The Sokoto State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has dismissed the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Saidu Umar, challenging the victory of the All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Ahmad Aliyu and his Deputy Idris Gobir, in the March 18 governorship election in the state.
The Petitioner, Umar is challenging the election of Governor Aliyu and Gobir over alleged non qualification and electoral fraud during the election.
In a unanimous judgement, the Tribunal Chairman, Justice Haruna Mshelia, said the petitioners were unable to prove the six grounds formulated in the petition.
He said the grounds bordered on alleged ineligibility for Aliyu and Gobir to contest, falsification of certificates, variation of names, election frauds and non compliance with electoral guidelines.
He said Petitioners were unable to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt as required by law, as 70 percent of of exhibits were out of context because they relate to state assembly elections conducted on the same date.
According to him, to prove forgery, two different documents of persons needed to be presented while the ‘variation of names’ issue was a settled by the Supreme Court.
He said three subpoenaed witnesses were not tenable as they were not makers of the documents from the alleged primary school, while other 28 polling units agenda testified could not properly identify themselves along with their roles.
The tribunal Chairman said the alleged 138 polling units frauds were not adduced to indicate substantial non compliance with the Election Act to affect the outcome of the election.
Credit: Channels Television
