By Williams Danjuma, Gombe
The Federal High Court No. 1 sitting in Gombe, has affirmed Jerry Joseph Damara, as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Gombe South Senatorial District election in the forthcoming 2027 general elections.
The presiding Judge, Justice Amina Aliyu Mohammed, in her ruling, Wednesday, dismissed a suit filed by Hon. Bilyaminu Babadidi challenging the emergence of Mr. Damara as the APC candidate for the Gombe South Senatorial District in the 2027 general elections.
The court, according to the judgment, considered the evidence presented by the plaintiff but held that the plaintiff failed to establish his case regarding the alleged non-conduct of the APC senatorial primary in Gombe South.
The suit was filed against the APC, Damara and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following the APC senatorial primary election conducted on May 18, 2026.
Babadidi had challenged the validity of the primary, alleging that no primary election was conducted across the 40 wards of Gombe South and that election officials and materials were not deployed.
But in the course of the hearing, counsel to the plaintiff, Barrister Ayuba Rabiu, called four witnesses, including Babadidi himself, and tendered documentary exhibits in support of the case.
The witnesses maintained in their testimonies that there was no primary election conducted at the Ward and Local Government levels in Gombe South, alleging that election officials and electoral materials were not available at the purported polling locations.
The plaintiff also told the court that he had submitted a complaint to the APC Appeal Committee following the primary but alleged that no action was taken on his petition.
However, the defendants disputed the allegations. The APC called one witness, Rabilu Musa, identified during the proceedings as the chairman of the party’s National Primary Election Committee who testified that the party conducted its senatorial primary in Gombe State, including Gombe South, on May 18, 2026.
During cross-examination, however, he acknowledged that the voters’ register was not tendered before the court.
Counsel to the plaintiff also raised objections to some of the documentary exhibits tendered by the defence, arguing that certain documents were inadmissible and that the defence witness was not the maker of the documents being relied upon.
Barrister Rabiu further challenged the evidential value of documents relating to accreditation and the conduct of the primary, maintaining that the evidence did not establish that a valid primary election was actually conducted in the senatorial district.
The defence counsel, Barrister Muzzambil Yahaya, argued against the plaintiff’s position and defended the evidence presented before the court.
According to the judgment, the Court considered the evidence presented by the plaintiff but held that the plaintiff failed to establish his case regarding the alleged non-conduct of the APC senatorial primary in Gombe South.
In an interview with journalists shortly after the judgment, counsel to the plaintiff, Barrister Ayuba Rabiu, commended the court for the judgment but disclosed that his client would challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal after studding the judgment.
But counsel to the defendant, Barrister Muzzambil Yahaya, also in an interview with Journalists, commended Justice Amina Aliyu Mohammed for what he described as a sound judgment.
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