The authorized battle over the African Democratic Congress (ADC) major election for the Hadejia/Auyo/Kafin Hausa Federal Constituency in Jigawa State has taken a dramatic flip earlier than the Federal High Court as a celebration official, Mansur Kanya, wrote to the court docket denying any involvement within the disputed train.
The crisis started after Baffa Suleiman deposed to an affidavit beneath oath claiming he—and never Zakari Alhaji-Sidi—gained the first election carried out on 25 May 2025.
Mr Suleiman claimed that Mr Kanya acted as the collation officer who declared him the winner, an assertion Mr Kanya has refuted.
In a dramatic twist, Mr Kanya submitted an affidavit of details immediately countering Mr Suleiman’s claims, stating that he was in Kaduna State on a nationwide celebration project when the Jigawa primaries passed off and couldn’t have collated the outcomes, not to mention declared Mr Suleiman the winner.
The plaintiff, Mr Alhaji-Sidi—popularly recognized as Zakari Kafin-Hausa—gained the celebration’s major election in May, however was subsequently changed with Mr Suleiman, an aide to ADC National Secretary Rauf Aregbesola.
In Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1655/2026, Mr Sidi is searching for the interpretation and enforcement of Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act 2026.
He named the ADC as the first Defendant, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the 2nd Defendant, and Mr Suleiman as the third Defendant.
The newest court docket submitting, ready by Mr Sidi’s authorized group led by Suleh Umar (SAN), was a reply to the counter-affidavits submitted by the first and third defendants on 10 and 16 August.
Mr Sidi maintains that Certified True Copies (CTCs) of the ward and native authorities collation outcomes, monitored and issued by INEC, confirmed his victory.
Conversely, he argues that Mr Suleiman depends completely on a single doc, Exhibit “BSS1,” which lacks foundational collation outcomes from the constituency’s three native authorities areas, describing it as fabricated.
The submitting contends that as custodians of the first election information, the ADC didn’t tender ward and native authorities end result sheets to rebut the INEC-certified paperwork.
Invoking Section 167(d) of the Evidence Act 2011, Mr Sidi urged the court docket to presume that the defendants withheld these paperwork as a result of the proof could be unfavourable to their case.
To problem the validity of Exhibit “BSS1,” Mr Sidi launched Exhibit “AM2”—an official posting letter proving that Mr Kanya was assigned by the ADC to serve on the Kaduna State Appeal Committee on the time of the Jigawa primaries.
Mr Sidi additionally pointed to a congratulatory message despatched to him by Mr Kanya, who wrote to the court docket to clear his identify and assist Mr Sidi’s place.
Addressing the ADC’s declare relating to discrepancies in his identify, Mr Sidi clarified that ward officers recorded his victory utilizing his extensively recognized moniker, “Zakari Kafin-Hausa,” as a substitute of his formal identify, Zakari Alhaji-Sidi, which he used when buying nomination varieties.
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Mr Sidi executed an Affidavit of Reconciliation of Names (Exhibit “1”), arguing that the celebration can not exploit an administrative error made by its personal officers to disclaim him the nomination.
Citing Supreme Court and Court of Appeal precedents—together with Amaechi v. INEC and Buhari v. PDP—Mr Sidi urged the court docket to present decisive weight to the unbiased statutory report generated by INEC as the impartial monitoring authority beneath Section 84(1) of the Electoral Act.
Mr Sidi is praying the court docket to discountenance the arguments of the first and third Defendants, uphold the INEC-certified major election monitoring outcomes, and declare him the reliable ADC candidate for the Hadejia/Auyo/Kafin Hausa Federal Constituency.
The matter has been adjourned to 22 October for listening to and the adoption of ultimate written addresses.
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