The Court of Appeal, situated in Abuja, is set to announce its verdict on Monday concerning the appeal lodged against the Sokoto State Election Petitions Tribunal’s ruling affirming Governor Ahmed Aliyu’s election.
Sai’du Umar, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in the March 18 gubernatorial election, contested the validation of Aliyu’s victory, citing irregularities among other concerns.
In a notice shared with our correspondent, the court disclosed that judgment on APPEAL NO, CA/S/EP/GOV/SK/30/2023: SAIDU UMAR & ANR VS. ALIYU AHMED SOKOTO & 3. ORS is slated for Monday, November 27, 2023, at 3:00 pm at the Court of Appeal Headquarters in Abuja.
Earlier, the three-member Election’s Petitions Tribunal, led by Justice Haruna Msheila, unanimously dismissed the PDP’s petition on September 30. They found the petitioners failed to substantiate the six formulated grounds within the petition.
The grounds highlighted issues like alleged ineligibility for Aliyu and Gobir to contest, certificate falsification, name variations, election fraud, and noncompliance with electoral guidelines. However, the petitioners couldn’t sufficiently prove these allegations, with 70 percent of the exhibits unrelated to the gubernatorial election but instead referring to State Assembly elections held concurrently.
Justice Msheila outlined the need for two distinct documents to establish forgery, while the matter of name variations was resolved by Supreme Court provisions. He also mentioned that three witnesses lacked credibility as they weren’t document creators, while the remaining 28 polling unit agents couldn’t establish their identities or roles during their testimonies.
