The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, in Sokoto State on Wednesday in Abuja affirmed the election of Gov. Aminu Tambuwal. The three man tribunal dismissed the petition of the APC and its governorship candidate, Ahmed Aliyu, for lacking in merit. In delivering judgment, the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Abbas Bawale said the petitioners had failed to establish their claims to non compliance with the Electoral Act and the issue of over voting. Bawale also said the evidences of the petitioners’ witnesses especially witness number ten amounted to hearsay which could not prove any of the allegations. News Agency of Nigeria reports that Aliyu had gone to the tribunal seeking to upturn the victory of Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 Governorship election. The Governorship Election which held on March 9 was declared inconclusive following cancellation of 75, 403 votes which were higher than the 3, 413 votes margin between the leading candidates. The re-run was then conducted on March 23, which led to the victory of Tambuwal who won with a slim margin of 342 votes. Dissatisfied with the outcome, Aliyu approached the tribunal challenging the return of Tambuwal as the governor-elect, on the grounds that the election was marred with irregularities. Tambuwal and PDP had objected to the petition, which the tribunal unanimously dismissed, saying the petition disclosed substantial cause of action and was properly signed by the petitioners. In addition, the tribunal equally ruled that the petitioners duly paid the filling fees. It further held that the non joinder of the running mate to the petitioners is not enough to render the petition incompetent. On the whole, Justice Abbas Bawale led tribunal held that the application lacks merit and constituted a waste of judicial time.
