The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal court sitting, in Abuja, on Friday, affirmed the victory of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State in the March 18 governorship election.
However, Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, was not as lucky. The Appeal Court also sitting in Abuja has sacked him and upheld the verdict of the Election Petitions Tribunal led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay which had upturned his election on September 20, 2023.
In the case of Mohammed, the panel of three justices unanimously endorsed his election without awarding any cost, as the court ruled that each party to the matter should bear their costs.
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The Deputy Governor of Bauchi State, Aueal Jatau, led a delegation of officials of the state government to the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, to represent his principal, who is out of the country.
The Deputy Governor of Bauchi State, Aueal Jatau, led a delegation of officials of the state government to the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, to represent his principal, who is out of the country.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared Mohammed of the PDP as the winner of the election.
Nevertheless, Sadique Abubakar,
the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) approached the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, challenging Mohammed’s victory.
the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) approached the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, challenging Mohammed’s victory.
Chairman of the three-man panel, P T. Kwahar, in his judgment, affirmed the victory of Mohammed, leading to Abubakar’s appeal at the Court of Appeal, which has also been quashed.
In Kano, the election petitions court had nullified 165,663 votes of Yusuf because they were not signed or stamped by the INEC.
This reduced the governor’s votes to 853,939 while his rival, Nasir Ganuwa of the All Progressives Congress, APC, retained his 890,705 and thereby recording more votes than Yusuf.
The governor described the tribunal verdict, as “unfair” and “a miscarriage of justice”, and proceeded to the Appeal Court.
His lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, protested against the ruling on ballot papers, arguing that it was the first time in history that a tribunal would annul an election over non-signing of the back of ballot papers.
Olanipekun further argued that it was also the first time that a political party would file a matter without joining its candidate as a party in the petition and the candidate would declared winner of the polls.
However, the APC counsel, Akin Olujimi, SAN, countered him, saying according to the Appeal Court, it is electoral malpractice to fail to sign the ballots.