The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Monday, affirmed the election of Ahmad Aliyu as Sokoto State Governor.
A three-member panel of the appellate court also dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Saidu Umar, for lack of merit.
In a unanimous decision, the appellate court held that it found no reason to disturb the verdict of the tribunal that upheld the governor’s victory.
Aliyu, governorship the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared as the winner of the governorship poll with 453,661 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Umar, who garnered 404,632 votes.
But Umar alleged that Governor Aliyu and his Deputy, Idris Gobir, forged the certificates they presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to qualify for the election.
The petitioners also alleged electoral fraud and irregularities during the poll.
But the Election Petitions Tribunal in its judgment dismissed the PDP and Umar’s petition, saying that the petitioners were unable to prove the six grounds contained in their petition.
The tribunal added that the petitioners were unable to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.
The tribunal noted that 70 percent of the exhibits presented were out of context because they relate to state assembly elections conducted on the same date.
Affirming the decision of the tribunal on Monday, the appellate court held that most of the evidence that the petitioners produced in support of their case, were legally inadmissible.
