The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has affirmed the victory of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya in the March 18 governorship election in Gombe State.
Governor Inuwa Yahaya of the APC was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 18, securing 342,821 votes out of the total cast while his closest rival and the PDP’s governorship candidate, Muhammad Jibrin Barde, got 233,131 votes.
Barde, discontent with INEC’s declaration, presented his case to the Tribunal, asserting that the governor’s election did not adhere to the Electoral Act’s provisions.
His legal representatives argued that the PDP candidate secured the majority of legitimate votes cast during the election. They also alleged occurrences of multiple thumb printing and ballot box stuffing in nine local government areas of the state, favouring Governor Yahaya.
But, the three-member panel of Justices of the tribunal chaired by Justice S.B. Belgore, dismissed the PDP’s petition for lacking in merit and further expunged the witnesses’ statements and exhibits of the PDP (INEC forms) for being baseless.
Not satisfied with the judgement of the Tribunal, the PDP governorship candidate then approached the Appeal Court seeking the setting aside of the Tribunal judgement.
The Court of Appeal, which, in its judgement, agreed with the Tribunal that the PDP case lacked merit, further held that, “We have considered all the issues and have agreed that the appeal is void of merit,” and consequently dismissed it.
In the lead judgment in the appeal marked: CA/G/EP/GOV/GM/11/2023 filed by the PDP and its governorship candidate, Justice Theresa Orji-Abadua, leading other two justices of the court, found that the appeal was without merit and resolved all the four issues, identified for determination against the appellants.
Justice Orji-Abadua held that the petitioners, at the tribunal, failed to prove their allegations of non-qualification, supplying of false information and certificate forgery raised in the petition were not proved.
She proceeded to dismiss the appeal and affirmed the judgment of the trial tribunal.
Justice F. A. Ojo, in the second judgment of the court on Thursday, also dismissed the appeal by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and its candidate in the March 18 governorship election, Nafiu Bala.
Justice Ojo held that the appeal was without merit and affirmed the judgment of the trial tribunal.
The Gombe State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had, in its judgement, struck out petitions filed by the ADC and its candidate in the just concluded 2023 poll, Nafiu Bala.
The party was challenging the election of Governor Yahaya, and his deputy, Manassah Jatau.
Yahaya and Jatau were declared winners by INEC as validly elected, but the
ADC had challenged the declaration and return of Yahaya based on alleged multiplicity and variations in the arrangement of names on the certificates of his deputy.
The tribunal also struck out ADC’s allegations of corrupt practices and vote buying for lack of proof.
The three-man Justices struck the case, saying that “it is first a pre-election matter, the deputy has met the minimum certificate requirement to run.”
