Court stops APC from issuing automatic ticket to Shehu Sani

…ignore them, group tells APC

Kaduna State High Court has on Wednesday restrained the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from conducting the primary election to select the party’s candidate for the Kaduna Central Senatorial District.

The court order is coming after supporters of Uba Sani had protested at the state’s party secretariat on Tuesday night, asking the party to rescind its decision.

Meanwhile, a pro Senator Shehu Sani group on Wednesday addressed a press conference in Kaduna, asking the national secretariat of the party to ignore Uba Sani and Governor El-Rufai on the matter.

Following the automatic ticket given to Senator representing Kaduna North zone, Shehu Sani by the national secretariat of the APC, his opponent in the party, Malam Uba Sani had dragged the party to the court challenging the decision.

Uba Sani is the acclaimed preferred candidate of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State.

Ruling on an ex-parte motion in a suit filed by Uba Sani, the court ordered the APC, its chairman Adams Oshiomhole, INEC and Shehu Sani to maintain the status-quo prior to 2nd October 2018, when the APC national chairman ‘unlawfully’ excluded Uba Sani and other aspirants from the contest in favour of one aspirant.

In a motion brought pursuant to Order 15(1) and Order 36 of the High Court Civil Procedure Rules of Kaduna State, the Court granted leave to issue and serve the writ of summons on the defendants.

Our Correspondent gathered that, the restraining order has been served on the APC at its national headquarters in Abuja.

Uba Sani’s lawyer, Sule Shuaibu Esq., explained that his client took this step to protect his democratic rights after exhausting the internal party grievance-redress processes.

“Upon becoming aware of his unlawful exclusion, Uba Sani wrote and submitted a letter of complaint to the national chairman, urging him to reverse the decision. He followed up with a letter to the Appeal Committee, stating clearly that having fulfilled all the conditions for contesting the primary election, his unlawful exclusion should be set aside and he  be allowed to contest the primary election.

“Given the imminence of the INEC deadline for the conclusion of primaries, Uba Sani cannot sit on his right and allow the effluxion of time to extinguish his cause of action,” he said.

The court however adjourned the matter to 15th October 2018.

The pro Shehu Sani group called, APC Solidarity for Senator Shehu Sani led by led by Architecct Ado Mohammed Sani said that national leadership of the party should ignore Uba Sani and Governor El-Rufai.