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The Supreme Court of Nigeria has upheld the election of Ben Ayade, Governor of Cross Rivers State, in a matter brought before it by Joe Agi SAN, on the allegation of false declaration of age.
He had approached the apex court, seeking for a nullification of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led gubernatorial primaries that produced Ayade, seeking for a nullity in elections.
A panel of five Justices, led by Justice Musa Dattijo Mohammed dismissed the application for lacking in merit.
However, Aminu Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto state could not get the nod of the apex court to stop a court’s action challenging the propriety of his nomination for the 2015 governorship election by the All Progressives Congress.
The Court held that the nomination of Tambuwal by his party should, and can be challenged by another governorship aspirant, Umaru Dahiru, on the ground that he has sufficient justifiable cause.
The court held that to agree with Tambuwal that the primary election that produced him cannot be challenged by another governorship aspirant is to allow democracy to be murdered by the governor.
The Supreme Court said that the Appeal Court erred in law by holding that the event had overtaken the case of the appellant simply because the governorship poll had been conducted after the primary election.
It further ordered that a Federal High Court in Abuja should retry the case on its merit and make a decision as demanded by law.
