The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the election of Nasir El-Rufai as Governor of Kaduna State. Also upheld by the apex court are Oyo State Seyi Makinde’s election and Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State.
Recall that the Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna State had in November dismissed an appeal by Isah Mohammed Ashiru of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, challenging the verdict of the election petitions tribunal which affirmed El-Rufai’s victory at the 2019 gubernatorial election in the state.
The court had ruled that El-Rufai was duly re-elected as Governor of Kaduna State.
Recall that the gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, lost at the tribunal and headed to the Supreme Court.
Also, the APC gubernatorial candidate in Oyo State had approached the Supreme Court to challenge the appeal court ruling.
The appellate court after evaluating the evidence brought by Oyo APC and its candidate ruled that the status quo should be maintained.
Adelabu lost to Makinde during the March 9, 2019 elections.
The also upheld the election of Abdullahi Sule as the governor of Nasarawa State.
The seven-man panel led by Justice Mary Peter-Odili dismissed the appeal of David Ombugadu and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the March 9, 2019 victory of Sule.
Justice Peter-Odili said the appeal by Ombugadu lacked merit.
The PDP and its candidate in the 2019 Governorship election, Mr David Ombugadu in August prayed the Election Petition Tribunal in Nasarawa, to order a fresh election in the State.
Counsel for the PDP, Mr. Wale Olanikpekun, SAN, while adopting his final written addresses, alleged that INEC did not comply with the accreditation requirements in more than 90 per cent of the polling units in the state.
He said that they had tendered certified true copies of voter registers to the tribunal, adding, “the total votes that returned the governor did not tally with the number of accredited voters”
