The Supreme Court on Friday, affirmed the election of Inuwa Yahaya of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as duly elected Gombe State Governor.
In its unanimous judgment by a five-member panel, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Jibrin Mohammed Barde, saying that their appeal lacked merit.
Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, who read the lead judgment, also held that the PDP and Barde failed to show that the concurrent findings of the Gombe State Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal were perverse.
Justice Kekere-Ekun also resolved all the issues raised in the appeal against the appellants and proceeded to dismiss it.
It is instructive to note that Barde had filed a petition against the election of Governor Inuwa and questioned the outcome of the 18 March poll on the grounds of alleged electoral malpractices and perjury against Governor Inuwa.
But the tribunal dismissed the petition of PDP and Barde and rejected their claims that Governor Yahaya was not qualified to contest the election.
It further dismissed the allegation by the PDP and Barde that the election was not only marred by irregularities but was also not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
The tribunal also held that the petitioners failed to, by way of credible evidence, establish their allegations, which it described as nebulous, lacking in particularity, baseless, and an academic exercise.
Dissatisfied, PDP and Barde approached the Court of Appeal for redress, asking it to set aside the verdict of tribunal and declare Barde as winner of the poll
But the Court of Appeal later dismissed the PDP and Barde’s appeal on November 23, 2023 for being unmeritorious.
The appellate court further held that the evidence before it proved that Governor Inuwa Yahaya of the APC secured majority of valid votes to win the election.
Justice of the Court of Appeal (JCA), Justice Theresa Orji-Agbadua, who delivered the lead judgment of the three-man panel, held that Barde’s case lacked merit.
The JCA further held that Barde at the tribunal, failed to prove allegations of non-qualification, perjury and certificate forgery levelled against Governor Inuwa and INEC.
Still further dissatisfied, the PDP and Barde headed for Supreme Court, asking the apex court to upturn the concurrent judgments of the tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
Affirming Governor Inuwa’s election on Friday, the Supreme Court, in the lead judgment by Justice Kekere-Ekun said, “Having critically considered the concurrent decisions of the lower court and the Court of Appeal, I find no merit in this appeal. The decisions of the courts below are hereby affirmed.”
