The Supreme Court , on Friday, affirmed the election of Uba Sani as duly elected Kaduna State Governor.
In a unanimous judgment by a five-member panel, the Supreme Court held that there was no merit in an appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Mohammed Ashiru, challenging the outcome of the governorship election that was held in the state on March 18, 2023.
In the lead judgement delivered by a Justice of Supreme Court (JSC), Justice Tijjani Abubakar, the apex court held that the petition by the PDP and Ashiru filed to challenge Governor Sani’s election was incompetent.
JSC Abubakar further held that since the originating petition was incompetent, no relief could be granted to the appellants in the matter.
The apex court consequently upheld the earlier judgement of the Court of Appeal, which dismissed the case for being devoid of merit. Upholding the argument of the lead lawyer to Governor Sani, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), JSC Abubakar said, “The appeal is frivolous, vexatious, and irritating. It therefore deserves to be dismissed, and it is hereby dismissed,”
It is important to note that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that Governor Sani, who was the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) scored a total of 730,001 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ashiru of the PDP, who polled 719,196 votes.
Dissatisfied with the result of the election, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election.
The petitioners alleged that Governor Uba was not duly elected by a majority of valid votes cast in the election, adding that the election was invalid because of corrupt practices and noncompliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
They alleged that some polling unit results were wrongfully cancelled, insisting that there were inconsistencies in accreditation records from INEC.
But the Court of Appeal dismissed the application of Ashiru and upheld the election of Governor Sani.
The PDP and Ashiru further approached the Supreme Court for redress while the apex court dismissed their appeal on Friday for being unmeritorious.
