The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the National Assembly, governorship and State House of Assembly polls in Zamafara State to enable the All Progressives Congress (APC) field candidates for the exercise in the state.
A copy of the three-page letter bearing Malami’s signature and dated February 13, 2019 with reference number MJ/DSD/03 emerged online on Thursday morning.
The letter is however without the acknowledgement stamp of the office of INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, to whom it was addressed.
Malami said the letter was informed by a petition he received from the law firm of M.A Mahmud & Co. which requested for the postponement of the elections in Zamfara State based on a judgment of the Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal.
Malami, who is a founding member of the APC said that the Court of Appeal’s judgment which was delivered on Wednesday affirmed an earlier verdict of the Zamfara State High Court which had validated the party’s primaries conducted for the various elective positions in the state.
The Minister maintained that granting the concession of postponing the polls in Zamfara in the light of the Court of Appeal’s judgment was not a matter of doing APC a favour but a right the party was entitled to.
“In view of the fact, now that the Court of Appeal has upheld the primaries as valid, the APC in Zamfara State will need a little time to catch up with its contemporaries in the election.
“Granting them this concession is not necessarily a favour but a right that inures to all contestants under similar circumstances.
“Consequent on the above, INEC is invited to comply with the judgment of the Court of Appeal by admitting the results of the APC Zamfara State primaries and to also comply with the provisions of Section 38 of the Electoral Act which empowers INEC to postpone the election for the governorship, National Assembly and House of Assembly elections,” the letter added.
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