By Akinwale Kasali
The Apex Court has upheld the victory of Sokoto State Governor, Ahmad Aliyu.
In upholding it, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its Governorship candidate, Saidu Umar, which challenged the outcome of the Governorship election held in the state on March 18, 2023.
The Supreme Court, in its lead judgement delivered by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, held that it found no reason to set aside the concurrent judgements of the Court of Appeal and the Sokoto State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which dismissed the appeal that sought to upturn the election victory of Governor Aliyu, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
It would be recalled that the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had announced that Governor Aliyu polled a total of 453,661 votes to defeat his closest rival, Umar of the PDP who polled 404,632 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, Umar and the PDP approached the tribunal, alleging that Aliyu and his deputy, Idris Gobir, were not eligible to contest the gubernatorial poll.
The petitioners contended that Governor Idris and his deputy did not secure the majority of valid votes that were cast at the election to be declared winners by INEC.
They further alleged that the election was not only marred by irregularities but was also not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
Aside from alleging that the governor and his deputy submitted forged certificates, with variations of names, to INEC in aid of their qualification to contest the election, the petitioners added that electoral fraud occurred in 138 polling units in the state.
However, the three-man panel tribunal, in a judgement it delivered on September 30, 2023, dismissed the petition as lacking in merit.
The Justice Haruna Mshelia-led tribunal held that the petitioners were unable to prove any of the allegations they raised in the petition.
It held that evidence of most of the witnesses who testified for the PDP and its candidate were incompetent as their statements on oath were not front-loaded alongside the petition as required by law.
The tribunal held that the allegation of forgery, being criminal, ought to have been proved beyond reasonable doubt, a burden it said the petitioners failed to discharge.
