The Court of Appeal in Abuja ,on Thursday, affirmed the election Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the elected Gombe State Governor.
In a unanimous decision, the appellate court also dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Jibrin Barde, for lack of merit.
The appellate court further upheld the decision of the Gombe State Governorhip Election Petitions Tribunal, which affirmed Governor Inuwa Yahaya as the duly elected Governor of Gombe State.
Inuwa was re-elected for the second and final term as governor of the state at the 18 March poll.
INEC had declared Inuwa as the winner of the contest., saying Inuwa polled 342,821 votes to beat his closest opponent, Jibrin Barde of the PDP who polled 233,131 votes.
Dissatisfied with the election outcome, Barde and the PDP, in a joint petition filed at the Gombe State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, claiming that Inuwa was not re-elected by majority of valid votes cast in the election.
The petitioners alleged widespread electoral malpractices in nine of the state’s 11 local government areas.
Specifically, they alleged cases of ballot box stuffing and thumb printing in the nine council areas.
But, the tribunal while deciding the disputed election, held that Barde failed to prove the allegations of electoral fraud against Inuwa and the APC.
The three-member tribunal led by Justice S.B. Belgore, dismissed the petition for lack of merit.
Barde later approached the Court of Appeal for redress and urged the appellate court to nullify Inuwa’s victory.
Delivering judgement on the appeal on Thursday, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Y.N Orji-Agbadua, affirmed Inuwa’s victory.
Justice Orji-Agbadua said, “All the issues are resolved in favour of the respondent and against the appellant. No order as to costs. The judgment of the lower tribunal is hereby affirmed.”
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