The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upheld the judgement of the tribunal affirming Senator Uba Sani of the APC as duly elected Governor of Kaduna State in the 18th March Governorship poll.
On March 20, INEC declared APC’s Uba Sani winner with 730002 votes against his closest challenger & the PDP Candidate, Isa Mohammed Ashiru’s 719196 votes.
Dissatisfied with the results as declared, Ashiru & the PDP through their lead counsel, Oluwole Iyamu SAN, approached the tribunal seeking redress. INEC, Sani and APC were listed as the first, second and third defendants, respectively.
Amongst others, the PDP and Mr Ashiru alleged that there were massive irregularities and manipulation of results in favour of Mr Sani in some local governments.
They insisted that Mr Sani did not score the highest number of valid votes cast in the election and ought not to have been returned the winner of the election.
They also claimed manipulation by the 1st defendant in favour of the 2nd defendant that innured to his victory
However, Bayo Ojo SAN lead Counsel for the 2nd Defendant raised a thorough preliminary objection, urging the tribunal to dismiss same. The learned counsel pointed to the Court that the Petitioners’ pre-hearing notice was filed out of time.
In a 2-1 majority judgement, the tribunal led by Justice Hon. Justice Victor Ozeigbe Aghabue Oviawe, held that the appeal brought by the Petitioners wasn’t meritorious because the filing of the pre-hearing notice “was abandoned and out of time, and therefore had dealt the entire petition a fatal blow.”
Not been the final Court and delving into the meat of the matter, a 2-1 majority held that if the Petition wasn’t deemed abandoned, it would have ordered a re-run in 22 Polling Units within four (4) LGAs.
The contenders, Ashiru (Suit No: CA/K/EP/GOV/KD/39/2023) and Sani (Suit No: CA/K/EP/GOV/KD/40/2023) challenged the majority and minority rulings respectively.
Hon. Justice Obietonbara Owupele Daniel-Kalio JCA led 3-man panel held that;
the pre-hearing notice was filed out of time hence the petition was deemed abandoned. They upheld the Preliminary Objections and dismissed the appellant’s suit for lacking in merit.
The verdict was concurred by Justices James Gomno Abundaga and Mohammed Baba Idris JJCA.
