From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Supreme Court, yesterday, reserved judgments on appeals challenging the results of the March 18, 2023 governorship elections in Nasarawa and Kebbi states.
Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, who led a five-member panel of the apex court, reserved judgment on the two separate appeals after all the parties had argued and adopted their briefs of argument.
The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal had, on November 23, upturned the tribunal judgment that sacked Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State.
The court held that the tribunal erred in law when it concluded that Governor Sule of the All Progres- sives Congress (APC), did not win the majority of lawful votes cast in the election.
In the lead verdict that was delivered by Justice Uchechukwu Onuemenam, the appellate court held that the record before it established that the tribunal relied on legally inadmissible evidence to declare the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), David Ombugadu, as the valid winner of the governorship election that was held in the state on March 18.
According to the appellate court, the tribunal wrongly relied on the evidence of eight of the witnesses that were produced by the PDP candidate, whose witness statements on oath were not front- loaded alongside the petition.
It stressed that under section 285(5) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, section 132(7) of the Electoral Act 2022, and paragraphs 4(5) (6) and 14(2) of the first schedule to the Electoral Act, every written statement on oath must be filed alongside the petition within the statutorily allocated time.
The appellate court struck out all the evidence and exhibits that were tendered before the tribunal by the eight witnesses.
It held that the evidence of the 12 remaining witnesses, who testified for the PDP candidate was not sufficient to sustain the judgment of the tribunal.
Moreso, the appellate court held that the tribunal was in error when it deducted a total of 1,868 votes that were credited to Governor Sule on the premise that over-voting occurred in four polling units.
It was the findings of the appellate that the tribunal was wrong in its decision since the petitioners did not provide the necessary documents needed to prove over-voting.
It held that the tribunal acted wrongly when it recomputed votes and made the declaration that returned the PDP candidate as the winner of the election.
Consequently, the court vacated the order of the tribunal that directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to withdraw the Certificate of Return that was issued to Governor Sule of the APC and issue a fresh one to Ombugadu of the PDP.
Dissatisfied with the judgment of the appellate court, the PDP and its candidate approached the Supreme Court to set it aside.
The appellants, yesterday, urged the apex court to reinstate the majority decision of the tribunal, which recognised them as valid winners of the gubernatorial poll.
In the case of the Kebbi State, the PDP and its candidate, Aminu Bande, are urging the apex court to nullify the November 24, 2023 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which upheld the election of Governor Nasir Idris, who was the APC flag-bearer.
They contended that the appellate court wrongly dismissed their
appeal after it affirmed the decision of the Kebbi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which gave victory to Governor Idris.
The appellate court had maintained that the PDP and its candidate failed to establish all the allegations they raised in their petition.
The court stressed that the al- legation of forgery levelled against the Deputy Governor of the state, Abubakar Tafida, was not proved as required by the law.
It further held that the issue of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act in the conduct of the election could not stand since the appellants failed to show how it substantially affected the outcome of the poll.
INEC declared the Kebbi State governorship election inconclusive owing to massive vote cancellations and over-voting in 20 of the 21 LGAs in the state.