Sokoto State Assemblies Elections Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Sokoto, on Monday sacked the Member representing Sokoto North II Constituency in the State House of Assembly, Hon Ibrahim Arzika Sarki and declared the election conducted on 9th March 2019, as inconclusive.
The Tribunal has also ordered for the conduct of a supplementary election in the six polling units in the constituencies where the results of the election were cancelled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Candidate of the All Progressives Congress ( APC), in the election, Hon Hussaini Tukur Faru and the party, have dragged Arzika Sarki to the Tribunal, and challenged his declaration as the winner of the poll by the Commission.
They contended among others, that the Commission should not have declared Arzika as the winner, without conducting supplementary elections in the affected polling units, as well as urged the Tribunal to declare the election as inconclusive.
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In his Judgment, the Tribunal Chairman, Justice Peter Akhimie Akhihiero, held that the declaration of Arzika Sarki by INEC as the winner was premature and undue.
He also posited that the Respondents have failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, while he ordered INEC to conduct the supplementary polls.
Justice Peter Akhimie Akhihiero also ordered for the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return issued to Arzika Sarki by INEC.
Justice Peter Akhimie Akhihiero also awarded N 20,000 cost in favour of the Petitioners.
Reacting, Hon. Hussaini Tukur Faru expressed delight with the outcome of the Judgment and said that he is optimistic that, he will emerge victorious after the conduct of the ordered supplementary polls.
Meanwhile, the Tribunal upheld the election of the Member of the House of Representatives, representing Gwadabawa – Illela Federal Constituency, Hon Abdullahi Balarabe Salame, by dismissing the petition brought against his election by the PDP candidate, Hon. Garba Gidan Hamma.
Gidan Hamma has approached the Tribunal and challenged the election of Salame, insisting that, he was not duly elected, as he has not scored the majority of the lawful votes cast.
Salame has averred that his declaration as the winner by INEC was in order, as he scored the majority of the lawful votes cast, while the poll has not breached the subsisting electoral laws.
A member of the Tribunal, Justice Alfred Yakub, dismissed the petition for lacking in merit and awarded N 20,000 in favour of all the Respondents.
Reacting, Hon Salame said that, he was elated that, his election has been upheld, thereby vindicating his constituents who have bestowed tremendous confidence in him.
In a related development, the Tribunal has in similar circumstance upheld the election of a Member of the State House of Assembly, representing Yabo Constituency, Hon Abubakar Shehu Yabo.
The Tribunal has therefore dismissed the petition brought by the immediate past House Leader, Hon Garba Bello Yabo of the PDP, against the declaration of Shehu Shamaki as the winner of the March 9, 2019, poll, by INEC.
In the Judgment, the Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Peter Akhimie Akhihiero, dismissed the petition, for lack of merit.
He also awarded N20,000 cost on the favour of all the Respondents, while he averred that, the election has not breached the extant electoral laws.
Reacting, an elated Abubakar Yabo expressed happiness that, the confidence reposed in him by the constituents has been corroborated by the Tribunal.
Yabo promised to do more, to uplift the living standard of his constituents, even as he wooed Garba Bello Yabo to join hands with him, to take the Constituency to greater heights.
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