The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Zamfara says it has restored the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the list of political parties that will participate in the 2019 general elections.
This was announced in a statement by the commission’s Head of Voter Education and Publicity in the state, Garba Galadima in Gusau on Friday.
The says: “it should be noted that the Court of Appeal, Abuja Judicial Division on Feb. 21, set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja which ruled that APC could not field candidates in the 2019 general elections, having failed to conduct party primaries.
“On the other hand, the Zamfara State High Court decision upheld that the APC can field candidates for the National Assembly, Governorship and State Assembly elections as the valid and subsisting order.
“The commission has today, Feb. 22, complied with the order of the Court of Appeal and restored the APC to the ballot in the National Assembly, Governorship and State House of Assembly elections scheduled for Feb. 23 and March 9.”
The commission added that the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Dr. Asmau Maikudi, used the media to reach out to the general public.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that already, the APC has started receiving defectors and support from opposition parties which called on their members to vote for the APC in all the general elections.
Meanwhile, there are still conflicts over who the candidates from the APC would be as the party has two factions in the state.
While addressing newsmen over candidates to be fielded, the party’s Chairman in the state, Alhaji Lawali Liman dismissed existence of a conflict.
“We already have our list of candidates from governorship to national and state assemblies which is what we submitted to the National Secretariat of our party and the courts, so I can’t see any conflict here.”