Abuja Court Reverses Tribunal Verdict, Confirms Abdullahi Sule As Nasarawa Governor

The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Thursday reversed the sack of the Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule by the State Election Petitions Tribunal in its judgment delivered on October 2.

The Appellate Court ruled that the Tribunal, led by Ezekiel Ajayi, committed a serious error by relying on witness statements on oath not properly front-loaded as required by law, leading to the unjust decision to nullify the governor’s election.

In a judgment delivered by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, the Court of Appeal said that the Tribunal was legally bound to act on witness statements filed along with the petition or front-loaded within 21 days stipulated by law

The Court emphasized that any petition cannot be lawfully amended beyond the 21 days permitted by law, a violation observed in the Tribunal’s actions.

Adding that the statements used by the Tribunal to remove the Governor were not front-loaded by the law, these statements were deemed products of illegality and lacked probate value for a court to consider.

The Court also rejected the over-voting issues also used to annul the election adding that allegations to that were not established by law.

Justice Onyemenam asserted that the petition by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship candidate was null and void. This decision was based on the Tribunal’s unlawful neglect of the jurisdictional issues raised by the governor.

The Court of Appeal stated that the Tribunal deprived the governor of a fair hearing by neglecting to consider and make findings on the jurisdictional issues raised during the petition’s hearing.

Justice Onyemenam concurred, noting that this denial of a fair hearing was a critical flaw, rendering all Tribunal decisions invalid.

In all, the Court of Appeal reversed all orders made against the governor and the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC and affirmed Sule as the lawfully elected governor of the state.

INEC initially declared Sule the winner of the governorship election, citing his total of 347,209 votes, surpassing his closest opponent David Emmanuel Ombugadu, who secured 283,016 votes

In a split decision on October 2, the tribunal nullified Sule’s election and declared Ombugadu as the winner.

Kanyi Daily recalls that the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal overturned Abdullahi Sule’s win.