Follow Us on Google
The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Kaduna State has upheld the election of Mallam Nasir el-Rufai as Governor of Kaduna State.
El-Rufai, who contested under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC), was reelected in March but Isah Ahsiru, his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) opponent, filed an appeal against his victory at the tribunal.
In his petition, the PDP candidate had alleged that irregularities trailed the conduct of the March 9 election and asked the tribunal to declare him winner.
The petitioners in their final written address, asked the tribunal to cancel a total of 515,951 votes which it contended were unlawfully added to the total votes cast during the March 9 poll.
The petitioners had called 135 witnesses out of the 685 they assembled to prove alleged massive rigging, ballot stuffing and other irregularities during the poll as contained in their petition.
The petitioners had accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of adding 391,741 to el-Rufai’s votes.
They also contended that declaring el-Rufai winner by INEC was illegal as he did not score majority of lawful votes.
Abdulhakeem Mustapha, counsel to el-Rufai, the 2nd respondent in the petition, asked the tribunal “to invoke its majestic powers to dismiss the petition as lacking in merit.
“And to confirm that the 2nd respondent, Malam Nasiru El Rufai as duly elected as governor of Kaduna State in the March 9 election. “
Delivering judgment on Monday, Ibrahim Bako, chairman of the three-man panel, said the petitioner was unable to prove his allegations of massive rigging and electoral irregularities.
