The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has on Tuesday 26th March 2019 announced through their verified official twitter handle (INEC Nigeria) their decision to suspend the issuance of Certificates of Return to all elected All Progressive Congress (APC) candidates during the 9th March 2019 gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections. Their message reads thus:
“INEC has been served with the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Sokoto concerning the sponsoring of candidates by the APC in Zamfara and is studying same. Consequently, the presentation of Certificates of Return for the Zamfara Governorship and state House of Assembly scheduled for Wednesday 27 has been suspended.”
Breaking News: pic.twitter.com/mqDTbsIddk
— INEC Nigeria (@inecnigeria) March 26, 2019
The suspension of the Certificates of Return to all APC was as a result of the judgment of the Court of Appeal held in Sokoto, which set aside the judgment of a Zamfara High Court which allowed the APC to field candidates for the 9th March 2019 elections.
Before the Zamfara High Court ruling which directed INEC to allow the candidates of the APC to be part of the election, INEC had earlier informed the APC that they would not be part of the elections because the APC did not conduct primary elections.
In the ruling at the Appeal Court in Sokoto, the presiding judge, Justice Shaibu Yakubu, re-echoed the decision of INEC by ruling that after reviewing the evidence before the court, it was very clear that the APC did not conduct primary election in Zamfara state which according to the electoral law rendered them unfit to present their candidates in the general elections for governorship and House of Assembly in the state.