Supreme Court upholds Tambuwal, Ganduje, Lalong, Bala Mohammed’s elections

The Supreme Court, on Monday, upheld the elections of Aminu Tambuwal, Abdullahi Ganduje, Simon Lalong and Bala Mohammed as Governors of Sokoto, Kano, Plateau and Bauchi States respectively.

The apex court, in a unanimous judgment held that the appellants, in the case of Sokoto failed to prove allegations made against the election that returned Tambuwal as Governor of the State.

The All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the state, Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto, had approached the apex court to set aside the concurrent judgments of the state governorship election petition tribunal and the Court of Appeal which upheld the election of Tambuwal and declared him the winner of the Sokoto governorship election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the Sokoto governorship election, having won majority of votes cast.

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The APC candidate in his appeal, however, claimed that the election was rigged in favour of Tambuwal.

In the same vein, the apex court, in a unanimous decision, affirmed the election of Abdullahi Ganduje as governor of Kano state.

The apex court gave its judgment in the suit brought before it by Abba Kabir Yusuf, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), challenging the election of Ganduje, who contested the governorship election on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

The court, in the judgment, dismissed the appeal filed by the candidate of the PDP, Abba Yusuf, challenging the outcome of the last governorship election in Kano state.

Yusuf in his appeal had asked the Supreme Court to set aside the concurrent decisions of both the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the election of the APC candidate.

The apex court also affirmed the election of governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state and dismissed the appeal brought before it by the former governor of the state, Mohammed Abukakar, challenging the victory of Bala Mohammed at the last 2019 gubernatorial election in the state.

The ex-governor had lost at the tribunal sitting in Bauchi and the Appeal Court sitting in Jos.

The Court also upheld the election of Simon Lalong as Plateau state governor.

Jeremiah Useni of the PDP challenged the election of Mr Lalong in the March 9 governorship poll.

Useni prayed the tribunal to declare him the winner of the elections, alleging the disparity in the names supplied by Lalong in form CF001.

Useni alleged that the election of Lalong was characterised by over-voting, corrupt practices and non-compliance to electoral

But the apex court in its judgment dismissed Useni’s appeal and held that he failed to prove the allegations in the electoral malpractices alleged in his petition.