Supreme Court’s Judgement: Zamfara CJ May Become Acting Governor, Says Lawyer

Since the supreme court verdict on Zamfara governorship election, some Nigerians came up with different analysis from different perspectives to see how realistic the judgement will be taking into cognizance the reality of the outcome of the said election.

In Dr. Ibrahim Abdul Esq analysis, he pointed out the aspect of the electoral law and what the constitution says about the percentage of the total valid votes that can make any candidate or political party the winner of any election in Nigeria.

In his analysis, “from the Supreme Court judgement today and my analysis of the Zamfara State declared Guber results vis-a-vis the declaration of the Apex Court ”that the runner-up candidate be sworn in if he fulfills the constitutional requirement of getting one quarter of the total votes cast in at least two-third of the local government areas of the state”. The PDP may not benefit from the judgement as being speculated. Here is my analysis.

“The PDP did not win any of the 14 Local Government Areas in the last Gubernatorial polls in Zamfara state, APC won all. However, PDP had one-quarter (25%) of the total votes cast in only 6 (Anka, Bukkuyum, Maradum, Buggundu, Kaura Namoda and Maru LGs) while it did not make the 25% requirement in the remaining 8 (Bakura, Gunmi, Zurmi, Birnin Mogaji, Gusau, Shinkafi and Tsafe).

Ibrahim explained further, “Mathematically, two-third of 14 (LGs) is 9. Thus, Zamfara may not have a substantive Governor come May 29, 2019.

“Even if the Chief Judge assumes the Acting Governor’s role, there may still not be any elected members of the House of Assembly to be inaugurated. So the CJ will be a Sole Administrator.” He concluded.

You could recollect that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had an emergency meeting immediately after the judgement but they could not conclude on any concrete point. INEC latter made a press statement that they will come out with their final resolution on Monday 27th May, 2019.lNEC press release on Zamfara election judgement