Ismail Shuaib
ABUJA: An aspirant for the Kaura Namoda/Birnin Magaji Federal Constituency ticket of the All Progressives Congress APC in Zamfara State, Honourable Hassan Umar Dangaladima, has alleged that his main rival, Honourable Aminu Sani Jaji, is not a registered member of the party, and asked the National Executive Committee (NEC) to stop the committee set up to conduct a fresh primary.
Dangaladima, one of the contestants in the rescheduled primary ordered by the Court of Appeal, addressed his petition to the NEC and the National Working Committee (NWC). He also accused the APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, of bias.
He told the party that Jaji’s name cannot be found where it matters. “The very aspirant the impugned committee is designed to favour, Honourable Aminu Sani Jaji, is not a registered member of the Party: his name is not contained in the Register of Members of the All Progressives Congress for Birnin Magaji Ward submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as confirmed by the Certified True Copy of the said Register obtained from INEC (Exhibit A),” the petition read.
The petitioner said the party had been alerted beforehand. “A formal demand to that effect was made on the Party by letter dated 4th November, 2026 from Trinity Chambers (D.C. Enwelum, SAN), Solicitors in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1060/2026 — Hon. Hassan Umar v. Aminu Sani Jaji & 4 Ors. (Exhibit B).”
Citing the law, he argued that Jaji should not be on the ballot. “By Section 77(5) of the Electoral Act 2026, only members whose names are contained in the register of members shall be eligible to vote and be voted for in party primaries, congresses and conventions; the said aspirant is therefore ineligible to contest the court-ordered primary election.”
Dangaladima also took issue with how the committee came to be. He said Yilwatda acted alone, without recourse to the NWC he superintends.
“Pursuant to the said court order, the National Chairman purported to nominate and approve a committee to conduct the rescheduled primary election. The said nomination was made unilaterally by the National Chairman: no meeting of the National Working Committee was convened for that purpose; no quorum of the NWC deliberated upon or resolved on the composition of the committee; the nomination was never presented to, ratified or approved by the NWC or the NEC as required by the Party’s Constitution; and neither the aspirants nor the Zamfara State Chapter nor other relevant stakeholders were consulted,” he said.
According to him, the people on the panel are the problem. “The composition of the committee as announced raises a real and reasonable apprehension of bias: members of the committee are known loyalists, supporters and/or agents of a particular aspirant in the contest, namely Hon. Aminu Sani Jaji, thereby placing them in a position of manifest conflict of interest.”
The aspirant said aspirants were deliberately kept in the dark to achieve a pre-determined goal. “The membership of the committee was never published in advance; aspirants were afforded no notice of its composition and no opportunity to object to members with conflicts of interest; and no screening or vetting mechanism whatsoever was applied to secure the impartiality and independence of the committee,” he stated.
He maintained that the process offends both the party’s own rules and the law. “The manner of the committee’s constitution violates the rules of natural justice (audi alteram partem and nemo judex in causa sua), the principle of internal democracy enshrined in the Party’s Constitution, the Party’s guidelines for the conduct of primaries, and the Electoral Act, particularly the requirement of transparent, credible and INEC-monitored primaries.”
Dangaladima urged the NEC to halt the fresh primary and appoint a new set of individuals to conduct it. He cautioned that proceeding with the team already constituted by the national chairman would damage the ruling party’s electoral fortunes in the North West state in the forthcoming general elections.
The petition was copied to the APC Deputy National Chairman (North), the National Vice Chairman, North West, the party’s National Legal Adviser and the Zamfara State Chairman of the party.
Also copied were the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), the DSS Zamfara State Director, the Chairman of INEC and the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, among others.
Warning of the consequences of inaction, Dangaladima said: “Unless urgently rescinded, the committee so constituted cannot conduct a free, fair, credible and acceptable primary; any outcome it produces will be a nullity in law, vulnerable to being set aside, and may expose the Party to the statutory sanction of exclusion of its candidate from the election altogether.
“Time is of the essence: the Party is under a subsisting court order with a defined timeline, and any defective step taken under colour of that order will compound contempt exposure, intra-party litigation and irreparable damage to the Party’s fortunes and reputation in Zamfara State.
