The case that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate for the 2023 election, Isah Ashiru, filed to challenge the election victory of All Progressives Congress (APC) governor Uba Sani was dismissed by the Kaduna state governorship election petition tribunal.
According to a report by Channels Television, a three-member panel chaired by Justice Victor Oviawie dismissed the plea as part of the two against one ruling that was delivered on Thursday on the grounds that the pre-hearing notice had been filed after the deadline and that was the reason why it had been rejected.
The tribunal’s chairman and a member maintain that the appeal PDP and Ashiru filed against the first and second defendants’ dismissal of their preliminary stage petition lacks merit because their pre-hearing notice filing was abandoned, was submitted after its deadline had passed, and has an impact on the entire petition.
The tribunal has not yet said whether it will order a second election if the petition is not dismissed for lack of merit.
requires a substantive judgment to be made for 22 voting units in 90 days.
After the election on March 18, the All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s) Uba Sani was declared the victor by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Professor Lawal Suleiman Bilbis, who is also the vice chancellor of Usman Dan Fodio University in Sokoto, is the returning officer for Kaduna State.
Sani won the election with 730,002 votes, defeating Mohammed Isa Ashiru of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who received 719,196 votes, as his closest rival.
Jonathan Asake of the Labour Party (LP) finished third after receiving 58,285 votes, while Suleiman Hunkuyi of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) received 21,405 votes.
Both sides declare themselves winners.
Both sides have already reacted to the ruling by declaring the court’s decision to be successful.
Isa Mohammed Ashiru, the PDP candidate for governor, thanked God for the effort that has been accomplished so far in reclaiming his mandate and explained what the judgment means.
“On the basis of a majority of 2:1 judges, the tribunal upholds the respondent’s preliminary objection that the application for a pre-hearing was made prematurely, that is, before the last group of petitioners had a chance to respond to the second respondent’s response to the petition.
However, the law requires the tribunal, as a trial court, to continue to rule on the merits of the substantive case so that, if the court of appeal determines that the trial tribunal was incorrect in its decision regarding the preliminary objection, the appellant will still be entitled to the benefit of the tribunal’s decision regarding the substantive matter.
“The trial panel finds substance in the petitioner’s claim about the difference in victory margins between the two front-runners. Accordingly, the tribunal, by a split ruling of 2:1, nullifies the election of the governor of Kaduna state, orders that they retrieve the Certificate of Return, and orders that new elections be held for some polling places.
Before to declaring the victor of the governorship election for Kaduna state, units for 4 LGAs should be used to verify the results. statement he add.
The governor of Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani, who is running for office under the APC, praised the tribunal’s decision, characterizing it as “a victory for democracy, the rule of law, the recognition of the people’s will, and most importantly, God’s decree.”
He also state that they saw the outcome as “not simply a victory but also a call to action, a call to fulfill the commitments we made during the campaign as outlined in the SUSTAIN agenda. This triumph is a happy moment for me as one of the early campaigners fordemocratic government existed in Nigeria decades ago. he said.
