Governor Sule Abdullahi of Nasarawa State has had his election affirmed by the Supreme Court, as the petition filed against his election by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Emmanuel David Ombugadu, was dismissed.
The court ruled that the allegations made against the Governor’s election were not proven. Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, in a unanimous judgment, stated that the petition lacked any substantial evidence.
The Supreme Court also rejected the claims of unlawful vote calculations by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), stating that these allegations did not hold up under scrutiny. INEC had declared Governor Sule as the winner of the election, having received a total of 347,209 votes, defeating his closest opponent, David Emmanuel Ombugadu, who secured 283,016 votes.
The Appeal Court had previously overturned the decision of the State Election Petitions Tribunal, which had nullified the Governor’s election.
The Court of Appeal found that the Tribunal had made a serious error by considering witness statements that were not submitted within the required timeframe.
The Supreme Court further emphasized that petitions cannot be lawfully amended beyond the 21-day limit set by law, as the Tribunal had wrongly done. Additionally, the Court dismissed the allegations of over-voting that were used to invalidate the election, as these claims were not substantiated.
