The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Marama Abba has been recognized by the Supreme Court as the Hawul State Constituency’s legitimately elected candidate for the Borno House of Assembly.
Abba’s appeal was deemed to be meritorious and deserving of being allowed by the five-member panel, which was presided over by Justice John Okoro.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Abba filed an appeal against the appellate court’s decision designating Ado Haruna as the legitimate candidate for the house of assembly constituency election.
In the lawsuit with case number SC/CV/73/2023, Haruna was the first respondent, followed by PDP and INEC.
Following Abba’s voluntary withdrawal from the race, Haruna went to a Federal High Court (FHC) in Maiduguri to request an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept and publish his name as the PDP candidate sent by the party to it.
Haruna sued the PDP and INEC in the initial summons, but the case was dismissed by the trial court.
In Abuja’s Appeal Court, where he successfully filed an appeal after being dissatisfied with the ruling, Haruna was recognized as the legitimate PDP candidate running for the Hawul State Constituency on December 18. 29, 2022.
Abba denied ever resigning from his position as a candidate, though, in an appeal to the Supreme Court that was submitted by his attorney Johnson Usman, SAN.
Usman asked the judge to declare the alleged letter of withdrawal, which he claimed Abba had signed, to be invalid.
He claimed Abba was the victor of the PDP House of Assembly primary election held on May 22, 2022, and that he had not withdrawn his name from consideration.
Abba was not included as a party in the lawsuit Haruna filed before the FHC Maiduguri, according to the senior attorney.
He requested that the court rule that he never withdrew his candidacy from the election, claiming that their refusal to join him was a violation of his right to a fair hearing.
delivering the verdict in February. Abba was declared the legitimate candidate for the March 18 House of Assembly election in the constituency by Justice Okoro, who agreed with Usman’s submission.
The court determined that Abba’s right to a fair hearing was violated because he was a necessary party who should have been included in the lawsuit at the outset but was not.
The court determined that fraud, misrepresentation, and the concealment of facts were used to obtain the Court of Appeal’s judgment.
Additionally, it declared that there was no proof Abbas withdrew his candidacy and overturned the Court of Appeal’s ruling.
The first respondent (Haruna) was fined N5 million by the top court as costs in Abba’s favor.
