30/09/2026
Supreme Court Verdict Does Not Affect Shehu Buba’s Bauchi Governorship Candidacy — Legal Team.
The legal team of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) governorship candidate in Bauchi State, Senator Shehu Buba Umar, has rejected reports suggesting that his candidacy could be affected by the recent Supreme Court judgment on provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.
In a statement signed by the Coordinator of the Senator Shehu Buba Umar Legal Team, Jibrin S. Jibrin, Esq., the lawyers said the September 24, 2026 judgment in Independent National Electoral Commission v. Zenith Labour Party should not be interpreted as automatically affecting Buba’s nomination for the 2027 governorship election.
The clarification followed a Daily Trust report of September 30, which listed Buba among politicians whose candidacies could potentially be affected by the judgment because they allegedly emerged late or after presenting themselves for elections on other political platforms.
The legal team described the inclusion of Buba in that category as “erroneous, misplaced and misconceived”, arguing that the circumstances surrounding his emergence as PRP governorship candidate were materially different.
The Supreme Court had on September 24 allowed INEC’s appeal against a Court of Appeal decision that invalidated provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 concerning political party membership registers and methods of conducting party primaries. Reports of the judgment indicate that the apex court restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Act.
According to Buba’s legal team, the senator joined the PRP early enough to satisfy the applicable statutory requirements and did not participate in the governorship primary of his former political party before moving to the PRP.
It therefore maintained that he could not properly be categorised as a candidate who emerged late or sought nomination on another platform after participating in an earlier primary.
The lawyers further argued that the Supreme Court case concerned the specific parties and circumstances before it and that neither Buba nor the PRP was a party to the litigation.
“Senator Shehu Buba or PRP is not a party to the matter,” the statement said, contending that the judgment should be applied in light of the particular facts surrounding his nomination rather than through a general assumption that every candidate who changed parties would be affected.
