Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday testified in a suit challenging the emergence of former Senate President, Sen. Ahmad Lawan, as party’s candidate for the Yobe North Senatorial District of Yobe.
The officials, who were summoned by Justice Salim Ibrahim of the Federal High Court in Abuja, gave their evidence in respect of the alleged discrepancies in the INEC’s reports of the primary election conducted for the senatorial district.
Four INEC officials and one staff member from the office of the APC’s National Organising Secretary, Joy Akang, testified as subpoenaed witnesses.
While Yagana Gubio and Abubakar Abubakar came from the Yobe office of the electoral umpire, C. C. Nnanah and A. N. Makwe came from the Abuja head office of the commission.
The INEC officals, who were led in evidence by the commission’s lawyer, P. A. Bello, adopted their affidavits evidence and adopted the processes as their testimonies.
Also, Akang, the APC’s Chief Organising Officer, who was led in evidence by the APC’s counsel, Adedayo Adedeji, SAN, tendered a documentary evidence to back their argument.
Besides, Adenike Ahmed, a staff from Shaibu Aruwa, SAN, the lead counsel for Lawan, equally adopted her affidavit evidence.
Responding, Francis Mgboh, the lawyer representing the plaintiff, Hassan Kafayos, told the court that they would file their responses to the subpoenaed witnesses’ claims.
After listening to the parties, Justice Ibrahim ordered the lawyers to file all their processes before Oct. 13.
The judge then adjourned the matter until Oct. 16 at 12 noon for definite hearing.
Kafayos, in the originating summons filed by Mgboh, had sued APC, its National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda; Lawan and INEC as 1st to 4th defendants respectively.
The plaintiff, an aggrieved aspirant in the May 18 Yobe North Senatorial District primary election, prayed the court to void the emergence of Lawan, the former Senate President, as party’s candidate for the 2027 poll.
On the last adjourned date, Aruwa, who appeared for Lawan, had told the court on the need to invite at least four INEC’s staff to clarify the discrepancies arising from the two reports produced by the commission in respect of the election.
The lawyer also said that a staff from his office should also be called upon to give an evidence as to the INEC’s reports.
Against the development, Mgboh informed the court that he had, on behalf of Kafayos, applied for some documents at the APC’s office but that the party allegedly refused to release them.
The plaintiff lawyer then prayed the court on the need to summon the party’s national chairman, Yilwatda, and A. N Makwe, an Assistant Director in INEC’s office.
However, lawyers to the parties later resolved that Sulaiman Argungu, the APC’s National Organising Secretary, should be summoned instead of Yilwatda to come and tell the court why they failed to make the documents available.
In his ruling, the judge issued the letters of subpoena on Argungu and the top INEC workers, including a staff from Aruwa’s chamber, to testify in court.
But when the matter was called on Friday, Adedeji told the court that Argungu was outside the country on medical grounds.
Kafayos, in the suit, had sought four reliefs.
He sought a declaration that the deliberate exclusion or suppression of his lawful participation, a financial member of APC, as aspirant in the May 18 senatorial election by the 1st and 2nd defendants without any reasonable cause, breached his right of freedom from discrimination.
He said this is guaranteed by Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution.
He said the defendants’ action breached Sections 84, 85, 86 and 87 of the Electoral Act, 2026 and also violated the party’s guidelines as provided for in Articles 2, 9.3 and 20 of the APC’s constitution not to undermine democratic procedures or principle in the internal affairs of the party.
The claimant, therefore, sought an order of injunction restraining APC and Yilwatda from forwarding Lawan’s name to INEC as consensus candidate of the party to have been lawfully nominated as candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District.
He also sought an order restraining INEC from accepting or publishing Lawan’s name “over the flawed primary election of the 1st defendant for Yobe North Senatorial District primary election that took place on the 18th of May, 2026.”
He equally sought an order, compelling the 1st, 2nd and 4th defendants to conduct a fresh primary election for the senatorial district or to recognise him as the duly nominated candidate of the party in the primary elecause.
Kafayos further prayed the court for an order directing APC, Yilwatda and Lawan to jointly and severally pay him the sum of N50 million as aggravated and exemplary damages for his wrongful exclusion as aspirant in the poll contrary to statutory provision, Electoral Act, 2026 and the party’s constitution.
Kafayos, in the affidavit he deposed to, said as a financial member of APC vying to represent his people in the 2027 election as senator, he duly indicated his interest by procuring the party’s Expression of Interest (EoI) Form.
He said upon completion of the form, same was duly returned and acknowledged by the party on May 6.
He said subsequently the party organised a screening exercise for all intended aspirant that had successfully submitted their EoI Forms.
He said he was successfully cleared by the APC’s Screening Committee as one of the aspirants for the primary election scheduled for May 18.
According to him, on May 18, after waiting for many hours, the election committee of the 1st defendant appeared at the Yobe North Senatorial District primary election venue at Government lodge Gashua Yobe at about 3.25pm and without any prior notice or negotiation to announce that only the 3rd defendant had been cleared.
He alleged that they informed him that he had been disqualified from the election contrary to his constitutional right and the provision of the Electoral laws and regulation set out by INEC.
He said the unprecedented situation caused serious pandemonium among the voters who were fed up with Lawan representing them in the Senate.
He said the voters started chanting his nickname, “Iroko” “Iroko” “Iroko” as their candidate for Senate.
He alleged that members of the electoral committee, with the support of Lawan, used some officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force to fire teargas at the venue of the primary election to disperse the crowd of voters gathered for the direct primary election at Gashua, Yobe.
He said he knew there was no direct primary or consensus election conducted at the designated venue at Gashua, Yobe May 18, since all voters were dispersed by the Nigeria Police Force teargas.
He alleged that he later saw on social media that the committee had left the neutral venue ground at government’s lodge, Gashua scheduled for the election and moved to Lawan’s private residence at Gashua in Yobe where about seven persons affirmed Lawan as APC’s candidate for the senatorial district.
He said this was at the detriment of the party’s internal democratic procedures and compliance with the electoral guidelines of INEC.
He said photographs of Lawan’s affirmation by either six or seven persons at his private residence in Gashua on May 18 were copied from his Redmi A5 handset and printed from his HP Laser-Jet P-2015 printer and attached as Exhibits “G”.
The aspirant said he exhausted all efforts by him to seek internal administrative procedure to register his grievances to the party through its state’s Chairman Appeal Committee, Damaturu in Yobe by submitting his complaint in writing dated May 18.
Kafayos said it would be in the interest of justice to set aside the flawed poll to allow a fresh election as a result of absence of transparency and breach of internal democratic process.
Alternatively, the aggrieved aspirant prayed that INEC should disqualify Lawan and declare him the candidate duly elected for the senatorial district.
But Lawan, APC and Yilwatda urged the court to dismiss the suit in their separate processes.
Lawan in his preliminary objection, challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit, urging the court to dismiss it for want of jurisdiction.
The APC also corroborated Aruwa’s argument in a preliminary objection filed by Adedeji, SAN.
Adedeji prayed the court to dismiss the suit for being fundamentally defective and for vesting no jurisdiction on the court.
Adedeji equally argued that the suit is statute-barred as it was filed outside the mandatory 14-day period prescribed by Section 285(14) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Rule 9 of the Practice Directions, 2022.
Yilwatda, in his counter affidavit deposed to by Lovelyn Donatus, a legal officer in the Legal Services Department of APC, averred that the party duly constituted the Primary Election Committee that conducted the Senatorial poll.