From Adams Agbo, Lafia
The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lafia, Nasarawa State, has affirmed the victory of Engineer Abdullahi Sule, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the duly elected governor of the state, from the March 9th governorship election in the state.
The tribunal equally dismissed for lacking in merit, the petition instituted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the election, Hon. David Ombugadu, who was challenging the declaration of Engineer Sule as winner of the said election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In a judgment that lasted over seven hours, the three-man panel, headed by Justice Abba Mohammed, threw out all the allegations raised in the petition by the PDP and its candidate saying that the petitioner failed to prove his allegations beyond reasonable doubt.
Citing relevant laws to buttress its ruling, the tribunal chairman said that the petitioner was unable to prove that the March 9 governorship election was not fairly and freely conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended.
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On the allegation that the election was marred by irregularities resulting in over voting, the tribunal ruled that the petitioner relied solely on information obtained from the Card Reader Machine from the affected polling units, ignoring that of the voter’s register.
The PDP and its candidate in the 2019 governorship election, approached the tribunal seeking to order a fresh governorship election in the state, alleging that INEC did not comply with the accreditation requirements in more than 90 per cent of the polling units of the state.
Reacting to the judgement, an APC stalwart in the state, Dauda Abdullahi described the judgement as doctored by the APC for their favour. According to him, “We will look at the verdict with our team of lawyers for the way forward.”
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When asked for his opinion on the ruling, he declined further comment.
The state Deputy Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe said that their victory at the tribunal is the reaffirmation of the mandate given to them by people at the polls.
He assured the people of the state that they will do everything possible to provide dividends of democracy to all, irrespective of political affiliation.
Also commenting on the judgement, the chairman of ALGON in the state who is a staunch supporter of the ruling party in the state, Aminu Mu’azu Maifata commended the tribunal for upholding the victory of the APC and Governor Abdullahi Sule describing the judgement as democracy at work.
He called on all and sundry to join hands with the government to move the state to greater heights