I didn’t ask INEC to postpone Zamfara election – AGF

Says Postponing Zamfara election is APC’s right — not a
favour

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,
Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Thursday, denied media reports that
he wrote the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone
all the forthcoming general elections apart from the presidential
poll in Zamfara State.

Malami, through his Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, Mr.
Salihu Isah, said in his statement that the media reports were
false and misleading, as he had only asked the INEC to extend the
time within which the All Progressives Congress might field
candidates in the forthcoming elections in the state.

The statement read in part, “The attention of the Office of the
Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice has been drawn to a recent publication by certain social
media and conventional news outlets stating that this Office had
purportedly requested the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) to postpone the elections in Zamfara State.

“The Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation
wishes to emphatically reiterate that this report is false and
misleading.

“In our letter dated February 13, 2019 addressed to the INEC
Chairman, the Honourable Attorney of the Federation in reacting to
a petition from M.A Mahmud informing this Office of the subsisting
Court of Appeal decision in CA/S/22/2019 which effectively upheld
the APC primaries in Zamfara state, wrote to INEC informing them of
this development and requested the Commission to comply by
extending the time within which the political party candidate in
the Gubernatorial elections.”

The minister had in his letter dated January 13, 2019 and
addressed to the Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, asked the
commission to comply with a certain judgment of the Court of Appeal
affirming the primaries of the party in the state.

Malami had urged INEC to grant the APC more time to field
candidates for the governorship, National Assembly and state House
of Assembly elections in the state, adding that section 38 and 39
of the Electoral Act empowered the commission to postpone the
election.

The minister, a founding member of the APC, said in the letter
that the Court of Appeal’s judgment delivered on Wednesday affirmed
an earlier verdict of the Zamfara State High Court which had held
that the party conducted valid primaries for the various elective
positions in the state.

Malami said granting the concession of postponing the polls in
Zamfara State 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.

His letter stated, “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
judgement of the Court of Appeal by admitting the results of the
APC Zamfara State Primaries and to also comply with the provisions
of Section38 of the Electoral Act which empowers INEC to postpone
the election for the governorship, National Assembly and House of
Assembly Elections.”