It was a shattering verdict; the All Progressives Congress (APC) was shattered. The May 24 Supreme Court ruling that voided the February 23 and March 9 election of all APC candidates in Zamfara State was a lesson to the party.
The judgement affected the governor-elect, Alhaji Bello Matawalle; and three senators-elect, Tijjani Yahaya (Zamfara North), Aliyu Bilbis (Zamfara Central) and the outgoing governor, Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara West). Seven House of Representatives members-elect, and 24 House of Assembly members-elect were also affected.
According to Justice Paul Galumje, who read the unanimous judgement of a five-man panel, the APC “never conducted primary elections.” Consequently, he declared, “the party that had no candidate in the 2019 general elections cannot win.” This made all the votes credited to APC candidates “wasted votes, “the judge said.
By the judgement, candidates of the parties other than the APC that polled the highest number of votes and the required spread became the valid winners. The judgement favoured the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidates.
The APC’s loss happened simply because the party broke the rules of the game. Justice Galumje observed that “the democratic system in this country was borrowed from the United States of America,” adding, “Those from whom we borrowed have forged ahead and developed into an economically viable nation.” He continued: “If care is not taken, the class of politicians we have today will take this country back to the stone age, which will consume all of us. I urge all to always play the game according to the rules.”
The APC should have been faithful to the rules of the game. The party, disunited by intra-party conflicts, was unable to organise valid primary elections, without which it could not have produced valid candidates.
“As we all know, the APC was unable to conduct primaries in Zamfara State, following (Abdulaziz) Yari’s thuggery and violent machinations,” said Zamfara Central senator and Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum, Senator Kabiru Marafa, who led a faction.
This is a big blow to the APC, which must now adjust to the reality of its self-inflicted loss. The party needs to answer the question of internal democracy that led to the mess. It is inexcusable that the party snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Wasted votes mean that the voters’ efforts were wasted. Those who voted for the party’s candidates must be shattered too. The party should learn a lesson from its blunder.
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