The Court of Appeal has affirmed the election of the Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the March 18 governorship election amid protest by Ashiru Mohammed of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Kaduna Governorship Tribunal later ordered a supplementary election in some polling units.
But the three member appeal panel led by Justice Daniel Kalio, held that the tribunal acted in error when it depended on inadmissible evidence to order the conduct of supplementary polls in 22 polling units of four local government areas (LGAs) where the exercise was deemed inconclusive.
The court stated that a key witness called by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the tribunal hearing merely gave hearsay evidence as he was not present when the malpractices he alleged happened.
The appeal court held that the allegations of deduction of votes, stuffing of ballot boxes, and mutilation of sensitive electoral materials made by the said witness were born out of hearsay.
Other members of the panel include Justice James Abundaga and Justice Mohammed Baba Idris.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that Sani secured 730, 001 votes to defeat his closest rival Ashiru of the PDP, who scored 719, 196 votes. The margin of lead was a little over 10,000 votes.
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