THE Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya.
In a unanimous judgment on Friday, January 19, by a panel of justices, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mohammed Barde, stating that the appeal lacked merit.
The ICIR reported how Barde and PDP had approached the State Election Petitions Trubunal, and subsequently Appeal Court, challenging Yahaya’s victory.
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Barde insisted that Yahaya was not re-elected by a majority of valid votes cast in the election held in March 2023.
However, both the tribunal and the appellate courts upheld the governor’s victory, and maintained that Barde’s appeal lacked merit.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Yahaya as the winner of the Gombe state governorship election after he polled 342,821 votes.
The Supreme Court had on Thursday, January 18, dismissed the appeal filed by the Action Democratic Congress (ADC) and its candidate, Nafiu Bala, against the governor’s triumph.
In a judgment by a five-member panel of the court’s justices led by Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the court described the appeal as frivolous.
“You can’t come to court with frivolous appeal. I think you should not waste our time,” the court ruled.
The appeal was, therefore, withdrawn by lawyers representing the ADC and the case was dismissed.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M