Tribunal Reaffirms Ganduje’s Reelection
- Tribunal throw out Yusuf’s petition for lacking merit.
- Yusuf prays that the tribunal dismisses the result of the supplementary poll.
The Kano state election petitions tribunal on Wednesday upheld the victory of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
iDONSABI reports that Ganduje was declared the winner of the poll after a re-run by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Ganduje contested the last gubernatorial poll under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate at the poll, Abba Yusuf challenged his victory. Yusuf had prayed that the tribunal set aside Ganduje’s election, saying there were irregularities noticed during the poll.
Ganduje and his party were able to win the case as his counsel, Offiong Offiong, told the tribunal that the petitioners failed to prove that the election was rigged.
They argued that the exhibits tendered by the petitioners were not certified true copies (CTC). They, therefore, asked the court to dismiss Yusu’s petition in its entirety.
Offiong also submitted that the PDP candidate presumed in an attempt to prove to the court that he was elected as Kano state governor.
In his response to the submissions made by the respondent, counsel to the petitioners, Kanu Agabi, prayed that the court ignore the response from the respondents on the issues raised, adding that Yusuf scored the highest number of votes during the poll held on March 9 election, but the electoral body refused to declare him the winner.
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While also pleading that the rerun election held on March 23 be declared null and void, Agabi asked the tribunal to use results of the March 9 poll and return Yusuf as the winner of the election.
Justice Halima Shamaki, te head of the tribunal who read the lead judgment dismissed the petition of Yusuf for lacking in merit.
