Statutory delegates can vote at APC National Convention — Court

A Federal High Court sitting in Kano State has granted statutory delegates the right to vote at the upcoming National Convention of the All Progressives Congress.

The court gave the ruling on Friday as preparations for the convention, scheduled for June 6 to 8, 2022, continued.

The court, in the ruling by Justice A. M. Liman, ruled that Section 84 of the Electoral Act did not prevent statutory delegates from voting.

Liman held: “Section 84(8) cannot be interpreted to have excluded statutory delegates from voting at the convention, congress or meeting, by virtue of Section 223 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Article 20(iv)(c) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Constitution, which allow Statutory Delegation to vote at convention, congress or meeting.”

Former Senator Mas’ud El-Jibrin Doguwa and Honourables Habibu Sani and Bilyaminu Yusuf Shin’Kafi, all aspirants of the APC in the just-concluded National Assembly primaries, had filed a suit challenging the disenfranchisement of statutory delegates from participating at the primaries.

The suit, marked: FHC/KN/CS/13712022, has the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, National Chairman of the APC and Independent National Electoral Commission as defendants.

The plaintiffs, in their originating summons dated May 23, 2022 and filed on May 24, 2022, prayed the court for a declaration: “That Section 84(8) cannot be interpreted to have excluded statutory delegates from voting at the convention, congress or meeting by virtue of Section 223 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Article 20(iv)(c) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Constitution, which allow statutory delegation to vote at convention, congress or meeting.”

Also in the suit, the second defendant filed a counter affidavit in opposition to the originating summons dated June 1, 2022.

However, the first, third and fourth defendants did not file any process in the suit.

For the APC, the statutory delegates to the National Convention include President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, sitting and former National Assembly members, serving and former governors and their deputies, National Working Committee members, state party chairmen and secretaries, local government chairmen, their deputies, councillors and party chairmen in the 774 local government areas.