The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, in Sokoto State on Thursday, adjourned until September 3 for adoption for the adoption of final addresses in the petition filed by Ahmed Aliyu, the APC, challenging the declaration of Governor Aminu Tambuwal as winner of the governorship election.
Aliyu had gone to the Tribunal seeking to upturn the victory of Gov. Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 Governorship election.
Justice Abbas Bawale, fixed the date for parties to adopt their respective addresses, after arguments.
NAN reports that Tambuwal, through his Counsel to Mr Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, on Wednesday closed his defence after he presented eight witnesses including officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who were subpoenaed to testify.
Also the lead Counsel for PDP, Mr Akinmuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, told the Tribunal that he would not lead any defence witness.
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Akinboro said he relied on Tambuwal’s witnesses as well as the cross examinations he conducted on the petitioner’s witnesses.
During the trial, Lead Counsel of the Petitioners, Dr Alex Izinyon, SAN, led 10 witnesses and presented exhibits before the tribunal to prove the petition.
Mr Alhassan Umar, Counsel of INEC, had also not led any witness as he also relied on petitioner’s witnesses and the cross examinations he conducted.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the main governorship election held on March 9 was declared inconclusive following cancellation of 75, 403 votes which were higher than the 3, 413 votes margin between the leading candidates.
The re-run was conducted on March 23, and Tambuwal won with a slim margin of 342 votes.
Unsatisfied with the outcome, Aliyu approached the tribunal challenging the return of Tambuwal as the governor-elect, on the grounds that the election was marred with irregularities and Aliyu was not competent to contest. (NAN)
