The All Progressives Congress’ (APC) nomination of Shehu Buba Umar as its candidate for the Bauchi South Senatorial District has been upheld by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
The nomination’s cancellation by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, was overturned by a three-member panel of the appellate court on Friday in two judgments.
In the lead judgments, Justice Ridwan Abdullahi ruled that the trial court erred when it declared the party’s primary victory on May 29, 2022, invalid.
Justice Abdullahi upheld the arguments by Umar’s lawyer, Jibrin Sa’id Jibrin that the trial judge’s decision was not supported by the evidence led by Ibrahim Zailani, who was the plaintiff in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/891/2022.
The judge proceeded to allow both appeals, marked: CA/ABJ/CV/1335/2022 and CA/ABJ/CV/1341/2022 filed by Umar and the APC.
He made an order setting aside the judgment delivered on November 21 last year by Justice Nwite and restored Umar as the authentic candidate of the APC for Bauchi South Senatorial District.
Umar, who was in court hailed the decision urged all party members to support his candidacy in line with the decision of the Court of Appeal.
He commended the court “for the sound judgements, which not only represents the proper position of the law, but also provided a thoughtful insight on several material issues, thereby broadening the frontiers of legal discourse.”