Zamfara: Court speaks on restraining order against political parties

The High Court IV in Gusau, Zamfara State, has said it did not give restraining order to any political party in the state.

In a statement signed by the Chief Registrar of the court, Bello M. Kucheri, the court noted that it only instructed all parties to maintain the status quo ahead of the 2019 election.

The court order read: “The application to restrain parties pending the determination of motion on notice is hereby refused, having been objected to by the respondents.

“However, the application for maintenance of status quo as at the time of filing the suit which was not objected to by the counsel of first and second respondents, as well as the third respondent, is hereby granted as prayed.”

INEC had earlier informed the ruling APC in a leaked memo that it would not be allowed to field candidates for elective positions in Zamfara in the 2019 elections, stressing that the deadline for submission of party candidates’ names to the commission was Oct 18.

The commission’s acting Secretary, Okechukwe Ndeche, in a letter to the APC said that the party was barred from fielding candidates for governorship, national assembly and state assembly elections.

The commission said this was because APC failed to comply with Sections 87 and 31 of the Electoral Act of 2010.

Parties, according to the act, were expected to comply with the timetable and schedule of INEC, which says that the conduct of primaries must be held between Aug. 18 and Oct. 7.

INEC said it received reports from its Zamfara office, indicating that no primaries were conducted in the state “notwithstanding that our officials were fully mobilised and deployed.”

The APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, however, insisted that it will field candidates for all elective positions in Zamfara in the 2019 general elections, despite its disqualification by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).