BREAKING: Amid Conflicting Reports, The Correct Tribunal Judgement On Ashiru’s Petition Challenging Uba’s Election Emerge

BREAKING: Amid Conflicting Reports, The Correct Tribunal Judgement On Ashiru’s Petition Challenging Uba’s Election Emerge

The Kaduna State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, located in the state capital, has dismissed the petition lodged by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Isah Ashiru, against the victory of Governor Uba Sani from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 election.

In a majority decision, delivered on Thursday, a three-member panel led by Justice Victor Oviawie rejected the petition due to the filing of the pre-hearing notice being deemed abandoned and out of time.

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The tribunal chairman and another member asserted that the appeal brought by PDP and Ashiru against the dismissal of their petition at the preliminary stage lacked merit, emphasizing that the untimely filing of the pre-hearing notice dealt a fatal blow to the entire petition.

However, the tribunal noted that if the petition had not been dismissed for lack of merit, it would have ordered a supplementary election in 22 polling units within 90 days in the final judgement.

PDP and Ashiru contested the declaration of Governor Uba as the winner of the March 18th governorship election.

During the election, Senator Sani garnered a total of 730,001 votes, surpassing his closest contender, Mr. Ashiru of the PDP, who secured 719,196 votes.

While the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Jonathan Asake, came in third with 58,283 votes, Suleiman Hunkuyi of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) received 21,405 votes.

While the Labour Party and NNPP accepted the election outcome, the PDP and its candidate rejected the results, alleging that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) erroneously declared the winner.

The PDP and Ashiru claimed there were extensive irregularities and result manipulation in favor of Governor Uba in certain local governments by INEC. They argued that the APC candidate did not attain the highest number of valid votes and therefore should not have been declared the winner.

In June 2023, PDP and Ashiru filed a petition at the election petition tribunal to challenge Governor Uba’s election.

During the last court session on September 3rd, all parties presented their final written arguments before the tribunal. The APC’s legal team, led by former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bayo Ojo (SAN), contended that the petitioners, inadvertently, had helped in proving the legitimacy of his election victory. They pointed specifically to the admission of a star witness for the petitioner, Bonett Gwazah, a senior system analyst in the VR/ICT department of INEC in Kaduna State.

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