EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Supreme Court of Nigeria has affirmed the victory of Nasir Idris in the March 18, 2023, governorship election in Kebbi State.
In a ruling on Friday, the court dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate Aminu Bande, which sought to remove Idris as the elected governor of Kebbi state.
The apex court, in its ruling on Friday, declared that the appeal had no merit.
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Uwani Abba-Aji, who delivered the lead judgment, stated that after careful consideration, he concluded that the appeal lacked merit and was therefore dismissed.
In March 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the Kebbi gubernatorial election inconclusive due to “massive vote cancellation and over-voting” in 20 out of the 21 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state.
Subsequently, the electoral commission scheduled a supplementary election for April 15, 2023.
At the conclusion of the supplementary election, Idris, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, secured 409,225 votes, defeating Aminu Bande of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who received 360,940 votes.
Bande and his party, however, declined the outcome and lodged a petition with the Tribunal.
The petitioners claimed that there was excessive voting in certain polling stations and that Idris was not eligible to compete in the election.
They also alleged that the deputy governor had submitted a counterfeit secondary school testimonial to INEC.
In the Tribunal’s ruling, however, the Tribunal’s chairman, Ofem Ofem, stated that the petitioners were unable to conclusively prove that the third respondent (deputy governor) had presented a fake certificate to INEC.
Regarding the issue of excessive voting, Ofem mentioned that irregularities were found in nine out of the 59 polling units under scrutiny.
The panel deducted 1,735 votes from APC, while over 900 votes were also subtracted from PDP’s results.
However, the chairman clarified that the deduction of votes would not impact the margin between the election winner and the runner-up.
He further stated that there was insufficient substantial evidence to support claims of excessive voting and irregularities in other polling units.
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All other allegations were dismissed, and Idris was confirmed as the duly elected governor of the state.
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