James Sowole in Abeokuta, Onuminya Innocent in Sokoto and Wole Ayodele in Jalingo
The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunals sitting in Abeokuta, Sokoto and Jalingo yesterday upheld the election of Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, Governor Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto State and Taraba State Governor, Agbu Kefas.
While Abiodun and Aliyu are of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kefas is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In Ogun State, the tribubal upheld the return of the Governor Abiodun by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the March 18, 2023 election.
The three-man of tribunal consequently, dismissed the petition filed by PDP and its candidate, Hon Oladipupo Adebutu against the return of the governor.
In a unanimous decision of the panel, which was read for over 11 hours, the tribunal held that the petitioner, failed to prove the allegations levelled against the return of the incumbent with credible evidence on most issued raised in the petition.
According to the panel, witnesses and evidences proffered by the petitioners were strong enough to prove, allegations of corruption, non-compliance of the March 18 election with Electoral Act 2022, allegation of conviction of Abiodun by the United States of America Court , forgery of WAEC certificate, which could have led to disqualification of Abiodun from contesting the election.
However, the tribunal ruled that the allegation of vote buying against Adebutu due to production of pre-loaded ATM cards, could not be established against the petitioner, because names on the cards, were not the same with the name of the petitioner.
In a unanimous judgment, the Sokoto State tribunal Chairman, Justice Haruna Mshelia, said the governorship candidate of the PDP, Sa’idu Umar, and his party, were unable to prove the six grounds formulated in their petition.
He said that the grounds bordered on alleged ineligibility for Aliyu and Gobir to contest, falsification of certificates, variation of names, election frauds, and non-compliance with electoral guidelines.
Mshelia said also that the petitioners were unable to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt as required by the law as 70 per cent of the exhibits were out of context because they related to State Assembly elections conducted on the same dates.
According to him, to prove forgery, two different documents or persons needed to be presented and the petitioners failed while the variation of names issue was settled by Supreme Court judgments.
Mshelia said that three subpoenaed witnesses were not tenable as they were not makers of the documents from the alleged primary school, while the other 28 polling unit agents who testified could not fully identify themselves along with their roles.
The tribunal chairman said that the alleged 138 polling units’ frauds were not adduced to indicate how substantial non-compliance of the elections had marred the election’s outcome.
Mshelia added that the tribunal dismissed all the preliminary objections on competency to institute the case by the respondents as the petitioners duly linked the grounds in the petition.
He dismissed the petition for lack of merit and failure to prove the allegations by the petitioner.
In Taraba State, the three-man panel headed by Justice Ayo Sunmonu dismissed the petition filed by the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and its governorship candidate, Prof. Yahaya Sani, on the grounds of lack of sufficient evidence.
Sunmonu dismissed the petition, stating that the petitioners failed to justify the relief they sought.
“The petitioner failed to prove his ground that the governor was not duly elected, and therefore, the petition lacked merit,” he said.
The counsel to the governor, Mr. Sam Adda, applauded the judgment.
“It is a landmark judgment,” he said.
The NNPP and its gubernatorial candidate had filed a petition before the tribunal seeking the cancellation of the election, alleging that it was characterised by irregularities.
Other relief sought by the NNPP was for the tribunal to order a fresh election in the state.
Apart from the alleged irregularities, the party also alleged non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022, as a major reason for the demand for the cancellation of the election, among others.
