The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja on Thursday dismissed two motions filed by the Abdullahi Gantuve-led faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the ensuing infighting that rocked the party’s state chapter.
This came on the heels of the court’s previous rulings on November 30 and December 17, 2021 against Mr. Gantuve’s faction. The crisis pits the current Kano state governor, Gantuve, against a rival group within the party, led by a former Kano state governor, Ibrahim Shekarau.
The two factions held parallel congresses and produced two sets of state executives on October 18, 2021.
While the Gantuve group produced Abdullahi Abbas as the party’s state chairman, the Shekarau camp elected Haruna Danzago for the same post.
The FCT High Court, on November 30, declared valid the congress held by Mr. Shekarau’s group and the officials it produced as the duly elected leaders of the APC in the state.
Also, on December 17, he confirmed his decision to reject a motion filed by Gantuve’s faction asking the court to stay the execution and annul the sentence.
The judge, Hamza Muazu, further imposed a fine of N1 million against the plaintiffs for filing “a frivolous motion and a waste of time”.
Muazu on Thursday rejected two motions to annul the sentence and stay the execution at the local government congress.
The faction led by Gantuve had filed the motions following his appeal on the matter. They had subsequently transmitted the minutes of the appeal to the Court of Appeal, a crucial procedural step that sets the stage for the appeal hearing.
In his ruling on Thursday, the judge, Mr. Muazu, annulled the applications on the grounds that he had lost jurisdiction to hear the case, as the appeal records were passed on to the Court of Appeal.