By a majority decision of 2 to 1, the tribunal upheld the prayers of the Petitioners that the votes were indeed inflated, sacked the incumbent and affirmed Ombugadu
By Moses Okorie
365daily.com.ng- The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital has sacked Governor Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) today.
The tribunal however declared Honourable David Emmanuel Ombugadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is the rightful winner of the March 18 governorship election held in the state.
The judgment was delivered virtually by the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Ezekiel Ajayi.
In resolving the Preliminary Objections, the tribunal held that APC Objections on BVAS Machine/ Screenshots tendered by PDP is over-ruled because the BVAS reports were pleaded, relevant and admissible.
The tribunal further dismissed the objections and delved into the merits of the petition.
“The Tribunal deducted the votes of Chiroma having compared the entries in polling unit results with the ward result. Also the incorrect votes magically ascribed to Gayam is deducted.”
“Also the incorrect votes magically ascribed to Gayam is deducted. Chiroma and and Gayam regularised.
“The law is that only presiding officers can cancel Polling Units results. Ashige Results is hereby restored,” the tribunal held.
The tribunal agreed entirely with the 2nd Petitioner on Kanje-Abuni. Votes wrongly added to APC deducted while Petitioners’ votes unjustly reduced have been added.
“Alwazan Mada votes restored in favour of 2nd Petitioner (PDP).”
The Tribunal held that Petitioners’ witnesses were all competent witnesses. The evidence of Petitioners’ witnesses are all admissible.
The tribunal agreed with the 2nd Petitioner on all contentions on over-voting. Votes of Parties in the 4 PUs discountenanced and accordingly deducted as prayed by Petitioners.
The tribunal upheld all the Contentions of the 1st and 2nd Petitioners.
By a majority decision of 2 to 1, the tribunal upheld the prayers of the Petitioners that the votes were indeed inflated, sacked the incumbent and affirmed Ombugadu (1st Petitioner) as duly elected having polled the majority of lawful votes cast.
Prior to the judgement, the tribunal earlier had struck out the petition filed by the candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Abdullahi Maidoya against Governor Abdullahi Sule for lacking in merit.
Delivering the verdict, one of the members of the three-man panel of justices, Justice C. A. B. Onaga said the petitioner failed to prove his petition against the governor after dumping his documents at the tribunal.
The NNPP candidate had on 7th April approached the tribunal to challenge the declaration of Abdullahi Sule as winner of the governorship election in Nasarawa State by INEC.