- Buhari congratulates victors
Alex Enumah in Abuja, Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano and Seriki Adinoyi in Jos
The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunals in Sokoto, Kano and Plateau States wednesday upheld the elections of Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano) and Simon Lalong (Plateau) as governors of the aforementioned states.
While Tambuwal belongs to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the two other governors are of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In its ruling yesterday, delivered in Sokoto, the tribunal dismissed the petition filed against Tambuwal’s election by the APC governorship candidate, Ahmed Aliyu, for being incompetent and lacking merit.
Aliyu and his party, the APC had in the petition challenged the return of Tambuwal as the duly-elected governor of the state.
The petition was predicated mainly on alleged over-voting and non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the conduct of the governorship election in the state.
However, the three-man panel led by Justice Abbas Abdullahi in the unanimous judgment, held that the petition lacked merit.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Abbas Abdullahi, the panel held that the petitioners failed to prove allegations of over-voting and other electoral matters.
The panel in dismissing the petition held that relevant witnesses were not called while those who testified based their evidence on hearsay.
The tribunal also held that witnesses’ statements recorded in Hausa and translated into English language by an interpreter were not tendered, adding that their evidence during cross-examination was at variance with pleadings in the translated statement.
Worse still, the tribunal chairman held that the witnesses discredited their own evidence when they admitted during hearing that they were seeing their witness depositions in court for the first time.
Justice Abdullahi, in the judgment, rejected some of the documentary evidence tendered by the petitioners on the grounds that the documents were not properly certified as required by law.
Having resolved all issues against the petitioners due to inability to substantiate their allegations as required by law, the tribunal said that it had no choice than to dismiss the petition for being incompetent and lacking in merit.
In Kano, the tribunal while upholding Ganduje’s election, dismissed PDP’s petition, in which its candidate, Abba Kabir-Yusuf, had challenged the victory of Ganduje in the March 23 governorship election.
Delivering judgment, the three-man panel led by the Chairman, Justice Halima Shamaki, upheld Ganduje as the duly elected and held that PDP failed to prove all the allegations against him.
“It is only when a petitioner proves his case before the tribunal that he will have a case, the petitioners failed to prove the exact number of valid votes in each polling units,” she said.
In a unanimous judgment, the tribunal struck out some paragraphs of the petition because they were just speculations and held that the petitioners failed to give the number of votes for the March 9 election by tendering certified true copies of result sheets.
“Some Local Government Areas (LGA) results like Wudil, Magwan, Nasarawa and Gama Ward presented were not stamped, apart from that they were not true certified copies,” she said.
Shamaki said the Gama Ward result presented was written with pen, which was carted away by the petitioners.
She also said that since results were carted away in some polling units leading to over-voting, INEC had to order for a rerun according to the Electoral Act, as amended.
“The petitioners failed to discharge the burden of proof placed on them by the law,” Shamaki said.
In Plateau State, the tribunal affirmed the election of Lalong and dismissed the petition of PDP candidate, Senator Jeremiah Useni. In the petition, Useni and PDP had prayed the tribunal to declare them winners of the election, alleging the disparity in the names supplied by Lalong in Form CF001.
Delivering judgment, the panel of three justices, led by Justice Halima Salami, held that the petitioners did not adequately prove their case.
The tribunal held that the information made in Form CF001 by Lalong bordering on the disparity of name, was not fundamental in nature.
The tribunal also held that the petitioners failed to prove their allegations of electoral irregularities bordering on falsifications of results and over voting against Lalong and the APC.
Reacting to the judgment, Lalong described it as a victory for the entire people of the state and an affirmation of the mandate freely given to him in the last general election.
In a statement by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Dr. Makut Simon Macham, the governor said the verdict of the tribunal spoke of the unshaken confidence the electorate demonstrated when they massively voted for him and the APC.
Extending hands of fellowship to the opposition PDP, Lalong asked the party to join him to rescue the state from underdevelopment, insecurity and poverty and consolidate on the achievements of the last four years, saying “there is no winner or loser in this verdict; Plateau State is the winner.”
Also, Mr. Edward Pwajok (SAN), counsel to Useni and the PDP, said they were not satisfied with the verdict of the tribunal and would appeal the judgment.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated the two APC governors for their victories.
Buhari, who is travelling to South Africa on a state visit, extended his goodwill to the duo yesterday shortly before departing the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The president, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja, described the verdicts of the tribunals as a victory for democracy.
He commended the people of Kano and Plateau States for maintaining peace and allowing the due process of law to prevail as well as respecting the role of the judiciary in a democracy.
