The Supreme Court, on Thursday, affirmed the election of Ahmed Aliyu as the Governor of Sokoto State, dismissing the appeal of Saidu Umar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Justice Tijani Abubakar delivered the judgement of the apex court panel led by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.
The appellant had challenged the election of Aliyu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 2023 poll.
Umar and the PDP had asked the Supreme Court to set aside the concurrent judgements of the Court of Appeal and the Tribunal.
He cited electoral malpractices, non-compliance with the Electoral Act as grounds to nullify the election of Aliyu.
He asked the court to declare him as the authentic winner of the election, or in the alternative, declare the election inconclusive and order a re-run in about 138 polling units.
Last year, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared APC’s Aliyu as the winner of the March 18 governorship election.
Aliyu polled 453,661 votes to defeat his closest rival Umar, who polled 404,632 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, Umar approached the Sokoto Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal. In a unanimous judgement on September 30, 2023, the Tribunal dismissed Umar’s petition, saying the petitioners failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
Still dissatisfied with the ruling, the PDP candidate filed an appeal before the appellate court in Abuja but lost.
Umar was unfazed as he sought redress at the appellate court. Last November, the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed the election of Aliyu as governor of Sokoto.
The panel unanimously held that it found no reason to overturn the verdict of the tribunal. The PDP candidate would later approach the apex court which also affirmed the APC candidate.
