Appeal Court dismisses PDP’s petitions, upholds victories of Gov. Idris in Kebbi, Uba Sani in Kaduna
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has affirmed the victory of Nasir Idris as the lawfully elected governor of Kebbi State and the election of Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the governor of Kaduna State.
The court, in separate judgments delivered on Friday evening, dismissed the appeal brought before it by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kebbi State and its governorship candidate, General Aminu Bande, for lack of merit.
Delivering the verdict, Justice Ndukwe Anyanwu resolved all five issues formulated for determination in favour of the Kebbi State Governor and against the PDP.
Justice Anyanwu held that the allegations of forgery of testimonial brought against the Deputy Governor of the State, Abubakar Umar Tafida, were not established as required by law.
She also held that the issues of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act in the conduct of the election could not stand because the appellants failed to prove how the allegations substantially affected the election.
Justice Anyanwu subsequently affirmed the judgment of the Kebbi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which had earlier dismissed the petition of PDP and affirmed the election of the governor.
Similarly, a three-member panel of the Appellate Court, while affirming Uba Sani as the duly elected Governor of Kaduna State, held that the tribunal acted in error when it depended on inadmissible evidence to order the conduct of supplementary polls in 22 polling units of four local government areas (LGAs) of Kaduna State where the exercise was deemed inconclusive.
The court stated that a key witness called by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the tribunal hearing merely gave hearsay evidence as he was not present when the malpractices he alleged happened.
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The Appeal Court held that the allegations of deduction of votes, stuffing of ballot boxes, and mutilation of sensitive electoral materials made by the said witness were born out of hearsay.
The court also held that the tribunal was right in dismissing the petition of the PDP and Isa Ashiru because the petitioners had abandoned their petition for their failure to apply for the issuance of a pre-hearing information sheet after the close of pleadings as required by paragraph 18(1) of the first schedule to the Electoral Act 2022.
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