Months after a court threw out the APC’s disputed senatorial primary in Zamfara North, Yahaya Tijjani Kaura has won the party’s ticket in a rerun, polling 16,758 votes in Gusau on Monday, more than ten times the 1,465 scored by his closest rival.
The rerun followed a Court of Appeal ruling in Sokoto that upheld the nullification of the earlier primary, with judges questioning how a district with 26,000 registered party members could produce 70,000 votes for one aspirant.
The victory puts him on the party’s ticket for the National Assembly election, which is scheduled to hold alongside the presidential poll in January 2027.
The rerun became necessary after the courts threw out the APC’s earlier senatorial primary in the district, citing alleged gross violations of party guidelines and the Electoral Act.
The Federal High Court in Gusau voided that exercise in August 2026, and last month the Court of Appeal in Sokoto upheld the decision.
The appellate panel, led by Justice Tunde Oyebamiji Awotoye, agreed with the respondent, Hon. Abdullahi Shinkafi, that he had made his case.
The court also raised doubts about the earlier results, questioning how a district with 26,000 registered party members could record 70,000 votes for a single aspirant.
Announcing the outcome on Monday, the Returning Officer of the APC Senatorial Primary Election Committee, Alhaji Sani Abdullahi, said Kaura met the requirements of the party’s constitution and guidelines and polled the highest number of votes. He declared Kaura the winner and certified the result.
With the rerun concluded, the legal dispute that clouded the party’s candidate selection in Zamfara North comes to an end.