Petition against Tambuwal’s election valid – Tribunal

The Sokoto State Governorship Election Tribunal on Wednesday ruled that the petition filed by Ahmed Aliyu challenging the declaration of  Aminu Tambuwal as the winner of the governorship election is valid.

The tribunal, sitting at the Wuse Zone 2 Magistrate court after it was relocated from Sokoto State to Abuja for alleged security reasons, declared the petition as ‘proper in law.’

On the objections raised by the petitioner against the petition urging it to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit, unanimously, the tribunal dismissed the objections and held that the petition was properly filed.

The tribunal equally ruled that the petitioners, Aliyu and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) duly paid the filing fees.

It held that against the argument of the respondents that the petition disclosed a substantial cause of action and was properly signed by the petitioners. It further held that the non-joinder of the running mate to the petitioners is not enough to render the petition incompetent.

On the whole, the Justice Abbas Bawale led tribunal held that the application by the respondent lacks merit and constituted a waste of judicial time.

Aliyu who was deputy to Tambuwal had filed a petition before the Tribunal challenging the victory of the incumbent as well INEC for declaring him a winner in the March 2019 state governorship election.

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The governorship election which held on March 9 was declared inconclusive following cancellation of 75, 403 votes which were higher than the 3, 413 votes margin between the leading candidates.

The re-run was conducted on March 23, and Tambuwal won with a slim margin of 342 votes.

Unsatisfied with the outcome, Aliyu approached the tribunal challenging the return of Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor-elect, on the grounds that the election was marred with irregularities.