The Supreme court upheld the
elections of eight governors on Wednesday.
They are:
- Dapo Abiodun (Ogun)
- Bello Masari (Katsina)
- Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa)
- David Umahi (Ebonyi)
- Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos)
- Seyi Makinde (Oyo)
- Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna)
In the case of Ogun, Mary
Peter-Odili, the judge who led the seven-man panel, dismissed the appeal of
Adekunle Akinlade, governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM),
ruling that the applicants failed to prove all their allegations.
“The applicants have not
discharged the burden of proving their allegations of noncompliance and
irregularities in their petition,” Odili held.
“Also, there is a failure to
substantiate the alleged non-compliance. So I dismiss the appeal as I uphold
the decision of the court of appeal which affirmed the judgment of the court of
trial.”
On Akwa Ibom, the apex court
dismissed the appeal of Nsima Ekere,
governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), challenging the
election of Emmanuel.
Odili said Ekere’s “appeal lacks
merit and it’s accordingly dismissed.”
Paul Galinje, who delivered the
lead judgments in the two appeals against the election of Sanwo-Olu, held that
the appeals lacked merit.
One of the appeals dismissed by
the court was filed by Ifagbemi Awamaridi and his party, the Labour Party.
The other was by Owolabi Salis
and his party, the Alliance Democracy.
The supreme court also said the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was right in declaring Makinde
as winner of the 2019 governorship election in the state.
Adebayo Adelabu and APC had
approached the election petition tribunal seeking a nullification of the
exercise but the tribunal dismissed the petition on the grounds that the
petitioners failed to prove the allegations of malpractices in the election.
Adelabu and the APC proceeded to
the court of appeal, where a knotty judgement that did not affirm the election
of Makinde was delivered.
The governor then approached the
apex court, asking it to set aside the decision of the appeal court.
Delivering judgement on
Wednesday, a seven-man panel of justices of the apex court allowed Makinde’s appeal,
setting aside the verdict of the lower court.
The court also upheld the
election of Nasir el-Rufai as the governor of Kaduna state.
It said the appeal filed by the
PDP and Isah Ashiru, its governorship candidate, lacked merit.
“I find no merit in this appeal
and therefore enter an order dismissing it,” the court held.
The seven-man panel dismissed the
appeal filed by David Ombugadu, PDP candidate in Nasarawa, challenging the
victory of Sule in the March 9, 2019 election.
On Ebonyi, Amina Adanu-Augie
dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) and Ajah
Agha.
The petitioners had claimed that
INEC had unlawfully excluded the name of the PDM candidate from the ballot
paper. But their appeal was dismissed for lacking merit.
Masari was also affirmed as the
governor of Katsina state. Inyang Okoro dismissed the appeal of Yakubu Lado and
the PDP which sought the removal of Masari on grounds that he was not qualified
to contest the election because he submitted fake documents to INEC.
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