Appeal Court upholds election of 4 National Assembly members

Court of Appeal holding in Yola, the Adamawa state capital has put to rest the appeals brought before it, challenging the election of 4 sitting members of the National Assembly from Adamawa state.

This followed the judgement delivered by the court, where it dismissed all the appeals brought before it by the embattled candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), affirming the decision of the Election Petition Tribunal.

The court has also ended the legal tussle between Ibrahim Mustapha(ADC) and Abdulrauf Abdulkadir Modibbo(APC) Girei, Yola North and Yola South Federal Constituency.

The erstwhile Senators who represented Adamawa Northern and Southern Senatorial Districts, Binta Masi Garba and Ahmed Mo-Allahyidi, dragged the incumbent Senators Elisha Ishaku Abbo(PDP) and Binos Dauda Yaroe(PDP) before the court and prayed the court to set aside the decision of the lower court which struck out their petitions.

Likewise, the former member who represented Song/ Fufore Constituency at the House of Representatives, Ibrahim Sadiq Dasin( APC), and the APC candidate for Numan, Demsa and Lamurde, Federal Constituency Olvadi Bema Madayi, appealed the judgement of the Tribunal delivered last month and asked the Court to review them.

The duo had further asked the Apex Court to upturn the judgement of the Tribunal which validated the elections of Hon. Dr Mustapha Saidu(Fufore/Song Federal Constituency) and Hon. Barr. Kwamoti Laori(Numan, Demsa and Lamurde Federal Constituency) respectively.

ALSO READ: Nothern elder advises Igbo on how to clinch Presidency in 2023

TribuneOnline learnt that the election cases were brought before the apex Court on the 19th September 2019, for review following the judgment delivered by the Election Petition Tribunal on the petitions.

All the appellants approached the court sequel to a humiliating defeat suffered at the Court last month, where their suits were outrightly dismissed by the 3 Man Panel led by Justice Suleiman Akanbi.

The Election Petition Tribunal earlier held that the petitioners failed to establish the allegations of corruption, malpractices, non-accreditation, over voting and deliberate voiding of votes made against the defendants contrary to the electoral law.

Justice Akanbi posited that the various allegations raised by Mo-Allayidi, Bema, Ibrahim Mustapha, Binta and Sadiq Dasin, did not prove as required by the law, adding that the plaintiffs relied on nothing but documentary hearsay and could not link their petitions with concrete evidence to get a judgement in their favour.

It added that the claims by the petitioners, Binos, Kwamoti, Cliff and Hon. Dr Mustapha Saidu was duly and lawfully returned as winners of the majority of votes by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and therefore trashed the petitions for being incompetent and lacking in merits.

But delivering their judgement at the Appeal Court today, the Chairman of the Court, Justice Chidi Nwaoma Uwa, who was assisted by 3 other justices, affirmed the election of the sitting members of the National Assembly

According to Justice Uwa, the decision of the Tribunal in dismissing all their petitions was for failure to prove over-voting, among other issues raised.

She went ahead and upheld the judgements of the lower Court;  thereby, striking out the appeals brought before the Court in their entirety.