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…Dismisses petition against Senator Adamu-Usman
From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Senatorial Election Petition Court sitting in Kaduna yesterday upheld the victory of the senator representing Kaduna Central, Lawal Adamu-Usman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The tribunal also dismissed the petition filed against the lawmaker. The petition, which was filled by the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, Abdullahi Muhammad-Sani, challenged the election of the PDP senator, on four grounds.
According to the petition, the grounds were of the issue of school certificate forgery, over voting, non-compliance and the issue of nomination and sponsorship of the first respondent by the PDP.
The three-man panel led by Justice H.H Kereng stated that all the grounds presented by the petitioners had failed. The petitions were dismissed.
“The elections and return of the first respondent is hereby affirmed. This petition is hereby dismissed,” he ruled.
Earlier, the judge stated that the petitioners failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the first respondent’s NECO results and other school certificate were forged.
He added that the petitioners’ had also failed to prove that the first respondent was not duly elected by majority of votes in the February 25 polls.
“The APC got 182,035 votes while PDP got 225,066 votes giving a margin of 43,031. The petitioners have failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the respondent didn’t get majority votes.
“Therefore, this issue is in favour of the first respondent and against the petitioner,” he said.
On the issue of non-compliance, the judge stated that the petitioners couldn’t prove that there was non-compliance, which affected the elections results.
He added that the issue of sponsorship and nomination of candidate was the responsibility of the political party not court while resolving issue in favour of the respondent.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the judgment, the Personal Assistant to the Senator, Jalal Falal, appreciated God for granting them victory, saying the outcome of the judgement had validated the senator’s election.
He urged the opposition to join hands with the sitting senator to work for the process and development of the people of Kaduna Central.
