Jigawa ADC crisis deepens as Rep candidate challenges replacement with Aregbesola’s aide

The legal battle over the African Democratic Congress (ADC) primary election for the Hadejia/Auyo/Kafin Hausa Federal Constituency in Jigawa State has taken a dramatic turn before the Federal High Court as a party official, Mansur Kanya, wrote to the court denying any involvement in the disputed exercise.

The crisis began after Baffa Suleiman deposed to an affidavit under oath claiming he—and not Zakari Alhaji-Sidi—won the primary election conducted 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 facts directly countering Mr Suleiman’s claims, stating that he was in Kaduna State on a national party assignment when the Jigawa primaries took place and could not have collated the results, let alone declared Mr Suleiman the winner.

The plaintiff, Mr Alhaji-Sidi—popularly known as Zakari Kafin-Hausa—won the party’s primary election in May, but was subsequently replaced with Mr Suleiman, an aide to ADC National Secretary Rauf Aregbesola.

In Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1655/2026, Mr Sidi is seeking the interpretation and enforcement of Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act 2026.

He named the ADC as the 1st Defendant, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the 2nd Defendant, and Mr Suleiman as the 3rd Defendant.

The latest court filing, prepared by Mr Sidi’s legal team led by Suleh Umar (SAN), was a reply to the counter-affidavits submitted by the 1st and 3rd defendants on 10 and 16 August.

Mr Sidi maintains that Certified True Copies (CTCs) of the ward and local government collation results, monitored and issued by INEC, confirmed his victory.

Conversely, he argues that Mr Suleiman relies entirely on a single document, Exhibit “BSS1,” which lacks foundational collation results from the constituency’s three local government areas, describing it as fabricated.

The filing contends that as custodians of the primary election records, the ADC failed to tender ward and local government result sheets to rebut the INEC-certified documents.

Invoking Section 167(d) of the Evidence Act 2011, Mr Sidi urged the court to presume that the defendants withheld these documents because the evidence would be unfavourable to their case.

To challenge the validity of Exhibit “BSS1,” Mr Sidi introduced Exhibit “AM2”—an official posting letter proving that Mr Kanya was assigned by the ADC to serve on the Kaduna State Appeal Committee at the time of the Jigawa primaries.

Mr Sidi also pointed to a congratulatory message sent to him by Mr Kanya, who wrote to the court to clear his name and support Mr Sidi’s position.

Addressing the ADC’s claim regarding discrepancies in his name, Mr Sidi clarified that ward officials recorded his victory using his widely known moniker, “Zakari Kafin-Hausa,” instead of his formal name, Zakari Alhaji-Sidi, which he used when purchasing nomination forms.

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Mr Sidi executed an Affidavit of Reconciliation of Names (Exhibit “1”), arguing that the party cannot exploit an administrative error made by its own officials to deny him the nomination.

Citing Supreme Court and Court of Appeal precedents—including Amaechi v. INEC and Buhari v. PDP—Mr Sidi urged the court to give decisive weight to the independent statutory report generated by INEC as the neutral monitoring authority under Section 84(1) of the Electoral Act.

Mr Sidi is praying the court to discountenance the arguments of the 1st and 3rd Defendants, uphold the INEC-certified primary election monitoring results, and declare him the legitimate ADC candidate for the Hadejia/Auyo/Kafin Hausa Federal Constituency.

The matter has been adjourned to 22 October for hearing and the adoption of final written addresses.