Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Joash Amupitan has warned that the African Democratic Party (ADC) risks repeating a scenario that took place in Zamfara State after the 2019 elections.
Speaking on Arise television, Amupitan warned that every step the electoral umpire has taken in relation to the ADC leadership crisis has been determined by the courts of law, and that the commission has not taken sides in the conflict.
The INEC boss said If David Mark faction of ADC goes ahead to conduct their convention without INEC supervision, then all their actions could be nullified by the court, and whatever votes they get in the elections may be cancelled.
According to him, what happened in Zamfara State in 2019 where the court granted victory to the second party with the highest number of votes because of issues within the party that came first place in the election, could repeat itself.
“If they (ADC) are saying we have taken sides, that is not true, because if you look at the status quo ante bellum, we tried to interrogate it, and it means the status before the hostility started, the status before the war”, he stated.
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In 2019, after a protracted legal tussle, the Supreme Court on May 24 2019, delivered a judgment nullifying the victory of all candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State in the 2019 General elections.
APC candidates who had been declared winners of thirty-six elective positions in the state, comprising the Governorship, National and State Assembly positions lost their seats to candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who were the first runners-up in the elections.
Describing the votes scored by APC in the state as a waste, the Court held that the party did not conduct INEC-monitored primaries in Zamfara State and as such, could not field candidates in the general elections.
And in reaction to the Supreme Court ruling, INEC held an emergency meeting to take a decision. At the end of the meeting the then chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu issued a statement that captured the decision of the electoral body.
A major highlight of the statement was that the candidates of the PDP as the party with the second highest votes had been declared the winners of the elections.
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