The Federal High Court sitting in Damaturu has dismissed a petition challenging the emergence of Alhaji Baba Mallam Wali as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Yobe State for the 2027 general election.
The court, presided over by Justice Fatima Murtala Amin, held that the case instituted by Engr. Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja, one of the aspirants who contested the party's governorship ticket, was filed outside the legally prescribed time.
Maihaja had approached the court to challenge the conduct of the APC governorship primary held on May 21, 2026, which produced Wali as winner with 236,711 votes.
In his petition, Maihaja alleged irregularities in the conduct of the primary, including over-voting and failure to comply with the party's electoral guidelines.
However, in its judgment delivered on Monday, November 9, 2026, the court upheld the preliminary objection that the suit was statute-barred, having been instituted outside the constitutionally prescribed period.
The court also considered the substantive allegation of over-voting and held that the petitioner failed to establish his claim with credible evidence.
It held that even if the action had been filed within time, it would still have failed on its merits because the allegation was not proved.
The court further found material contradictions and inconsistencies in the testimonies of the plaintiff's witnesses, rendering their evidence unreliable and insufficient to sustain the allegations.
In a statement signed by the APC candidate's Press Secretary, Shuaibu Abdullahi, Wali commended the court for its "painstaking consideration of the issues" and reaffirmed confidence in the judiciary as the ultimate guardian of justice and the rule of law.
2027: Court upholds Wali's emergence as Yobe APC guber candidate, dismisses Maihaja's suit