Constitutional lawyer, Jirgba Terfa Jirgba, Esq., has asserted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has made “a significant mistake in the manner it handled the emergence and submission of its preferred candidates” for the 2027 general elections.
Jirgba made the observation while reacting to an analysis by student lawyer, David Mzer, on a 2022 pre-election case involving Arch. Asema Achado and Engr. Terhemba Nongo.
According to Mzer’s analysis, Arch. Achado filed a pre-election suit in June 2022 after the APC submitted Engr. Nongo’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its candidate for the Gwer East/Gwer West Federal Constituency, despite allegedly declaring Achado winner of the party’s primary.
Achado claimed he scored 36,662 votes in the primary against Nongo’s 966 votes and argued that the party unlawfully substituted his name with that of Nongo when forwarding its candidate to INEC.
The courts eventually ruled in Achado’s favour, paving the way for him to contest and subsequently win the general election.
Although the current suit has not been independently verified, reports indicate that Engr. Nongo has now approached the court in a similar dispute against Achado, with allegations said to mirror those raised in the earlier case.
Reacting to the development, Jirgba said the present matter bears striking similarities to the 2022/2023 case.
“This case is almost identical to the one decided in 2022/2023. The facts, allegations and parties are substantially the same. The only real differences are the year and the reversal of the parties’ positions—the respondent in the earlier case is now the plaintiff, and vice versa,” he said.
He added that the litigation would test how the courts interpret the issues in light of the Supreme Court’s earlier judgment.
“It will be interesting to see how the courts resolve this matter, especially in light of the Supreme Court’s earlier decision involving the same parties and similar facts.”
Jirgba further cautioned against assuming that the names already announced by the APC would automatically become the party’s final candidates.
“Many of the announced candidates may not be the final candidates. The legal battles have only just begun, so I believe it is too early for celebrations,” he said.
