The Appeal Court sitting in Lagos on Friday in its majority judgement affirmed the re-election of Prince Dapo Abiodun of All Progressive Congress (APC) in the March 18, 2023, governorship election as the duly elected governor of Ogun State, just as another Appeal Court in Abuja upheld the election of Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State from the same party
The majority judgment delivered by Justice Joseph Shagbaor Ikyegh dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and it's candidate, Hon Ladi Adebutu in the 2023 governorship election, for lacking in merit
The appellate court upheld the ruling of the Election Petition Tribunal delivered on 30th of September, 2023 which dismissed the petition for the inability of both Adebutu and PDP to prove the allegations of irregularities and non-compliance with the electoral acts
However, the minority judgment delivered by Justice Jane Esienanwan Inyang allowed the appeal and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to conduct a fresh election within 90 days.
Governor Abiodun reacting to the court's verdict, appreciated the court for upholding justice by affirming the earlier decision of the tribunal
He described the victory as victory for democracy and majority of people of Ogun State, promising to be more dedicated to the delivery of more dividends of democracy to the state
Similarly the three member panel of Court of Appeal in Abuja delivering its lead judgement on Friday, November 24, ruled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) failed to prove the allegations of malpractices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022 in the declaration of Governor Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in Kaduna state.
According to the panel, the key witness called by the PDP during the tribunal hearing merely gave hearsay evidence as he was not present when the malpractices he alleged happened.
The appellate court confirmed that the accusations regarding vote deductions, ballot box stuffing, and tampering with sensitive electoral materials presented by the witness were based on hearsay.
The court also held that the tribunal’s decision to dismiss the PDP and Isa Ashiru’s petition was justified, citing the petitioners’ abandonment of their case by failing to request the issuance of a pre-hearing information sheet after the completion of pleadings, as mandated by paragraph 18(1) of the first schedule to the Electoral Act 2022.
The Appellate Court, however faulted the tribunal ruling , saying it acted in error when it depended on inadmissible evidence to order the conduct of supplementary polls in 22 polling units of four local government areas (LGAs) where the exercise was deemed inconclusive.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Sani the winner of the Kaduna governorship election conducted on March 18.
INEC’s returning officer, Lawal Bilbis, said Sani secured 730,002 votes to defeat his closest rival, Isah Ashiru Kudan of the PDP, who garnered 719,196 votes. Jonathan Asake of the Labour Party (LP) came third with 58,283 votes.
The ICIR reports that Sani won in 10 local government areas (LGAs) of the state, while Ashiru won in 13. The LGAs won by Ashiru include Kaura, Sanga, Kajuru, Jaba, Makarfi, Jema’ah, Zango-Kataf, Soba, Chikun, Kagarko, Kachia, Lere, and Kudan.
The PDP candidate then rejected the outcome of the poll and therefore contested the results at the State Election Petition Tribunal , asking the tribunal to void the election of Governor Sani
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