Supreme Court reserves judgment in Nasarawa gov poll

159

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, reserved judgment in the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party against the appeal court judgment reinstating the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule.

After hearing the counsel’s arguments on the appeal, the five-member panel chaired by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun adjourned the case for judgement.

Kekere-Ekun stated that when the judgement is ready, the parties would be notified.

The state election petition tribunal fired the governor and certified PDP candidate David Ombugadu the winner of the March 18, 2023 poll.

The tribunal led by Ezekiel Ajayi, in a split decision of two-to-one, held that having evaluated the evidence before the panel, the PDP candidate substantiated his claim that the poll results were manipulated in favour of Sule.

But the appeal court reinstated Sule and held that the tribunal wrongly relied on the evidence of eight of the PDP witnesses, whose statements on oath were not front-loaded alongside the petition.

Ombugadu, however, appealed the judgment at the apex court.