Jan 19, 2023

– Our reporter with agency reports

The Supreme Court has upheld the elections that produced Dapo Abiodun as Ogun State Governor; Abdullahi Sule as Nasarawa State Governor; Uba Sani as Kaduna State Governor; Nasir Idris as Kebbi State Governor; and Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya.

Ogun State

In its ruling on the Ogun State governorship, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Adebutu Oladipupo, challenging the election that produced Abiodun as the state governor.
The Supreme Court, sitting in Abuja, on Friday upheld the victory of Dapo Abiodun in the 2023 governorship election.
In November 2023, the Court of Appeal in Lagos affirmed the victory of Abiodun.
The appellate court, in a split decision, also dismissed the petition filed by Adebutu, the PDP governorship candidate in the election.

The majority decision was delivered by Justice Joseph Shagbaor Ikyegh.
The Ogun governorship election petition tribunal upheld Abiodun’s victory in September 2023.
The tribunal, led by Hamidu Kunaza, unanimously ruled that Adebutu’s petition was “incompetent, defective, and lacking in merit.”

Nasarawa State

In the Nasarawa State governorship court tussle, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun of the Supreme Court upheld the election of Abdullahi Sule as the Governor of Nasarawa State on Friday.
The court, in the lead judgement, resolved all the issues identified for determination against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, David Ombugadu.

The court therefore dismissed their appeal.
The applicants—the PDP and its candidate—had sought to set aside the November 23, 2023 judgement of the Court of Appeal, which reversed the earlier judgement of the election tribunal sacking Governor Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 18, 2023, governorship election in the state.
The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal on October 2, 2023, sacked Governor Sule of the APC and declared Ombugadu of the PDP as the winner of the election.
However, the APC and its candidate filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgement.
The appellate court overturned the tribunal judgement and affirmed the election of the APC candidate, but the PDP candidate approached the Supreme Court for the final verdict on the matter.
Meanwhile, despite reports that the Nasarawa State Police Command had signed a peace agreement with the leaders of the PDP and the APC in the state ahead of the Supreme Court judgement, SaharaReporters reported on Thursday that there was disquiet in the opposition camp in the state over the composition of the Supreme Court panel that would hear the governorship election case.
It reported that the Supreme Court’s five-member panel would comprise Justice Kudirat M. O Kekere – Ekun – Lagos State; Justice Uwani Abba Aji – Yobe State; Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba – Zamfara State; Justice Ibrahim M. M. Saulawa – Katsina State and Justice Tijani Abubakar – Yobe State.
It said members of the opposition camp were agitated that two of the members of the panel were from Yobe State, where the governor was believed to have originally hailed from.

Kaduna State

Similarly, the apex court on Friday upheld the election that produced Mr Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Kaduna State Governor in the 2023 election, after dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Mohammed Ashiru.

The apex court ruled that the election petitions tribunal and the Appeal Court were right to have dismissed Ashiru’s appeals as lacking merit.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared in March 2023 that the APC candidate, Sani, received 730,001 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Ashiru, who polled 719,196 votes.
However, dissatisfied with the result of the election, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal to challenge it.
The petitioners claimed that Governor Uba was not duly elected by a majority of valid votes cast in the election.

They also said the election was marred by corruption and noncompliance with the Electoral Act 2022, and that the results of some polling units were wrongly annulled.
But the tribunal, led by Justice Victor Oviawie, said the PDP and its candidate failed to file their pre-hearing application within the time frame provided by law.
The appeal was dismissed in November by the Court of Appeal.

Kebbi State

In Kebbi State, the Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the election of Governor Nasir Idris after dismissing the appeal filed by Aminu Bande of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The apex court, led by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, ruled that Bande’s appeal case lacked merit.
Bande had in his appeal urged the apex court to set aside the judgements of the Court of Appeal and the election tribunal, which affirmed Idris’ election.
No cost was awarded by the court.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had in its judgement, upheld the election of Idris as the lawfully elected governor of Kebbi State.
The court, in a unanimous judgement delivered by Justice Ndukwe Anyannwu, dismissed the appeal brought before it by Bande for lacking merit and resolved all five issues formulated for determination in favour of the governor and against PDP.
Justice Anyanwu held that the allegations of forgery of testimonial brought against the state deputy governor, Abubakar Umar Tafida were not established as required by law.
The judge 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.
Bande had approached the Supreme Court, asking it to overrule the tribunal and the Appeal Court judgements.
Idris polled a total of 409,225 votes to defeat Bande’s 360,940, as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Gombe State

Also, the victory of Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya in the 2023 election was upheld on Friday by the Supreme Court in Abuja.
Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun who read the lead judgement, held that the appeal filed by Jibrin Barde, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lacked merit and declared that Yahaya, the candidate of the APC in the election, was validly re-elected by the people of Gombe as governor.

Yahaya was re-elected in March 2023 for his second term as governor of the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Yahaya the winner of the election.
The electoral body said Yahaya received 342,821 votes to defeat his closest rival, Barde, who polled 233,131 votes.
Barde had approached the court for redress and the possible nullification of Yahaya’s re-election.
He accused Yahaya’s supporters of stuffing ballot boxes and engaging in other election malpractices in nine of the state’s 11 local government areas in his petition filed before the election petitions tribunal in the state.
But his petition was dismissed by the tribunal.
He, therefore, proceeded to the Court of Appeal for a review of the judgement of the tribunal, but his appeal also failed there.
Justice T. N. Orji-Abadua of the appeal court in November upheld the governor’s victory and dismissed the appeal, saying it lacked merit.