BY RICHARD ABU, Nasarawa –
A Federal High Court sitting in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital will on Wednesday, commenced the hearing on a suit filed by Barr. Labaran Shuaibu Magaji, a frontline Senatorial hopeful, who is challenging the outcome of the Senatorial primary election which produced Architect Shehu Tukur as the candidate of the APC for Nasarawa West Senatorial District
The defendants are Arct. Shehu Tukur, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) , the National Chairman of APC, Abdulahi Adamu, Hon. Abdulahi Abbas, Alh. Yakubu Muhammed Soja and Hon. Yusuf Adamu Auta.
Others joined in the suit are the Major Gen. A.T Jibrin (Rtd) and Princes Mariam Onuha.
In an interview with newsmen in Lafia on Friday, the complainant, Bar. Labaran Magaji, alleged that the defendants during the primary election collaborated and used fake and unregistered delegates to perpetuate the fraud by voting for Shehu Tukur to emerge as the winner of the election.
Barrister Magaji, who is a federal prosecutor, is therefore seeking the court to nullify the primary election because of the illegalities involved in the process and declare him as the winner as he was the person that scored the majority valid votes casted by the delegates.
He is contending that during the primary election, the first defendant Arch. Shehu Tukur, through illegalities was said to have scored 175 votes while he (Magaji) was declared to have scored 114 votes.
He claimed that if those illegal votes doctored for Nasarawa and Kefdi LGAs of APC are subtracted, he will automatically become the winner of the election as the first respondent would have been left with 54 votes while he has 114 votes.
It will be recalled that the appeal Committee of the party had recommended that a new primary election be conducted or on the event of time constraints, Labaran Magaji should be decided the winner of the primary election based on the genuine facts and figures he presented before the committee.
