Court of Appeal decides Sokoto governorship election Monday

By Bello Sani On Nov 26, 2023

Appeal Court , Sokoto ,governorship election,Saidu Umar ,Ahmed Aliyu — (L-R) Saidu Umar and Ahmed Aliyu

The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja will on Monday deliver judgment on the appeal filed against the judgment of the state election petitions tribunal which affirmed the election of Governor Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto State.

It could be recalled that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the March 18 governorship election, Sai’du Umar, has challenged the declaration of Aliyu as the duly elected governor of the state, alleging irregularities among others.

However, in a notice of judgment from the court made available to reporters by the Special Assistant on Media to the PDP candidate in the state, Muhammad Lema, the judgment is expected to be delivered by 3 pm on Monday.

“Take notice that APPEAL NO, CA/S/EP/GOV/SK/30/2023: SAIDU UMAR & ANR VS. ALIYU AHMED SOKOTO & 3. ORS is coming up before the Court of Appeal Headquarters Abuja Division for judgment on Monday, the 27th day of November 2023 at 3.00 pm,” the notice read.

The three-man Election’s Petitions Tribunal led by Justice Haruna Msheila in a unanimous judgment delivered on September 30, dismissed the petition of the PDP, saying the petitioners failed to prove the six grounds formulated in the petition.

Justice Msheila said the grounds bordered on alleged ineligibility for Aliyu and Gobir to contest, falsification of certificates, variation of names, election frauds, and noncompliance with electoral guidelines.

He said petitioners were unable to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt as required by law as 70 percent of of exhibits were out of context because they relate to State Assembly elections conducted on the same dates.

According to him, to prove forgery, two different documents of persons needed to be presented while the variation of names issues was settled by Supreme Court provisions.

He said three witnesses were not tenable as they were not makers of the documents from the alleged primary school while the other 28 polling unit agents who testified could not identify themselves along with their roles.