to the AGF’s claim, the Court of Appeal in Zamfara State had in the ruling that was delivered by a three-man panel led by Justice Jumai Hannatu, on Wednesday, dismissed the appeal before it after it was withdrawn. In his counter letter to INEC, Ozekhome, said that, “the sole issue that came up for determination was whether Hon. Aminu Sani Jaji (the Appellant) who had filed a notice of discontinuance of his appeal on the 11th of February, 2019, under Order 11 Rules I and 5, could legally withdraw and discontinue the appeal and if so, whether Sanusi Liman Alhaji, Mukhtar Shehu Idris, Governor Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar and 35 others, could still sustain their motion filed on 8th February, 2019, which had been solely predicated on the existence of Appeal No: CA/3/23/2019”.
He added that the motion the Governor Yari-led faction of the party filed through their counsel , Mahmud Magaji, SAN, prayed the appellate court to in the interim, order INEC to give effect to the January 25 judgment of a Zamfara State High Court, which recognised them as authentic candidates of the APC in the 2019 general elections.
According to Ozekhome, the appellate court did not only dismiss the suit after it upheld the right of the appellant to withdraw it, “more significantly, the court held that the very motion filed by Governor Yari and the others could not be argued as it had been overtaken by events by the discontinuance and dismissal of the appeal on which it was hinged”.
