The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Sokoto State has upheld the victory of the All Progressives Congress.
The Tribunal in a unanimous judgement, dismissed the petition against Gov. Ahmed Aliyu and his Deputy, Idris Gobir, filed by Sa’idu Umar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The PDP and its candidate, Saidu Umar, had approached the tribunal challenging the victory of APC and its candidate, Ahmad Aliyu, in the March 18 governorship election in the state.
The tribunal chaired by Justice Haruna Mshelia ruled that the petitioners, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
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 said that the petitioners were unable to prove the allegations beyond reasonable double 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 Supreme Court provisions.
Mshelia said that three subpoened witnesses were not tenable as they were not makers of the documents from the alleged primary school while other 28 polling units agents who testified could not fully identify themselves along with thier roles.
The triunal 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.
